Wigan Warriors u19 58 Warrington Wolves u19 24

WOLVES under 19s produced an improved second-half showing in defeat to Wigan on Saturday, but head coach Stuart Barrow says “the damage had already been done” by a poor showing before the break.

The hosts stormed away before the interval to lead 36-0, but Barrow’s side came back to outscore the Warriors after half time.

“We carried on from last week’s poor display in that first half and that was not acceptable. We allowed Wigan to dominate and they took full advantage,” Barrow said.

“We talked at half time about how embarrassed we were with what we had delivered.

“We did come out in the second half and showed what we are capable of when we play to our potential but the damage had already been done.”

Wigan ran in six tries before the break, with two of them coming from winger Joe Brown after Sam Grant had opened the scoring.

Craig Mullen, Callum Green and Patrick Casey also crossed in the first half to leave Wolves with a mountain to climb.

To their eternal credit, The Wire started the second half with purpose and Ellis Robson powered over after shaking off three defenders.

Three minutes later, Harry Reardon darted through a gap to score from dummy-half before Charlie Phythian’ slick pass allowed Lewis Turner to squeeze over in the corner.

Joe Edge converted all three tries, but any hope of a comeback was scotched when Brown completed his hat-trick.

Green then got his second to give Wigan further breathing space and Sam Kibula was able to barge over to bring up the hosts’ half-century.

Fine work from Edge and Ellis Gillam then led to Liam Aspin crossing for Wolves, but Wigan had the final say when James Worthington scored in the final minute.

Barrow’s side have two games of their season remaining, the first being against Leeds Rhinos at Victoria Park on Saturday, August 5.

Wolves: Joe Edge; Liam Jones, Jack Roper, Charlie Phythian, Lewis Turner; Fynn Stanley, Harry Reardon; Alex Tankard, Nathan Ainsworth, Jack Cottington, Ellis Gillam, Matty Kilgannon, Pat Moran. Subs: Liam Aspin, Jack Wilson, Ellis Robson, Jacob Chamberlain.