St Helens u19 40 Warrington Wolves u19 12

WARRINGTON Wolves suffered defeat against St Helens at Langtree Park in the Academy Under 19s Championship.

Victory enabled Saints to secure runners up spot in the league table and earn a trip to Warrington in two weeks’ time for the qualifying play-off semi final.

Wolves failed to reach the heights that they have performed at for most of the season, having already guaranteed themselves top spot in the league table the previous week and Saints were only too happy to take advantage and gain a thoroughly deserved win.

St Helens opened the scoring in the 12th minute when scrum half Dave Hewitt kicked to the corner and winger Lewis Galbraith found himself in plenty of space to collect the ball and score wide out on the left. Hooker Lewis Charnock converted and seven minutes later they kept the ball alive close to the Wolves line and winger Adam Saunders scored wide out on the right. Charnock again added the conversion.

Wolves got themselves back into the game in the 26th minute when a high kick by stand off Declan Patton on the last tackle was plucked out of the air superbly by centre Toby King, whose try was converted by Patton.

Four minutes before the break Saints ran the ball on the last tackle and centre Matty Fleming was put through a gap and he raced 30 metres to score and give his side a 16-6 interval advantage.

Two minutes into the second half a great break by in-form prop forward George King got Wolves into the Saints half and he offloaded superbly to hooker Ryan Maneely who brushed off an attempted tackle and raced 30 metres to score between the posts. Patton converted to reduce the gap to just four points but five minutes later a kick by Charnock was fumbled and Saints scrum half Hewitt managed to kick the ball into the in-goal area and touchdown at the right of the posts. Charnock added the conversion.

Saints pulled further clear when three back-to-back penalties put them close to the Wolves line and hooker Jonah Cunningham went from dummy half and managed to ground the ball despite having four defenders on him. Charnock converted but then he was sin binned just before the hour for preventing Wolves from taking a quick 20-metre restart.

As the game entered the final five minutes Saints got the ball out wide to Saunders who raced 50 metres down the wing to score on the right and then three minutes from time prop forward Luke Thompson went 60 metres, outpacing the chasing Wolves defenders to score a fine individual try under the posts. Charnock converted both tries to wrap things up.

Saints: Ricky Bailey, Adam Saunders, Matty Fleming, Jake Spedding, Lewis Galbraith, Danny Richardson, Dave Hewitt, Greg Richards, Lewis Charnock, Luke Thompson, Olly Davies, Andre Savelio, Matty Fozard. Subs: Jonah Cunningham, Morgan Knowles, Phil Atherton, Joe Ryan. 

Wolves: Declan Kay, Jack Johnson, Harvey Livett, Toby King, Declan Patton, Louis Jouffret, Tom Walker, Ryan Maneely, George King, James Jones, Sam Wilde, Andy Philbin. Subs: Robert Holroyd, Alex Whalley, Daniel Murray, Daniel Hirst.