Wigan St Patricks End Leigh Miners Rangers 2 Year Unbeaten Home Run to Reach the Challenge Cup 2nd Round!

In difficult conditions that stirred up memories of Winter Rugby, Wigan St Pats took to the field for thier first round clash against Leigh Miners Rangers!

Neither team disappointed the large crowd and the BBC audience, as this game was the first game of Community rugby league to be televised by the BBC, both teams kept the error count to a minimun despite the conditions and Wigan St Patricks took the lead following a stunning long range pass from Danny Ryding to Jack Winnard who crossed in the corner to add the first points to the scoreboard.  The touchline conversion made to look easy by James Radcliffe, both Winnard and Radcliffe were making their Open Age debuts.

Miners hit back following the sin binning of Mike Scrivens with a try that saw the Pats defence stretched at the edges, but the conversion was missed, but a late penalty for Leigh saw the ball sail through the uprights and the half time score was 6-6.

Leigh came out of the sheds fired up and enjoyed a good deal of posession early in the second half, but the Pats defence was solid and Leigh were unable to capitalise on their time in posession but Pats determination shone through and Danny Ryding crossed for Pats second try, conversion is missed but Pats take the lead 10-6.

The pendulum soon swung back in Miner’s favour and Reynolds crossed after an elusive run, try is converted and Pats now trail 12-10!

Despite the scoreline being in Leigh’s favour Pats looked firmly in control and it only seemed like a matter of time before they hit back – and they did!  In the last 5 minutes of the game saw Scrivens make a great break and he sent Mitchell saililng in to give Pats the lead, Radcliffe converted the try and with little more than a few minutes remaining the Pats lads dug deepe, defended for their lives and a mistake from Leigh in the dying minutes saw Pats complete the match with ball in hand and on the right end of a 16-12 scoreline!

This victory saw Wigan St Patricks bring a 2 year unbeaten home run to a standstill and also gave them a place in the 2nd Round of the Challenge Cup.

We are extremely proud of  the players, coaches and support staff #UpThePats