Whitehaven 4 - Swinton Lions 12

THE Lions pulled off their best win of the season when they defeated Whitehaven Warriors on a Recreation Ground which looked more like a rice paddy field!

The pitch was very muddy and incessent rain and high winds did not help the conditions.

Talking to supporters before the game, I came to the conclusion that the Lions had the lighter pack and in the conditions they had more chance of victory - a point that was proved correct at the end of the match.

The Lions almost opened their try account in the 12th minute when Gavin Price-Jones was gounded just inches short of the line and Warriors winger Graeme Lewthwaite was sent to the sin bin for holding the Lions second row man down at the play the ball. Ian Watson converted the resulting penalty to put the Lions ahead.

Mark Welsby pulled off a try-saving tackle on Craig Walsh four minutes later after a good break by Aaron Lester. The Warriors drew level in the 20th minute when the Lions were caught offside in front of their own posts and Kevin Hetherington added the penalty goal. Damien Cleary got over the try line on the half hour but the Warriors managed to ground him on his back for the try to be ruled out by referee Colin Morris .

Marlon Billy almost grabbed a try in the 45th minute but a last-ditch kick dead by Lewthwaite denied the winger as he dived in at the corner. The Lions first try came on 49 minutes when Paul Barrow put out a great pass for Ian Watson to go over near the corner but he could not add the conversion.

The Warriors hit back six minutes later when Richard Henare was sent to the sin bin for talking out of turn to the official and Hetherington kicked the penalty goal to make it 6-4 to the Lions.

The match-winning try came 15 minutes from the end when Steve Gartland recieved a pass which landed at his feet. He did not touch it with his hands and instead fly-hacked it through the defence. With the referee waving play-on it was a race for the line and, as Gartland dived for the ball, he was held back by a Warriors defender and the referee awarded a penalty try to the substitute. Gartland also added the goal points to make it 12-4 for the lions.

The home side threw everything at Swinton in the dying minutes and Lee Kiddie and Craig Chambers both had chances to score but knocked-on in the rush to get to the line.

WARRIORS: K Hetherington, Lewthwaite, Seeds, Lynch, Walsh, Kitchin, Joe, G Hetherington, Lester, Fatialofa, Chambers, Morton, Charlton. Subs: Kiddie, Bone, Vaughan, Purdham.

LIONS: Welsby, Henare, Hill, Evans, Billy, Watson, Cleary, Blease, McCabe, Eccles, Barrow, Price-Jones, Casey. Subs: Gartland, Ashcroft, Cushion, Rogers.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.