Anselmians always knew that this would be a very tough away game. This was the team they lost to in the very last game of last season. - Match report by Trevor Petterson

Anselmians with their fluid play had the better of the first half. It was clear that Wigan were intent on spoiling and preventing the visitors from getting good ball. However, on 12 minutes the pressure paid off with the ball going from right to left after good work from the forwards. The ball went to full back John Close who had joined the line and his dive into the corner gave a deserved try to the visitors. It was expertly converted by Simon Mason to give a score of 0-7.

Wigan came back into the game on 16 minutes with a controversial try. Following a scrum the ball went wide left and although there were Anselmian hands under the ball the referee gave the try. It was not converted and the score was 5-7. Four minutes later the visitors were back on the score sheet. Again they put pressure on the Wigan defence and following a well won line out the backs made good ground through centre Matt Pennington. The ball was re-cycled and number eight Loa Tupou was there to take the ball and crash through two defenders to go over for a try. This was converted to give a score of 5-14. Conditions were wet and this contributed to some poor handling by both sides and a number of scrums for knock ons.

Loa Tupoa - No. 8 and ex Tongan Rugby League Internationalist

On 26 minutes Anselmians were caught offside and a simple kick was converted to give a score of 8-14. The penalty count was beginning to grow but no further score took place in the first half. The last 14 minutes was a stalemate due to some tactical aggression from the home side that saw them lose a player in the last minute with some wild punching.

The second half was a dour affair with Wigan preventing Anselmians getting good ball through foul means or fair. On 2 minutes the visitors were awarded yet another penalty for foul play when the decision could easily have been another yellow card for reckless play. To their credit Anselmians were intent on scoring tries and rather than take the 3 points on offer they wanted to have the opportunity to score more tries.
It was not until the 14th minute that they decided to take the points on offer when Wigan were caught offside. Simon Mason converted to give a score of 8-17. This was how the score line remained until the final whistle.

Credit to Wigan for stifling the Anselmian ambition and although the visitors had plenty of possession they failed to capitalise as a result of getting sucked into the Wigan mentality.

Their next game is away at Ormskirk. Can they keep up the momentum?

Scorers: Tries: John Close, Loa Tupoa
Penalties: Simon Mason (1)
Conversions: Simon Mason (2)