Brothers Triumphant in Wigan

On a day when everything fell into place including the weather the Brothers put on a fantastic performance to stun Wigan St Patricks on their own patch coming out winners by 36:20.

At the clubs discretion St Pats did not enter this year’s Challenge Cup so with only a couple of warm ups including a friendly against Ince Rose Bridge the Pats side came into the match looking for some quality game time. RNRL provided just that in spades especially in defence as the Brothers put on one of the best performances ever. If there was any doubt as to the strength of St Pats the shirts adorning the clubhouse wall bear testimony to former players who started out at the club before moving onto domestic and international stardom so despite a couple of first teamers rested the home coaches put out a strong squad.

As for the RN team Steve Lockton had a strong squad available to him and made full use of them, blooding some of the Academy side with a view to Inter Services to cope with the absence of players like Mike Haldenby, Kami Kamikamica, Richie Metcalfe, Gareth Cadmore and Darren Bamford who pulled out due to injury.

As mentioned above the weather on the day was perfect, almost cloudless sky, lots of sun and a light breeze meant it was ideal conditions for the players. The St Pats pitch was in good shape too despite heavy rain earlier in the week.

The game was barely five minutes old when the RN crossed for the first score of the match, a good defensive set secured the ball for the visitors who then went up the pitch to threaten the home lin. Good movement had the ball out to the left initially before the wingers moved inside and final pass to Nathan Lee who hit a great line saw the second row cross under the posts for his firsts try for the Brothers. A straight forward conversion for Ryan Matthews had RNRL ahead by 0:6. Buoyed by this early breakthrough RNRL pressed St Pats in their own half and with a great bit of individual play Mne Tom Loxam stole the ball in the tackle and crossed to touchdown for his first try in RNRL colours, Matthews was just wide with the 2 pointer so it remained 0:10 but this was only in minute 9! This perfect start got even better as the home side were pulled up for holding down in the tackle as they tried to slow the Brothers onslaught. From the penalty the ball was moved out to the right wing where Buinimasi took on the defence on his own and managed to pop the ball over the heads of the St Pats players into the arms of his wingman and fellow Fijian Tu Roko who cut inside to beat the cover touching down for his first of the match, despite the missed conversion RNRL were scoring at around a point a minute at this stage and the home side were looking shell shocked to say the least! This did not last long tough and they rallied to force themselves back into the game. Great midfield play brought them close to the Brothers line and the tall No 16 went over to register his sides first points of the game, the lad then banged over a good conversion to bring the scores to 6:14. As the game moved towards half time RNRL were reduced to 12 following a couple of similar back to back penalty’s and the home side took full advantage to post their second score of the match. In almost a copy of his first score the St Pats No 16 came into the line again and crossed despite the best efforts of the RN defence, another well struck conversion brought the home side within two points of the Brothers. This was as close as it was going to get for them though, another good passage of attacking play ended with huge midfield bomb from Kev Botwood aimed at the St Pats left corner, Tu Roko made a perfectly timed run and leap for the ball taking it from the hands of the defended to touch down out wide. A difficult kick for Matthews was pushed wide so at the half time whistle the score was 10-18. The home side however were certainly not out of it and were always a threat especially through the midfield channels. With the first half almost done one such break from inside their own half caught the RN defence napping but great cover initially by Steve Riley to hold up the player was finished off by Roko who came from 20 yards back to hit the player and make the tackle forcing the knock on great entertainment for the crowd. A great first half display by the Brother’s across all areas of the team led to a dominant display over a St Pats side who despite being behind on the score board always looked dangerous especially coming through from centre field 12 :18 at the break

The second half promised much and did not let the crowd down; the first incident of note put the RN once again on the offensive. Tommy Wilkinson who had another mighty first half attempted to take the ball out of his own half but was hit hard and high by the Pats defence. Both player involved left the field as precautionary measure for possible concussion but from the penalty RNRL were on the march again. Another pinpoint kick from midfield out to the right saw Tu Roko once again challenge for the ball and again beat the home defenders, pulling the ball in he beat the cover to cross for his hat trick on the day and his second of the season. Five minutes later Roko was on the board again, a more conventional try this one, the initial break coming from Mark Robinson and Silivenusi Buinimasi who took the defence on before another perfect pass gave Roko the space to beat the defence fourth time touching down nearer the posts to make Matthews’ kick more straightforward. The scrum half duly obliged with the two pointers pushing his teams lead out to 28:12. Once again however the St Pats side proved they were not giving up good work again in midfield earned them another score to bring the game within twelve points. Lewis Taylor was now on the park from the subs bench and he carried on piling the pressure on the St Pats right side, a good break by the Club Captain released Buinimasi once again who pushed for the line before releasing Manoa Satala who had replaced Tu Roko and carried on where he had left off touching down out wide for his first of the season, 32:16. Another player having a great match after starting from the bench was Ben Taylor. A 40 metre break by the free running second row was halted short of the line and from the play the ball it looked odds on to be another RN Score but a knock on at the last pass was a let off for the St Pats side. Not long afterwards though Taylor got himself on the scoreboard himself, running a brilliant line from left of midfield he cut through the Pats defence to score a well deserved try. Pats came back with a late try of their own but it was merely a consolation and at the full time whistle the RN could be rightly proud of themselves inflicting a 36 :20 defeat on one of the prominent teams in the NCL Premier Division.

Fijian Buinimasi was nominated as RN man of the match with Andy Kay and Ben Taylor getting special mentions, for the home side Andy Higham took their award for a strong showing thought the game.

RN
Steve Riley, Manoa Satala, Tom Loxam, Silivenusi Buinimasi, Tu Roko, Kev Botwood, Ryan Matthews, James Shaw, Andy Kay, Lewis Taylor, Nathan Lee, Mark Robinson (C) Tommy Wilkinson, Mark Sharp, Rob Conde, Sam Carter, Craig Sutton, Jackson Drury, Tom Marchant, Matt Parrott, Ben Taylor

Scorers:- T Tu Roko(4) Lee, Loxam, Satala, Ben Taylor
G Matthews(2Conv