Warrington’s stuttered in their ability to sustain their free flowing style of rugby and succumbed by two tries to three against a beefier Littleborough side who consistently had Warrington under the cosh at the set scrums.

The referee set out his stall early with a penalty against Littleborough for back chat although neither sided seemed to get the message as more penalties arose from this behaviour throughout the game.

Middle rower Steve Antrobus laid the foundation for Warrington’s first score with a break into the Littleborough 22 where the defenders were penalised for slowing the ball down. The boot of JP Hudson opened Warrington’s tally. 3-0.

Ten minutes later, a good line from the Littleborough back division parted the Warrington defence like the Red Sea and had Warrington scrambling back to defend on their 5 m line. Although Littleborough had Warrington under severe pressure in the ensuing scrum, a reset to Warrington was ordered as the scrum had gone through 90 degrees. This led to an unwanted opinion from Littleborough who were promptly marched back 10m and Warrington were off the hook.

Not for long, however. Despite committed tackling from Warrington, with Hamblett much in evidence, Littleborough exerted consistent pressure through their heavyweight pack and ground over for their first try in the twenty fifth minute. 3-7.

Warrington’s forays into Littleborough territory came to nought as inaccurate passing or dropped balls allowed Littleborough to counter and pressurise the Warrington line. Gaining another scrum 10m out Littleborough had a steady platform and two or three drives later secured a second try under the posts.

Half time 3-14.

Early in the second half a return to their open, quick recycling style of play earned Warrington’s first try when centre Kyle Cherrett barged over after some sustained Warrington pressure. 8-14. Warrington, however, found it difficult to get quick possession from the rucks and were, thus up against an organised defence which denied them space and curtailed their ability to move the ball wide. When Littleborough got possession they reverted to their forwards where competent recycling and some slack tackling from Warrington made the hard yards easier and led to the visitors third try midway through the half. 8-21.

Five minutes on, a break from the muscular Joe Craven took play up to the Littleborough 22. Warrington kept the ball alive and the mercurial James Hartill from the full back slot crossed for Warrington’s second try. 13-21.

With time beginning to ebb away, Hudson added a penalty to put Warrington within the losing bonus point margin. 16-21.

With ten minutes to go Warrington were beginning to show some of their accustomed flair and skillful interchanges between Craven, Beeley and JP Hudson saw the latter touch down. The referee appeared to award a try and more than half the Warrington team went back to their own half to await the restart. In the meantime, a scuffle broke out after the score, back rower Whalley got his marching orders, the try was rescinded and the visitors awarded a penalty!

The last minutes of the game saw Warrington attacking desperately through open play but the Littleborough defence held firm and a Warrington knock on brought the game to an end.

FT 16-21.

Warrington, thus, only managed to salvage a losing bonus point from a match which, controversially, they could have won. However, this was an under par performance, with unforced errors and an inability to clear their lines taking their toll.

Report by Roy Potts WRUFC