Jail Break

This late revival though can't disguise the fact that for much of the preceding seventy minutes, the Wolves had been outplayed by a Leigh side, hovering in or just above the league's relegation zone.

Leigh haven’t won at The Memorial Ground for around ten years, suffering some notable reverses along the way. It’s become something of a bogey ground for them and they must have left it last Saturday wondering exactly what they have to do to win. If they’d taken just a fraction of the chances they created they would have won by the proverbial country mile but there was an anxiety in their play, born out of a hard struggle in a tough league this season. On more than one occasion the final pass just wouldn’t go to hand and nor did they possess the ideas or pace for the most part to break down a stubborn Wolves defence.

Wilmslow’s troubles stem from having to play, with the exception of the skipper Mike Clifford and the recalled veteran Alex McLennan, a young inexperienced and underpowered pack, injuries to older more experienced players having taken its toll. It’s generally held that front row forwards are at their most effective at around thirty years old, when they have mastered the arts of the position, have developed their full strength and are still mobile enough to run around the pitch. Of the ten players, who have appeared in the front row this season only one falls into that category. The youngsters will get better as they mature but for now the raw courage and commitment, they offer is just not enough. They tackled throughout as though their very lives depended on it but it is instructive that half the tries scored against the Wolves in recent weeks have come from ‘catch and drive’ situations, which they have just not been able to resist. It’s devilishly difficult to legally stop a driving maul so you have to prevent it from getting any momentum in its early stages by binding together tight and low. Add to that frailties in both scrum and lineout and the side soon finds that it is playing with less than 50% of the possession.

In contrast, the backs, orchestrated by the evergreen Bob MacCallum, used the limited ball that came their way very well. Ricky Chadwick and Mike Black in the centre are growing into a dangerous combination, Ben Day never put a foot wrong at fullback and Elliot Brierley on the right wing was simply outstanding. Early on he produced a cameo of the highest class, taking a pass to swerve outside his opponent before changing his angle of run, straightening and then changing his pace to allow others to catch up before off loading with a perfectly timed pass. That piece of skill was worth the entrance money alone.

The match had been going only three minutes, when the Wilmslow forwards were turned over in mid field and Leigh contrived to drop the ball close to the Wilmslow line, when they had acres of room and spare players, any one of whom could have scored. MacCallum landed a penalty to open the scoring, when the Wolves broke out of defence but Leigh were soon back in the box seat. Number 8, Calvin Crompton was held up over the line and then Leigh centre, Ryan McInstrey, ran round the defence to his right to touch down on seventeen minutes. In the absence of Leigh’s regular kicker, Terry Knapman, second row Mark Welsh stepped up to knock over the conversion. Another clear cut opportunity for Leigh went begging just before the half hour, when their Number 10, Darren Leach was yellow carded for a high tackle. The single blemish on MacCallum’s afternoon followed when he missed from thirty yards in front of the posts and the Wolves then failed to capitalise on their one man advantage. No sooner had Leach reappeared than a misfired Wolves clearance kick gave Leigh the chance to set up a ‘catch and drive’ position. Their lineout had hitherto been rock solid and they made no mistake to extend their lead, hooker Ian Wood getting the touchdown, on the cusp of half time.

The visitors continued to enjoy the greater share of possession throughout the second half but all they could achieve for their efforts was a second Ian Wood try from a driving maul. In part, this was due to a lack of ideas and inability to put any pace on the ball and in part to the determined resolute tackling from the Wolves, just as it looked that they had to succumb to the pressure. A decent crowd couldn’t help but be enthralled by the intensity of what was going on.

And then, when all seemed lost, a blatant bit of obstruction as the Wolves mounted an attack, gave scrum half, Stuart Lindsay, the chance to take a quick short penalty and to score under the posts. Revitalised the Wolves came again, this time through Brierley, now in the centre, who weaved his way upfield before delivering the final pass to Tom Raynor on the left wing. Raynor doesn’t always look as though he has sufficient belief in his undoubted potential but this time the way ahead was clear for him to score. The ice cool MacCallum landed a very missable conversion to secure a share of the points.

There was still time for the Wolves to mount a final attack but when that broke down, the Polskiego Zwiazku Rugby (Polish Rugby Union) exchange referee from Gdansk, Marcin Zeszutek, brought proceedings to a close. He had officiated consistently throughout with a minimum of whistle and the exhausted players had responded by playing to their limits. That’s how it should be. And the Wolves, well, it’s proving to be a difficult run in for them and they were fortunate to get out of jail. We were robbed complained a disconsolate visitor from Leigh and few would disagree.