St. Benedicts 10

Warrington RUFC 5

WARRINGTON'S hopes of promotion were dented on Saturday as they unexpectedly crashed to defeat in Cumbria and rivals Workington cashed in as they won their game at Rochdale.

The Thwaites League match in Whitehaven was in doubt until the last minute due to the overnight frost but at kick-off time the pitch was perfectly playable, although it cut up badly and the mud prevented Warrington from playing their fast, open game.

St. Benedicts came out with all guns blazing and after a series of drives close to the line their prop forward crashed over for an unconverted try.

St. Benedicts added a second try after a chip through and regather from their stand-off was followed by a neat interchange of passing and the left winger squeezed in at the corner.

Warrington, after a two week lay-off, were unusually lethargic and the possession they gained was poorly used.

On one of their rare forages into the home team's 22, Walker and Matt Drinkwater combined to put wing Higginson over.

St. Benedicts, with the breeze at their backs in the second half, tackled well and although Warrington had a dominance of possession and territory they could not get over for the try which would have saved the game.

Tomorrow, Saturday, Warrington play at Sandbach in their next league game.

Although Warrington won the previous meeting at Bridge Lane by a record scoreline of 88-5, Sandbach have improved dramatically and have since made a steady climb up the table.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.