» February 11th 2001
» Town 6 : 56 Wakefield Wildcats

Town were well beaten by a Wakefield side that seemed to be more organised in both defence and attack. The Wakefield line worked as a complete unit at all times, and never seemed to be in any serious trouble.

The Wakefield defence was solid with several tacklers in attendance at every Town break. In attack Wakefield seemed to keep the ball alive at every opportunity, and the passing out of the tackle to the guaranteed support that would be available allowed them to score some excellent tries.

The early exchanges saw the forwards from both sides making runs and gaining ground. Brad Davis who was named the Silk Cut Man of the match and Willie Poching being the main fulcrums for Wakefield and Mickey Horner, Tane Manihera and Carl Sice doing their bit for the Town cause.

Wakefield took the early lead after Brad Davis created the space and with additional men backing up passed to Gary Price who ran in the first try. Martin Pearson adding the conversion to give Wakefield a 6 - 0 lead.

Town were under pressure again from the kick-off, but their defence held strong. Town were forced to attack from inside their own twenty and a penalty for offside made this an easier task. With the wind behind him Tane Manihera was able to kick well into the Wakefield half. A good set of six tackles saw Town in a good position and on the final tackle Manihera took the ball and unfortunately slipped and had to pass the ball. The ball was passed between several Town players and eventually came to Carl Sice who made a drop goal attempt, but saw his effort go under the posts.

The Visitors then broke out of their own half again. Brad Davis making the initial break and ended with Willie Poching ploughing through the Town defence to score under the posts. Pearson easily adding the conversion to extend the Wakefield lead to 12 - 0.

Town were to fall further behind after a great break from inside the Wakefield half which saw several players passing out of the tackle and some great backup play saw Brad Davis collect the ball and continue on to score under the posts. Pearson added the kick to take Wakefield into an 18 - 0 lead.

A good set of six from Town saw them get close to the Wakefield line and the grubber kick through was allowed to go out of play by the defence, without any hint of a follow up from the Town attack.

It was Wakefield who further extended their lead after Pearson threw out an excellent pass out wide, missing out several players and the Wakefield fullback was able to go in at the corner. Pearson missed the attempted conversion from the sideline and the lead to Wakefield was 22 - 0.

Wakefield then added two further tries. The first after good work from Willie Poching and again some great backup play with some creative passing which created the space for Was Sovatubua to go in out wide. The second saw Brad Davis kick for the corner, and with Steve McGrady down injured in back play, Neil Law was able to collect the ball and go in unchecked in the corner. Pearson missed both conversion attempts to make the score 30 - 0 to Wakefield.

Town were to score the next points. A knock-on saw Town get the possession and the scrum inside their own half. Manihera took the ball from the scrum and launched a kick deep into the Wakefield half. Graeme Lewthwaite was first to react and chased after the ball beating the defence, collected the ball and went on to score. Tane Manihera added the kick to reduce the Wakefield lead to 30 - 6.

The second half saw Town enjoy the early possession and was easily their best period of the match. Town were always in the Wakefield half, but found the Wakefield defence solid and were unable to add to the score.

It was Wakefield who were to score the first points of the second half after Jamie Field was able to twist out of two tackles and score close to the posts. Pearson easily added the kick to extend the Wakefield lead to 36 - 6.

Graeme Lewthwaite had to retire injured after taking the high kick through from Davis and was tackled by Was Sovatubua and then a very late challenge while he was on the ground resulted in him having to be carried from the field with a leg injury. The whole incident was left unpunished by the referee who signalled for a dropout. This whole incident led to some heated exchanges in the following tackles and Leigh Smith was sent off for kicking out at a Wakefield player.

With the Town team down to twelve men Wakefield were able to extend their lead after they were awarded a penalty for interference at the play of the ball. Pearson kicked the penalty to move Wakefield into a 38 - 6 lead.

Three further tries were added by Wakefield. The first by Was Sovatubua after some great handling had created the gap for him to go in unimpeded. The second by Justin Brooker who collected a kick through inside the Town in goal area, and a third by Neil Law after Jamie Smith had spilled a high kick on his own line. Pearson added all three conversion attempts to make the final score 56 - 6 to Wakefield.

Teams:-
Town: Jamie Smith, Neil Frazer, Steve McGrady, Leigh Smith, Graeme Lewthwaite, Tane Manihera, Mickey Horner, Hitro Okesene, Carl Sice, Lokeni Savelio, Matt Sturm, Anthony Samuel, Stuart Hoyles.
Subs: William Blackburn, Matthew Tunstall, Fata Sini, Jamie Beaumont

Referee: Mr P. W. Lee
Attendance: 1,710