A thrilling cup tie packed full of incident ultimately ended in bitter disappointment for the Brothers as they went down 28-20 to current Summer Conference Champions Warrington Wizards at the famous old Wilderspool Stadium.

RN Management, Coach Danny Johnson and Manager Jason Steele had taken an almost full strength squad to the North West for a full days training the day before the match and although they knew the match would be tough they also knew the Brothers were definitely in with a shout.

Despite almost continuous rain in the days prior to the match the Wilderspool pitch had stood up well and provided a great surface to play on. The wind however had not let up and although it eased during the match it still caused problems for both teams alike. The wind in fact led to the first score of the match to the home side, from the kick off the ball hung in the air traveling barely the ten metres before dropping into the arms of the Wolves. The Wolves took the ball up to the Brothers line and on the last tackle a neat grubber caused confusion in the defence and Dave Yii touched down for the first score after barely 2 minutes. Despite the conversion being missed RNRL had got off to the worst possible start going behind without getting hands on the ball, to make matters worse Skipper Mark Robinson suffered a bad hand injury in the opening exchanges and was off the field after only five minutes but did return later on. This Brothers side however is a resilient bunch nowadays and did not panic at these early setbacks. After some promising moves through the centre the ball was kicked deep into the Wizards in-goal and in a reversal of fortunes Tommy Wilkinson pounced on the loose ball in similar fashion to the Wizards 5 minutes previously to bring the scores level. Wilkinson’s try brought his own personal ‘barmy army’ of family and friends over from Halifax to their feet in celebration. The game settled down for a few minutes as both teams sought out the next score. A missed touch from a penalty gave the Wizards their next opportunity and Matt Taylor burst through the RN defence to score under the posts with Warren Ayres converting. Eight minutes later second row Paul Alcock crossed out wide for the Wizards and managed to cut around behind the posts giving Warren Ayres his second easy conversion. So after a breathless non stop 20 minutes RNRL were 12 points down at 16:4. The next 20 minutes or so saw the tide turn in favour of the Brothers who showed far better control of the Ball and tightened up much more in defence. As the half wore on it seemed almost inevitable the RN side would score but stout resistance from the Wizards made it difficult to find an opening. The sustained pressure on the home line finally told and after earning a repeat set the ball came inside from the left and was met at pace by prop Richie Metcalfe who was not going to be stopped and duly crashed over under the post to give Dane Smallbone a straight forward conversion. After the kick the ref blew for half time much to the relief of the home side who were tiring fast under intense pressure from the Brothers who it has to be said would have probably liked another 5 minutes at them.

After some good work early on in the second half the visitors suffered two major setbacks firstly Richie Metcalfe took a massive hit from the wizards Loose forward Taylor which dislocated his shoulder, the Ref awarded the penalty and in their haste to make good yards the ball was dropped handing possession back to the Wizards who replied with a fourth try scored by Winger Healy who again was able to make the conversion easy for Prop Nick Owen. Once again the Brothers were up against it again but despite the scoreline they took the game to the Wizards who were now showing a lot of fatigue as the onslaught on their line was incessant. The breakthrough came to the right of the posts with Tommy Wilkinson diving between defenders to reach out with ball in one hand to touch down giving the Brothers renewed hope. The pattern of almost endless attacks continued broken only by midfield bombs used by the Wizards to clear their beleaguered lines however full back Mike Haldenby used them as catching practice and was faultless throughout returning good yards on the kicks for good measure. The attacks continued led by RN prop Lewis Taylor who had a massive game making huge yards through the heart of the wizards defence. Ten minutes after Wilkinson’s second try scrum half Kev Botwood took the ball to the opposition line and he also touched down with one arm at full stretch closing the gap once more and with Smallbones conversion the Brothers had closed to within two points. More injuries as a result of the high intensity of the game broke up the play a little with the Wizards desperate to hang on as the clock moved towards full time. A penalty conceded by the Brothers gave the home side chance to clear their lines and mount one of their few attacks in the second half. After appearing to stall a speculative back pass that could have gone anywhere fell to the Wizards who shipped the ball across to their left giving centre Mike Stout just enough room to squeeze in by the flag so the home side were now up by six with five minutes to go. Any thoughts the Brothers had of squaring the match were dashed when experienced Prop Nick Owen kicked a fantastic touchline conversion which in effect was the game breaker. Although the Brothers fought to the end they were unable to close the gap so when Referee David Sharpe blew the final whistle the Wizards came out on top and in doing so created a bit of RL history as they are probably the only side ever to play and beat all three of the Services RL teams.

For the Brothers despite the loss there were fine performances across the squad, which saw Craig Sutton play his second game since returning from PT course in almost his own backyard whilst the other local boys Dave Gee and Matt Briers also had good games. The Wizards Coaching staff awarded Lewis Taylor Man of the Match for the RN, once again giving every thing for the cause throughout the 80 minutes. The two Challenge Cup performances by the RN Squad for the rest of the season and with a series of tough encounters over the next few months preparations are well under way for Septembers Inter Services Series.

RN Scorers
Wilkinson (t)08 Mins
Metcalfe (t)38 Mins
Smallbone (C)39 Mins
Wilkinson (t)49Mins
Botwood (t)56 Mins
Smallbone (c)57Mins

Wizards Scorers
Yii (t) 2 Mins
Taylor (t) 14 Mins
Ayres (c) 14 Mins
Alcock (t) 20 Mins
Ayres (c) 21 Mins
Healy (t) 45 Mins
Owen (c) 46 Mins
Stout (t) 75 Mins
Owen (c) 76 Mins

Mike Haldenby, Silivenusi Buinimasi, James Wagstaffe, Jim Barnes, Rob Sanderson, Kev Botwood, Dane Smallbone, Richie Metcalfe, Mark Robinson (C), Lewis Taylor, Gareth Cadmore, Craig Sutton, Ben Taylor, Tom Wilkinson, Matt Bryers, Dave Gee, Wata Robanakadavu
Coach- Danny Johnson

Chris Campbell, Graham Healey, Dave Yii, Mike Stout, Craig Middlemore, Alan Reddecliff, Ian Stephenson, Nick Owen, Warren Ayres, Matt Clarke, Paul Alcock, Matt Taylor, Matt Wilson, Shaun Daley, Wez Lawton, Dan Faulkner, Dan Stubbs
Coach – Chris Campbell