Wigton went out of the Papa John’s Cup at Lowmoor Road, beaten 55-17 by a very good Wetherby side.
The Greens put in a brave performance which didn’t reflect the final scoreline. Wetherby have had four promotions in the last seven seasons, so the Greens knew they’d be provided a stern test in only their second home game of this calendar year.
Receiving the kick-off Wigton settled into their attacking patterns and went through several phases without really creating much.
However, the Wetherby defence proved too eager and gave away several penalties for high tackles and offsides.
From one of these penalties Wigton had a shot at goal but the ball drifted wide of the posts.
Wigton were competing well in all areas apart from the scrum, where the more powerful Wetherby forwards clearly had an edge.
From one scrum Wigton conceded a penalty which Wetherby kicked to the corner and from the resulting line-out they drove over for their first converted try.
Wetherby retained possession from the restart and following an intelligent cross kick the winger regathered the ball and went over for another converted try.
The young Greens dug deep and for the next 10 minutes created overlaps and chances, but through a combination of poor handling, wrong decisions and good defence they could not score a try.
From another powerful scrum Wetherby executed a back line move and scored their third converted try before Wigton Corey Bouch crossed for an unconverted try to provide the home supporters with some cheer.
Following more attacking play from Wigton, another high tackle came in from Wetherby and the referee’s patience ended as the number eight was sent for a ten minute sin-bin rest.
More attacks from Wigton saw Matty Harrison go over in the corner for an unconverted score but on the stroke of half time, great play from the Wetherby fullback saw him break and race away to score a converted try for a 28-10 lead at the break.
Credit to Wigton they kept going and despite being under severe pressure in the scrum, they could secure possession at the line-out and when they put phases together the Wetherby defence was showing signs of ill-discipline.
Another yellow card was received by Wetherby for too many penalties in the red zone and following a series of tap penalties, the ball was moved to 18-year-old Huw Lloyd who squeezed over in the corner with Elliot Armstrong nailing the conversion.
Thoughts of a comeback were quickly ended when Wetherby scored a pushover try to extend their lead.
The efforts of toiling against a bigger pack started to show and Wetherby scored three more tries in the last 12 minutes to cement the win.
Overall it was a great effort by Wigton against a useful side, finishing a season that has been very stop/start but the development of the players has continued on an upward curve.
With the restart of a second XV and the Colts playing every weekend, Wigton rugby has plenty to be positive about.
