Rebels play their part in Warrington's Super Silver Sunday!!

In the unexpected sunshine the Rebels opened their account with a pool fixture against the home side Preston.

Pre-tournament training had concentrated on a tricky restart from the dead ball and tagging tagging, tagging!

Preston were on the back foot from the off as Sam Roberts, Ben Lomax and Ryan Edwards took control of the centre of the park by tagging Preston back to their own line.

This territorial advantage allowed for short range tries from Ryan (2), Harrison Dillon and a typically direct effort from Josh Barnard.

The reward for some super tagging was a clean sheet and the match ended 4-0 to the Rebels.

Match two against Fylde B was a tougher challenge but for much of the match the tagging machine kept Fylde off the score sheet.

The Rebels deployed their switch move in this match, Ben Lomax, Ryan Edwards and Sam Roberts all scored directly from dead ball restarts proving the effectiveness of the ploy.

Ben helped himself to another two tries towards the end of the game but Fylde were able to match these and the game finished 5-2.

Match three against a touring Darlington side was a repeat of games one and two. Ryan Edwards pirouetted over for a hat trick of tries, Ben Lomax and Jacob Sollory Park also scored, whilst the defensive line was only breached once and so the Rebels went into the final pool game knowing they had already qualified for the semi finals.

Game four was against an unbeaten Waterloo side who attacked aggressively from the outset and who took an early two-try lead. More worryingly for the Rebels though was the avalanche of turnovers the referee awarded the opposition.

The referee gave so many penalties for 'not properly returning the tag' that he threatened the next offender with a sending off!

Worse still, when the Rebels deployed their switch move, the referee declared it illegal and gave a further penalty.

An upset and confused Rebels squad knuckled down to the task and Ben Lomax (2) and Harrison Dillon matched further tries by Waterloo to see the game out as 3-5 losers.

Some intensive coaching and positive reinforcement got the boys back off the floor to face Fylde A in the semi final and it was a return to business as usual.

Ryan Edwards, Josh Barnard and Harrison Dillon all ran in tries with Fylde only able to provide a single reply to see the Rebels into the final 3-1.

The boys perhaps expected to face Waterloo in the final but were knocked sideways a little when the same problematic ref as in the first match was nominated for the final!

A pre-match conference with the ref was helpful and to be fair, the problem for us was that all previous refs found no problem with our play and it was the significant change in approach that really hampered our game.

The match got underway and Waterloo piled over for a try in the opening seconds.

The Rebels were far better prepared mentally this time round though and a try from Ben Lomax levelled the game.

Further tries from Ryan Edwards and Harrison Dillon gave the Rebels a 3-1 half time lead though the ball was still being handed back to the opposition too often for the tagging offence.

An exchange of tries saw the score move to 4-2 and then with only a minute to go Waterloo scored again.

Warrington spirits rose as the referee called 'last play' and the boys redoubled their tagging pressure to pin down Waterloo and secure the win.

However, when the whistle blew next it was not for a Warrington victory but for another 'bad tagging' penalty and as the Rebels stood dumbstruck and complaining to the ref, Waterloo took a quick restart and ran in a try to level the score.

The ref awarded the try and blew the final whistle.