Carlisle 19 Warrington 21

IT was a winning weekend for Warrington in Cumbria, but a lack of bonus point sees them drop to third in North One West.

“We always expect a tough game when we come to Cumbria and this was no exception,” said coach Andy Roberts. "The squad stepped up to the plate and toughed it out.

“Although Josh Riley was voted man-of-the-match by the Carlisle side, I thought our award should have gone to Clem O’Rourke up front, closely followed by Tom Wood.

“We now face the three hardest games of our season, as we play Penrith at home this week, followed by league leaders Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal in consecutive matches.”

Although Warrington managed to contain the Carlisle pack, they continually fell foul of the referee, who awarded 24 penalties against them to just four against the hosts.

Warrington took the field without three of their major playmakers but the in-depth strength of the squad was soon demonstrated when they scored in their first real attack, as Tom Wood slipped a delicate pass to man-of-the match Josh Riley who galloped over.

Darren Norman converted.

The next 20 minutes saw the visitors in total control but, ironically, it was Carlisle who scored next when they seized on a Warrington mistake to force a line out five yards from the Warrington line and then execute a well-worked driving maul score.

The try was converted to make the sides level at the turnaround.

Warrington took 10 minutes in the second period to re-establish their lead. After a series of attacking phases, they forced a lineout in the Carlisle 22 and when the ball flashed to Tom Wood, the elusive stand-off dummied and ghosted over to give Norman an easy conversion.

In a rare attack, Carlisle scored again through a second driving maul but the conversion was missed and Warrington led by two points.

This lead was soon increased when the backs combined well and Max Walker, playing out of position at centre, received the ball twenty yards out, ignored the two-man overlap and took route one to smash his way over, in signature fashion, under the sticks.

Norman's conversion made the score 21-12.

Warrington were now hunting the bonus point and nearly scored the fourth try in the corner but Nathan Beesley was just short.

Carlisle then punched themselves back into contention when the referee awarded them a penalty try and the conversion brought them within two points.

However, Warrington managed to survive, even though Carlisle were awarded two kickable penalties, both of which went wide.

Preston Grasshoppers 3rd 38 Warrington 2nd 13

THE big guns of Preston Grasshoppers proved just too much for Warrington’s second team, who went out of the Lighting and Building Services Jug in the first round.

The game was very much open until the second half when Hoppers turned on the after-burners to scorch into an unassailable lead.

It didn’t take long for Preston to unleash their pacey backs, with the result that two tries put them into a 12-point less.

Warrington came back when new recruit Taylor Weeks made a promising debut with a well-taken try in the corner.

Stand-off Shaun McDermott then cut the deficit further with a penalty from the touchline but Preston came back with a third try to make the half time score 19-8.

The home side went further ahead with two more tries but Warrington refused to surrender and got back on the scoresheet when prop Sam Bennett bustled over for a try.

Unfortunately, this proved to be their last scoring effort and Preston closed off the game with two more tries to make the final score 38-15.

“This was just too big a hill to climb for our young side,” said skipper Shaun McDermott.

“However there were outstanding performances in defence from Nick Pennington and the ubiquitous Phil Lynch and hopefully the young team has learned some lessons from the defeat.”

Warrington 3rd 22 Didsbury TocH 2nd 24

WARRINGTON’S third team narrowly missed out on progressing to the second round of the Brooke Edgley Technical Services Trophy when they missed a penalty kick in the closing minutes.

However, they should have secured the win after leading at half time but a second half Didsbury try saw the victory elude them.

Didsbury opened the scoring with a well-worked try but Warrington quickly replied when Matt Rockey, showing some of his old guile, dummied his way over.

Josh Woods converted.

Warrington increased their lead when Craig Davies finished off some good work by his forwards to touch down in the corner.

Josh Woods converted from the touchline.

Didsbury came back when their stand-off exploited some weak Warrington tackling.

Warrington replied almost immediately when the forwards went through the phases before releasing Jack Morgan, who swept in from 60 yards.

Josh Woods then extended the home side’s lead to 22-12 with a penalty but a Didsbury try on the stroke of half time made the score 22-19.

The second half saw Warrington lose concentration and Didsbury took advantage, especially through their hard-running centres, and eventually crashed over to make the score 22-24.

Warrington rallied but Didsbury proved adept at slowing the ball from breakdown.

Eventually the referee had no option but to punish them with a penalty 25 yards out but unfortunately the kick was missed and Didsbury hung on to win the cup tie.

“We struggled to get clean ball all afternoon,” said coach Lee Graham.

“We need to do more work on the line-out, set piece and break-downs but we have shown that when we have the ball, we can be a strong attacking force.”