WARRINGTON Wolves' bid for back-to-back Academy titles has fallen at the final hurdle.
Just as The Wire did last year, Wigan Warriors completed an unbeaten campaign at under 18s level, with winger Zak Bielecki scoring a hat-trick in their 36-16 victory at the Brick Community Stadium.
That came after Warrington had opened the scoring through hooker Leyton Haddrell, with Brady Bottomley and Reece Dobbs also adding tries for the young Wires.
On this evidence, the future is bright for both sides with the healthy Sunday afternoon crowd treated to a high-quality affair.
Both sides had one player each with first-team experience - Tommy Rhodes became Warrington's youngest ever try-scorer on his senior debut against Sheffield Eagles in the Challenge Cup earlier this year while prop Shea O'Connor has several Super League appearances to his name this year.
The Warriors have long been a force at Academy level, but Warrington's place among the elite talent-producers is getting more established by the year.
With six members of their 17 having been involved in last year’s Grand Final win over Leeds Rhinos, there was know-how aplenty in this Warrington team and in order to beat a Wigan side who, like they did last year, had gone unbeaten to this point, they would need all of it.
But they started well, getting into the cycle to disrupt the favoured hosts – and it eventually paid off.
After an early penalty followed by a Wigan error had presented them with a chance to attack, first Isaac Holdsworth and then Oliver Bishop were held just short but from the latter, Haddrell burrowed over to open the scoring.
Wigan’s opportunities to attack were initially limited but from the first of them, they got themselves on the board as Zak Bielecki held his width to be found by a delicate Alfie Maden chip to score.
The missed conversion meant Wire still led and they were initially undeterred, with a superb Jack Pendlebury kick getting them off their own line and allowing them to dominate territory.
And it looked like they had got their reward when they stripped Wigan’s right edge for numbers and Tommy Rhodes sent Oliver Bishop over, but he did so via an obstruction and that proved to be a key turning point.
It was the first of a couple of big moments that Warrington did not quite get right that proved costly, with Brady Bottomley being dumped into touch having initially surrendered in the tackle to set Wigan up for Conner Oxbury to fly over in the corner.
From the kick off, the Warriors flew up field and Evan Buckley added another try, powering through some tired-looking defence as Warrington received a painful lesson of the perils of coming off the accelerator for any length of time in games like this.
Half time came at a good time for them and gave them a chance to regroup, with the next score crucial. Unfortunately for them, it came for the hosts.
It was another mistake punished, with Bailey Lund spilling a kick deep inside his own half and from that field position, Bielecki was sent diving over for his second try.
To their eternal credit, Warrington remained unbowed and their response was excellent.
After Regan Parkman had been denied by scrambling home defence, they were eventually rewarded when Bottomley called for the ball on the line and crashed over to increase their belief that the situation could be retrieved.
They continued to pressurise but again, they came up with a release as Parkman could not keep a looping ball to his wing in play before back-to-back penalties helped the hosts upfield.
And they once made Warrington pay again as Maden and Bielecki linked up again for the winger to complete his treble.
Wigan took that as their cue to reinforce their dominance, with Dickenson sailing over under the sticks to finish off Noah Forster’s break.
Again, though, Wire remained undimmed and Rhodes produced moments at both ends to demonstrate why he is so highly thought of within the club.
Having hit Reece Dobbs with a precise short ball to give Wire their third try, he then produced a try-saving tackle to deny Bielecki a fourth score and keep his side just about alive.
However, that hope was put out by the mountainous O’Connor, who proved too big and powerful to stop on a charge to the line.
Wolves: Bailey Lund; Jack Fallon, Reece Dobbs, Cameron Cooper, Regan Parkman; Tommy Rhodes, Jack Pendlebury; Isaac Holdsworth, Leyton Haddrell, Ed Williams, Oliver Bishop, Jamie Coop, Ethan Holt. Subs: Tom Marshall, Ellis Livesey, Zak Brand, Brady Bottomley. 18th man: Harry Pratt
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