Halton Farnworth Hornets were the hosts for the 2011 North West College 9's Competition in which Wigan Warriors Education Academy emerged victorious. 17 teams from colleges across the North West battled it out in some tightly fought matches on a very blustery afternoon in Widnes.
Following the pool matches, Hopwood Hall College (Rochdale), Salford City College, and St Helens College joined Wigan in the semi finals.
The final saw Salford take on Wigan in what was an extremely close affair with chances at either end. The Salford team were the more physical of the two sides and dominated early exchanges with some heavy tackles being put in on their Wigan counterparts who persisted to test the Salford defence.
Peter Szwandt-Clarke went extremely close with a neat chip over the top but he failed to re-gather the ball with a clear run to the line beckoning.
Despite the end to end action the scores ended up tied 0-0 at the end of normal time. The game was then finally settled three minutes into Golden Point extra time with an unlikely drop goal from Ben Taberner which managed to evade the strong wind and sail straight through the middle of the posts to ecstatic celebrations from the winning team.
Wigan Warriors Education Academy Coach Matty Peet said:
"For our first outing this was a tremendous effort by all of our squad who we brought to the tournament. We fully enjoyed our day and came together as a group of people even more as a result of our experience."
Wigan Warriors Education Academy begin their season on the 28th September away to Winstanley College, 2pm kick off.
Places on the Wigan Warriors Education Academy courses are still available on a full time basis on either a BTEC National Extended Diploma in Sport or an Advanced Apprenticeship. For more information contact Head of Education Dave Gibbons on 07411111241 or email d.gibbons@wiganwarriors.com