Warrington Wolves under 16s beat Bradford Bulls

WARRINGTON Wolves under 16s took a trip over to Yorkshire on Saturday at the half way stage of the season to face their latest challenge against Bradford Bulls.

The under 19s had come away with a tight victory a few days before so the players were certainly hoping for more of the same.

n perfect conditions both teams had their opportunities, however it was Warrington that were able to fashion the most scoring changes and in a strappy second half made sure they took advantage and secured another win.

Try scores for the Wolves were Jamie Brownbill, two, George Moore, Ellis Gillam, Nathan Ainsworth, Jack Fox and George Shaw.

Warrington started well with Gillam going over after only four minutes after a great catch and offload from Fox, only for the referee to rule that Warrington were off-side at the kick – one of three tries disallowed against Ellis during the match.

However, Warrington stuck to their task and were rewarded a few minutes later when Ellis reached over but the referee had already called held.

A long pass from Moore at dummy half found Brownbill in the left centre position and he took advantage of two static defenders to score. A great kick from Ethan Jukes out near the touchline put Warrington on their way.

Warrington kept up the momentum by scoring next after 10 minutes, good drives out of defence by Tom Millington and Connor Scrivens put the Bulls on the back foot and a towering kick from Jukes wasn’t taken cleanly by the Bradford full-back.

Gillam was on hold to catch the bouncing ball and after a little juggle grounded to the left of the posts. Jukes was on target with his kick and it was 0-12 to the Wolves.

Bradford got themselves back into the match when from a scrum, Daniel Lee went on a long arching run to his right, Bulls then moved the ball quickly back to the centre of the pitch and Matthew Chrimes was able to find space in the Warrington defence to force his way through and over the line.

Aiden Ineson converted to bring the score back to 6-12.

A great Warrington try pushed the score out to 6-18 after 17 minutes. A kick on the last from Bradford was picked up deep in the Warrington half, after a couple of drives, Gillam collected the ball after a clever offload from Alex Green and raced away being brought down on the Bulls’ 40m line. The ball went through hands from left to right and Brownbill hit the ball at speed and was able to race away and score in the far right hand corner. Again Jukes was on target with another kick from the touchline.

One more score each before the end of the first half meant that there was everything to play for. Bradford went over next after a good break from Aiden Ineson who then was able to offload to Lewis Ainley who went in near the posts.

He then converted his own try, bringing the Bulls back to 12-18. Warrington had the final score of the half after a knock-on by Bradford and following good drives from Geraint Lawrence and Pat Moran put them a few metres out.

A final push from Alex Green and another clever offload allowed George Moore, who was backing up to collect the ball, to go between the posts. Jukes was on target to maintain his 100 pr cent record and the first half finished at 12-24 to Warrington.

After a half-time team talk for both sides on the edge of the pitch the match was back underway. Warrington came close when Sam Vernon went in at the corner but the final pass was forward and Bradford then wasted little time in getting themselves back into the match, scoring the first points of the second half.

From the scrum they went up the pitch and a clever kick through caught the Warrington defence out as Ineson was able to race onto the ball and score, Lewis Ainley kicked the extras and it was back to 18-24.

Wolves came straight back with the Bulls failing to deal with the kick-off which went into touch, from the scrum Warrington attacked the line.

After the first tackle, a quick play the ball gave Nathan Ainsworth the space he needed to force his way over taking a number of Bradford defenders with him. Jukes had no problems from in front of the posts and it was now 18-30 to Warrington.

Warrington pushed this lead out even further after they were awarded a penalty for a high tackle on Brownbill, Connor Scrivens took the next drive and was stopped just short and from a quick play the ball, Fox jumped from the dummy half position, spun in the tackle and was able to crash over. Jukes missed the kick but Warrington were now 18-34 ahead.

Bradford score two tries to keep things close – after a knock-on by Warrington from the kick-off, sustained pressure from the Bulls finally paid off with Zac Baker going over.

It was another Warrington mistake that allowed Ineson to score a few minutes later. A stray pass was knocked on by Warrington with Ineson fastest to react and he raced in to score from 20 metres out.

He converted both tries to bring the score to 30-34 after 53 minutes. The match then became a bit scrappy with both sides trying to build pressure but basic skills letting them down with quite a number of knock-ons or dropped balls.

Finally, with only a few minutes left, a good break by Fox put Warrington on the attack out wide, they moved the ball back into the centre of the pitch through a couple of short drives, Reece Brunt took the pass from the play the ball and Shaw arrived at speed taking a well-weighted pass and dived over the line for the decisive score.

Nathan Ainsworth kicked the goal, which gave Warrington the winning score of 30-40.

Coach Gary Chambers said: “Some really positive elements in our performance. Our issue was in our inability to control the game at significant times and so give the opposition footholds to get back in.

“This is all part and parcel of them learning then applying their trade and as coaches gives us plenty to work on in the coming weeks.

“I suppose it also highlights the quality of this group - that we can play away, score 40 points and still have plenty of areas to work on.”

Wolves: Jamie Brownbill; Cory Bennie, Geraint Lawrence, Sam Vernon, Ethan Jukes; Harry Reardon, Connor Scrivens; George Moore, Tom Millington, Ellis Gillam, Nathan Ainsworth, Reece Brunt.Subs: Alex Green, Ellis Robson, George Shaw, Chris Twigg, Pat Moran.

Bradford: Robert Denton; Lewis Butterworth, Daniel Lee, Isaac Farrell, Munya Samanyanga; Aiden Ineson, Zac Baker; Matthew Lees, Coby Kittsen, Dylan Critchley, Matthew Chrimes, Brandan Wilkinson, Adam Whiteley. Subs: Lewis Ainley, Tevin Campbell, Alfie Green, Max Kennedy, Jacob Trueman.