Wigan Warriors u19s 36 Warrington Wolves u19s 16

WARRINGTON Wolves suffered a second successive loss when they went down at Wigan Warriors in the Under 19s Academy at the Wigan Laundry Stadium, Orrell on Friday.

Warriors built a commanding first half advantage and despite a spirited Wolves fightback in the last 20 minutes it was too little, too late in front of a large crowd.

Warrington started brightly and took the game to Wigan in the opening exchanges but on 12 minutes Warriors’ centre Liam Forsyth intercepted a Wolves pass and raced 60 metres unopposed to score at the right of the posts.

Scrum half Jake Shorrocks converted and four minutes later they swept the ball along the line stretching the Wolves defence and winger David Thompson scored in the left corner.

Shortly after the half hour Wigan substitute Brad Lawrence made a fine break down the middle that split the Wolves defence and he found fellow substitute Ryan Sutton on his shoulder to go over between the posts.

Shorrocks added the conversion and three minutes before the break Warriors second row Nick Gregson received the ball from a penalty on Wolves’ 30 metre line and brushed off some weak tackling to break through and score wide out on the left and give his side a 20-0 half time lead.

Seven minutes into the second half slick passing along the Warriors line stretched the Wolves defence and winger Liam Marshall stepped back inside to score wide on the left.

Shorrocks converted and 10 minutes later the advantage was increased further when a high kick by stand off Jamie Doran on the last tackle was plucked out of the air by Forsyth.

He managed to ground the ball on the right and Shorrocks added the conversion to make the score 32-0.

Just after the hour the Wolves finally got on the scoreboard when good work close to the line by stand off Declan Patton and hooker Ryan Maneely saw them combine to find centre Toby King.

He managed to force his way over in the left corner despite the attention of four defenders and then virtually straight from the restart a clever kick over the Wigan defence from Patton saw winger Declan Kay collect and send T King racing away.

He found full back Jack Johnson, who brushed off a couple of defenders to score at the side of the posts. Patton added the conversion.

As the game entered the final four minutes Wigan were awarded a penalty close to the Wolves line and after two drives the ball was swept out wide to centre Jack Higginson, who scored wide out on the left.

A minute from time a speculative kick on the last tackle by Wolves centre Jake Eccleston bounced awkwardly in the Wigan in-goal area and as a Warriors defender attempted to hack the ball dead it cannoned off the post and Maneely pounced to score between the posts. Patton goaled to make the final score 36-16 to Wigan.

Wolves: Jack Johnson; Ben Stansfield, Jake Eccleston, Toby King, Declan Kay, Declan Patton; Louis Jouffret; Daniel Murray, Ryan Maneely, George King, Joe Philbin, Harvey Livett, Sam Wilde. Subs: Robert Holroyd, Alex Whalley, Andy Philbin, Sean Kenny.