Warrington Threes Continue to Improve

Warrington 3rd XV 17 Altrincham Kersal 2nd XV 28

Warrington’s third string were only four points adrift in this game against Altrincham’s second team until a breakaway Altrincham try in the last minute somewhat distorted the final score. In fact, tighter defence in the first half could well have seen Warrington win.

The first score came within minutes of the start when Altrincham caught Warrington cold and strolled over for a converted try. The home side soon pulled themselves together when Ryan Preston benefited from good approach work from the pack to score. Mark Tickle assumed the unaccustomed role of kicker and converted. Unfortunately, this parity was to be short lived, as Altrincham notched up two more converted tries, although Warrington did manage a penalty from Luke Wood.

Eleven points separated the two sides at the start of the second half but after twenty minutes Warrington reduced this to four when Tyra Hamblett latched onto a pin-point kick to the corner from Dan Reid and touched down. Luke Wood converted. At this stage, Warrington were very much on top in the forwards, where Phil Lynch, in his comeback game, Sam Bennett and Jayesh Kerai were prominent. Unrelenting Warrington pressure was met with desperate Altrincham defence, to the extent that the visitors had two men sin-binned for illegal interference. Sam Bennett then seemed to have clinched the game but he was held up over the line and Altrincham finally put the game out of Warrington’s reach with a break-away try which was converted.

“This just shows how we keep improving,” said skipper Tony Fretwell. “Altrincham beat us by 78 points earlier in the season. Today, with a little more luck, we could have won.”