Venue: Edge Hall Road, Orrell, Wigan, Lancashire

Kickoff: 02:00 pm

Gillette Academy Championship

Wigan Warriors 26

T: Tomkins (L.) 2, Olstron, Melling

G: Murphy 5

Bradford Bulls 30

T: Hellewell, Williamson, McKay, Kay, Olbison

G: Addy 5

H.T. 20-6

Wigan : Jack Murphy; Ryan King, Karl Olstron, Gareth Melling, David Parkinson, Declan McLoughlan, Sam Powell, Tom Spencer, Logan Tomkins, Liam Thompson, Jack Hughes, Matthew Sarsfield, Greg Burke. Subs. Danny Parkinson, Keiran Harrison, Matthew Crow, Danny Bridge.

Bradford : Ben Hellewell; Karl Williamson, Rob Hawthorne, Liam McKay,Joe Wardle, Liam Kay, George Burgess, Adam O’Brien, Tom Lillycrop, Adam Tate, Tom Olbison, Danny Addy. Subs. Gareth Haynes, Matt Bailey, Mike Tate, Tom Burgess.

Wigan’s Academy youngsters dramatically succumbed in the last quarter of an exciting contest versus a physically far bigger Bradford Bulls outfit headed by the Burgess twins, George and Tom.

Nevertheless, despite playing into a strong wind it was Wigan that dominated the first half. The much smaller Wigan front rowers; Spencer, Thompson and Harrison led the way as Wigan completed their sets and ultimately controlled possession and territory. Bradford made too many errors and struggled to utilise the physical conditions that were in their favour.

Wigan took the lead after 15 minutes when Gareth Melling on the second tackle following a scrum sliced through the Bradford defence from close range out wide. Jack Murphy converted brilliantly from the touchline to give Wigan a 6-0 lead. As the half progressed Wigan’s dominance grew with Matthew Sarsfield and Greg Burke to the fore. Bradford started to concede penalties in the tackle and one such penalty for holding down saw Murphy kick the two pointer and extend Wigan’s lead to 8-0.

From the reserve bench, Danny Bridge produced two moments of sheer class in attack. After 35 minutes he broke clear from just inside the Bradford half and fed the supporting Karl Olstrom who ran in unopposed for a try. Murphy converted the try to extend Wigan’s lead to 14-0.

Buoyed with confidence Wigan started to move the ball wide at every opportunity. Unfortunately, an overly ambitious pass by Jack Murphy was intercepted by Bradford winger, Kyle Williamson who strolled in for an easy try. Bradford missed the conversion to leave Wigan 14-4 ahead.

With half time approaching, Bridge produced a wonderful offload in the tackle to put Logan Tomkins in for a well take try under the posts. Murphy added the conversion to extend Wigan’s lead to 20-4.

Bradford kicked a penalty on the stroke of half time to see Wigan enter the break with a 20-6 lead.

Unfortunately, the Wigan youngsters failed to heed the lessons of the first half and construed to fail, like Bradford, to use the strong breeze that was now in their favour to their advantage.

Five minutes into the second half Bradford’s England Academy tourist, second rower Tom Olbison broke clear down the right for a 40 yard try scoring effort. Danny Addy fortuitously added the conversion, rebounding off the post to reduce Wigan’s lead to 20-12.

Wigan enjoyed their own good fortune in the next five minutes when the French touch judge failed to spot Greg Burke knocking on in the tackle. Less than a minute later Burke was slipping a brilliant around the corner offload to Logan Tomkins who darted over for his second try of the match. Murphy added the conversion to extend Wigan’s lead to 26-12.

Seemingly heading for defeat, Bradford brilliantly turned the table on a dominant Wigan team. A strong tackling set had seen Bradford fail to gain much territory and on the back foot they boldly decided to run the ball on the last tackle in their own 20. The ball was passed to giant left winger, Matt Harding who fended off his opposing winger Ryan King to break clear before passing to the supporting Matthew Tate who drew the Wigan fullback and sent Liam Kay clear for a great try. Addy converted to reduce the Wigan lead to 26-18.

As often happens, Bradford knocked on from the kick off. Yet, having been gifted possession, Wigan handed the ball back to Bradford after only 2 tackles. The rampaging George Burgess took full advantage to offload the ball to the supporting Kay who almost reached the try line himself before being stopped by a last ditch tackle. With the Wigan defensive line scrambling to get back in position, Bradford Bull’s Ben Hellewell plunged over the try line. Addy again kicked the conversion to leave Wigan handing onto a narrow 26-24 lead.

Wigan became disorganised and ragged whilst Bradford’s confidence grew. Unable to hold back the much bigger and now rampant Bradford pack Wigan soon saw the lead slip from their grasp for the very first time and ultimately handed victory to Bradford with Rob Hawthorne scoring the match winning try for Bradford.

Wigan sent the resulting kick off out on the full and lacked the composure to snatch the game back from Bradford. Over the 80 minutes of what was a very tiring match v the Bradford juggernauts, Logan Tomkins led the way throughout. Matthew Sarsfield and Greg Burke were similarly nonstop in their efforts. Jack Murphy and Danny Bridge both showed moments of genuine class. On the day Bradford were simply too big and strong to be contained for 80 minutes. The Burgess twins look destined to follow in the footsteps of their elder brothers.

Map:
Click Here to see a map of the ground.

Directions:
By Car:

The the M62, followed by the M60 through Manchester and then A580 East Lancs Road to Heydock. Then turn North (to Preston) onto the M6. Leave the M6 at junction 26, and take the exit signpost Orrell. At the first set of traffic lights turn left on A577, and at the second set turn left again onto Moor Road, signposted Orrell RUFC. At third set of lights turn left into Church Street. After Aproximately 400yards turn left into Edge Hall Road.

By Rail:

Wigan NorthWestern is the main West Coast line station in Wigan, linking to London and Glasgow. Then take a taxi from the rank at the front of the station to the ground which is about 4miles away. Alternatively, trains run to Orrell Station from Wigan Wallgate (which is across the road from Wigan NorthWest Station and connects to Manchester), with Orrell station only 50yards from the ground.

Contact:
0870 11-22-552