It was with some apprehension that we arrived for game 1 with just six players, especially as we were met with a professional-looking Hoppers squad warming up two 8-man sides in home and away strips!
Game 1 against the Hoppers A team saw Warrington fly out of the blocks, Ben Lomax was inspired as he hunted down the Hoppers with aggressive tagging. Hoppers lost ground and possession in the face of the Rebels onslaught and Josh Barnard was able to seize upon the turnover ball scoring a hat trick of tries. Ben, Sam Roberts and Jacob Sollory-Park all added tries and the Rebels won the tie 6-2.
In Game 2 we were bolstered by the arrival of Sam Hanna and Harry Whittaker who both joined in the tagging action as Warrington set about the Hoppers Development team.
Tagging efficiency increased with Harry and Ben top scoring on tags providing more ball for Josh to notch up a second hat trick of the day along with a hat trick for Ben and singles for Sam R and Harry, result, almost a shut-out at 8-1 to the Rebels.
Game 3 was again versus the Hoppers A team and some intensive coaching in their break seemed to have worked wonders as they took an early lead.
The Rebels were in no mood though to lie down and two tries each from Josh and Sam Hanna and a single from Ben saw us squeeze past the opposition 5-4.
The final game followed a familiar pattern, offensive tagging providing possession for the scorers to capitalise upon, five of the six players on the park scoring in the 6-3 victory.
Top Scorer - Josh Barnard (9)
Top Tagger - Ben Lomax (28)
Top Passer - Jacob Sollory-Park
Coaches award went to Harry Whittaker who played with great commitment and showed quick thinking time and again seizing upon the bounty of loose ball created by the high pressure tagging, well done Harry!