England Lionhearts 22 v Ireland Wolfhounds 28
Dave Parkinson at Hilton Park
The Irish Wolfhounds opened their 2007 Skanska Four Nations Championship campaign with an exciting five try win over last seasons winners, the English Lionhearts at Leigh.
Key to the victory was a 12-point contribution from Siddal hooker or halfback Liam Walsh and equally important link-play between halfbacks Stevie Gibbons and Matt Ashe which the Wolfhounds Technical Coach Tony Benson also acknowledged.
"He was an important part of today's plan as were the two halves." He said. "That was the area we worked pretty hard because that was the difference between us and them - playing off our halves and hooker as a variation."
I was particularly happy with our tries in the first half, those weren't flukes and they weren't planned moves either, but they were game awareness which is what we've been trying to teach them over the last six weeks. They purposefully created the situation by putting them where they did and then going wider. The passing was superb too."
The game started amid a flurry of activity when Wolfhounds second row Mike Harte was sinbinned after just three minutes following successive high tackles. Although Bramley Buffaloes centre Paul Drake missed the attempt on goal, the Lionhearts took the lead when Warrington Wizards Matt Wilson forced his way over for the opening try after six minutes.
The following sixteen minutes saw the team's trade handling errors but the English looked far more likely to break through with former Rochdale and Whitehaven fullback Chris Campbell a constant threat.
Gradually however, the Wolfhounds grew in confidence and when they were held short, the ball was moved left and Ashe scored a try converted by Walsh after 22 minutes. Seven minutes later, Ireland repeated the dose but this time big Alan Robinson forced his way over. A towering conversion from Walsh made it 12-4.
The Lionhearts needed to hit back and quickly and St Ives prop Marco Rossi gave them the fillip with a real barge over from close range following a clever switch at the play-the-ball. This time Drake converted and added a penalty ninety seconds from the break to tie the scores.
Four minutes into the new half, the Wolfhounds hurried and harried the English side, forcing an error that eventually resulted in Wayne Carr charging through three tacklers to score.
Again the Lionhearts responded with a try of quality. Substitute Stu Smith moved play to the right, Matt Mullholland ran into the hole before offloading at the right moment for Telford's Richard Whitehouse to sweep in at the corner. Drake converted superbly from the touchline but there was no discounting the Irish. They attacked with renewed vigour and Mike Brodie managed to squeeze in at the corner to put the Wolfhounds in front for the final time after 55
minutes.
Walsh missed the conversion attempt but there was no stopping him twelve minutes later when he spotted the smallest of holes and darted over from dummy half. That came after Blackpool pair Chris Spiers and Tom Sibley had worked a chance for England before Smith spilled possession.
Gibbons missed with a drop-goal attempt for the Wolfhounds before Rossi made things very interesting with his second try five minutes from the end but the Wolfhound's increased awareness saw them home.
Lionhearts coach Steve Woodburn said "It was a tough game. We expected a tough game from Ireland. It was a classic case in the second half of losing possession and having to do
defend - we put pressure on ourselves. At half-time, coming out with the wind at our backs I thought we had the game in our grasp but we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, turned the ball over and Ireland benefited from that."
GAMESTAR: Liam Walsh was outstanding, a regular thorn in the Lionhearts side.
GAMEBREAKER: Walsh's self converted try on 67 minutes just meant the Lionhearts had too much to do.
LIONHEARTS:
1 Chris Campbell 8
2 Richard Whitehouse 8
3 Paul Drake 6
4 Matt Mullholland 6
5 Darren Forshaw 7
6 Scott Pendlebury 6
7 Jamie Nicholson 6
8 Marco Rossi 9
9 Chris Spiers 8
10 Andy Lake 7
11 Carl Leach 6
12 Tom Sibley 8
13 Matt Wilson 8
Subs (All Used)
14 Dan Reeds 7
15 Ollie Fountain 6
16 Nick Mercer 7
17 Stu Smith 6
Tries: Wilson (6), Rossi (33, 75), Whitehouse (50)
Goals: Drake 3/6
WOLFHOUNDS:
1 Alan McNamara 7
2 Craig McInerney 7
3 Mike Brodie 8
4 Wayne Kelly 7
5 Eimhim Griffith 7
6 Stevie Gibbons 9
7 Matt Ashe 9
8 Wayne Kerr 8
9 Liam Walsh 9
10 Clive Gee 7
11 Mike Harte 6
12 Phil Purdue 6
13 Luke Garnett 7
SUBS (ALL USED)
21 Alan Robinson 7
19 Sean Hennesy 7
16 Declan Nash 6
17 Lemeki Vaipulu 6
Tries: Ashe (22), Robinson (29), Kerr (44), Brodie (55), Walsh (67)
Goals: Walsh 4/5.
Sinbinned: Mike Harte (3 - High tackle).
Referee: R. Rees
Penalties: 5-4
Half-time: 12-12
Weather: Cloudy and muggy
Match Rating: 4/5
