Fourteen Man Threes Find Winnington a Bridge Too Far

A brave Warrington 3rd XV, reduced to 14 men for the whole of the second half following an injury to winger Zak Nichols, fought a stirling battle on the backfoot but were unable to stem the inevitable tide.

Warrington’s young side dominated the opening exchanges and, ironically, it was their oldest team member, veteran Jeff Millington, who opened the scoring when he showed that he has lost none of his guile by scoring a superb individual effort. Winnington came back strongly with a converted try through their forwards and then repeated this tactic to take a 14-5 lead. Unfortunately, at this time Warrington were reduced to 14 men and struggled for the rest of the game.

The second half saw Winnington on the rampage, swiftly amassing a further 28 points to take an unassailable lead. However, Warrington showed great spirit and had the final words with tries, first from Matt Ferguson and then from Ben Hart in the closing minutes.

“When we lost Zak, a win was just a bridge too far,” commented Captain Ben Hart. “However, the lads never gave up and there were some great individual performances, notably from Freddy Nichols at flanker.”