Wigan St Judes vs Hunslet Warriors - match report

Wigan St Judes ended their ten match losing streak that dates back to March after defeating fellow strugglers Hunslet Warriors 32 – 12.

The Maroon and Gold’s last win came back in March at home to the league’s high flyers, West Hull.

Despite the score line favouring the hosts come the full-time whistle, it was all square at the interval after two converted tries apiece locked it all up going into the second 40.

However, the visitors were kept scoreless in the second half conceding four tries including a brace from centre Darian Ball. Connor Ratcliffe kicked four conversions from his side’s six tries. 

The Lancashire outfit began the opening quarter of the game the brighter with two tries inside the opening twenty minutes.

Five minutes had gone on the clock when Nathan Jones danced his way to the line, and just under 15 minutes later, Glen Hunt shrugged off attempted tacklers to score.

The Warriors, who were without a win in their last four games, were under the pump, but they turned some pressure into points. Luke Day gobbled up a kick and released Elliot Miller down the left, whose run was backed up by Jake Corney to dab the ball down under the posts.

The introduction of Daryl Gaunt from the bench provided speed around the ruck, something their opponents were gaining throughout the game. Dave Norton used his strength to power his way over with McClelland’s conversion making it all square going into the second half.

St Judes’ response was swift, one minute after the restart to be precise, and they made the Warriors suffer after they failed to complete their opening set. Dave Carney’s pass put Brett Taberner through a gap, and he snaked his arm out to restore his side’s lead by four points as Connor Ratcliffe missed the conversion.

The dry weather conditions enabled the backs to showcase their athleticism. Shae Frazer-Lyon plucked a kick out of the air to feed Dave Walls.

Gaunt continued to be a threat from dummy half, and thought he’d got his side back in it, only for the referee to judge he had been held up just before the hour mark.

From that, St Judes wrapped the game up with Darian Ball’s double in the space of ten minutes. He finished off a move that saw the ball kept alive well down the left side. And then sealed his brace seven minutes from time. Taberner intercepted a pass to go 40 metres down field, only to be halted by the Warriors’ scrambling defence. But, St Judes didn’t panic, Ball proved to be too strong to be stopped by the Warriors.