Waterhead fall away in trophy tie

ON the face of it, a 50-22 defeat presented another mauling following on from conceding 100 points against Kells seven days earlier, but Waterhead were much better in this Conference Challenge Trophy clash.

Chris Hough’s men were only 18-12 down after 15 minutes against Wigan St Pats.

However, the National Conference League top-flight side then took command to run-in nine tries in total, of which seven were converted by the trusty boot of Brad Smith.

After conceding two early scores — Joe Higham and Lyndon Robertson went in — Division Two team Waterhead broke through courtesy of Paul Davies. Jamie Mayall landed the goal.

A Tom Atherton try and Smith conversion reasserted Wigan’s superiority, only for Mayall to convert his own touchdown.

That was as good as it got for Waterhead until the 55th minute when Danny Parry crashed over.

In the meantime, Ryan Smith had notched a hat-trick and Brad Hargreaves had also gone in.

Atherton registered his second try for the visitors, before Harry Godfrey’s effort was goaled by Mayall for Waterhead.

Wigan had the last say, however, with Brad Smith touching down.

Meanwhile, any hopes Oldham St Anne’s had of progressing into the last eight were dashed by a well-drilled Featherstone Lions outfit.

Depleted Saints conceded 14 tries as the runaway NCL Division Three leaders roared to a 78-10 victory.

The Lions threatened every time they were in possession, and their first-half tally of seven touchdowns included scores from centre Richard Williams (two) and full-back Ian Jackson (two), who both impressed.

Adam Hepworth, Scott Wilson and Richard Frankland also went in, with the latter adding half-a-dozen conversions along with one from Jackson.

Saints’ only joy in a one-sided opening period came courtesy of a Sean Thomas try and at the break they were already out of contention at 42-4.

The Lions, who hold an unblemished league record, had pace to burn.

Despite the visitors’ best efforts, they were continually up against it. They were next to get on the scoreboard — Niall Collins dived in and Martyn Swaine converted — but it was one-way traffic from that point on.

Further tries from Williams (two), Jackson (two), Kieron Redfern, Danny Glassell and Liam Jackson gave the Lions a big lead.

Franklin added three more goals to his tally and Ian Jackson one to leave Saints, from Division Two, nursing a heavy loss.