2017 Road To Wembley - Round One
After a
break of almost three months without domestic rugby the opening day for the
amateur and community clubs had finally arrived! Officially the 2017 season was about to get underway
as Round One of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup kicked off with a huge local derby
between two National Conference League Premier Division sides.
As it was
last year, Leigh Miners Rangers had been drawn at home at this stage of the
competition so my first road trip was pleasingly short and comfortable. The visitors this time would be their near
rivals Wigan St Patricks, a side who had only sneaked into the Play-offs at the
end of last season thanks to a better point’s difference over seventh placed
Kells. The Miners, who had swept all
before them to claim a treble of trophies in 2015, had finished in a
disappointing third place in 2016. The
teams last played each other in early October in the first round of those
Play-offs and today’s hosts had come out victorious, winning 36-16. But despite a narrow 22-20 away win to league
runners-up West Hull in the Semi’s they lost heavily to league-leaders Siddal
in the Grand Final on 30 October 42-4.
Having received
confirmation that our presence would not be required elsewhere, the better half
and I set off to Twist Lane to take in our first rugby game of the season. I expected there to be a much larger
attendance than last season due to the teams being just six miles apart, so we
agreed to get there as early as possible.
Having managed to find an unorthodox space to park up in an already
packed car park we made our way into the ground, paid our entrance fee (which I
noticed had gone up by 50p from last season), purchased a programme and made
our way to purchase a warming beverage.
Earlier
in the week it was announced that the BBC would be live streaming a game from
each of the first five rounds of this year’s Challenge Cup and they had picked
this derby as their focus game for Round One.
Therefore, the pitch side was laden with Ladbrokes, Dacia and Rhino’s
advertising boards and a rather rickety looking gantry had been built where the
BBC cameras were filming the match. The
programme also said that the Challenge Cup itself was in attendance but
unfortunately I never got the chance to see it.
The light
shower that fell as the game got underway didn’t perturb the die-hard fans to
take shelter under the clubhouse canopy like us but, with butties in hand that
we’d brought from home, we opted to try and crane our necks over the line of
spectators along the pitch side barriers.
Admittedly,
It was difficult to see the far near side of the pitch from our vantage point
but we could tell that it was a tense match from the reaction of the crowd to
some of the decisions made by referee Scott Mikalauskas. A few errors were committed by each side as
they tried to dust off their pre-season cobwebs but the first score went to a
strong visiting attack with 20 minutes gone.
A successful conversion meant St Pats were 6-0 ahead.
But the
Miners looked just as strong and, with a big crowd behind them, were able to
pull a try back in the left corner with three minutes to go but their
conversion was missed and St Pat’s were still 6-4 ahead as half time was
looming. Play suddenly stopped and we
thought the ref had blown for half time but he’d actually given Miners a
penalty which was successfully kicked and the sides were level at the break!
At half
time we decided to make a move for the opposite side of the ground along the
car park fence right behind the in-goal area.
The rain had died off but it had left the pitch rather boggy under foot
and it was a challenge in itself not to slip and fall walking behind the sticks
at the car park end. We made it to the
other side and enjoyed a much better view of the game during the second period
which included a bloke from Golborne failing miserably to win himself £5,000 in
the Ladbrokes Crossbar Challenge.
The
second half got underway with thoughts that the first score would be crucial to
the outcome of the game. It was St Pats
who surprisingly got it six minutes in but this time their kick was missed and
their lead was a slender one at 10-6 with over half an hour to go.
The game
swung in the home side’s favour eight minutes later though when the centre
scored a good try to level the tie for the second time and thanks to a
successful conversion they led for the first time in the game. Surely Leigh wouldn’t miss out on a place in
the draw for Round Two for a second year in a row?
But they will
as St Pats’ smelled blood in the last ten minutes as they pushed for what would
surely be a winning try. And they got it
with four minutes remaining. An
excellently worked try saw the visitors steam over for their third and final
try, much to the delight of their travelling supporters, and when the easy
conversion was secured they by four again at 16-12. And that was enough to seal victory as the
full time whistle blew very soon after!
So for
two years I’ve started my journey at Leigh Miners Rangers and both times they
have lost. I seem to have become some
sort of jinx to the Miners (sorry guys!).
But it will be Wigan St Patricks who I will now be following with
anticipation in Tuesday night’s draw.
Where
will my journey take me next?
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