St Helens have been crowned 2024 Reserves League Champions following their 24-18 defeat of Wigan Warriors at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Sunday (8 September).
Wigan had been crowned champions in each of the two years since the Reserves competition resumed after Covid in 2022, beating Wakefield Trinity in that year’s Grand Final before grinding down the Saints 24-0 in wet conditions at Robin Park Arena last autumn.
Both Paul Wellens and Matt Peet were in attendance to watch the stars of the future, with a number of senior players also taking in the action - including Junior Nsemba who was amongst the Wigan bench.
Saints began their revenge plot early after a Wigan error saw prop forward Brett Bailey crash over the line after just two minutes with Will Roberts converting to make the score 6-0.
Wigan withstood early pressure from the hosts and were rewarded on 13 minutes when Harvie Hill powered his way over. Jack Farrimond converted to level the scores at 6-6.
St Helens went back in front on 23 minutes with an attack down the right edge which Ben Will finished by diving in at the corner. Roberts missed the conversion but St Helens led 10-6.
The game was then beginning to be an end-to-end affair with Wigan responding just three minutes later when Finlay Yeomans collected a kick on the sixth tackle in his own ten metre area to sprint the length of the field to score a brilliant try to level the scores at 10 points a piece.
A late hit on Lane gave St Helens a penalty which Roberts kicked to give the home side a 12-10 lead on 37 minutes and the hosts were awarded another penalty just a short while later to make it 14-10 going into the break.
The Warriors were slow to start the second half with a handling error from kick off giving Saints a set on the Wigan line. Cole Marsh scored the home sides third try as Roberts converted to increase the lead to 20-10.
Farrimond gave Wigan hope with a 40-20 kick, from which Wigan moved the ball quickly from right to left and Douglas scored in the corner. Farrimond’s kick was wide, but Wigan were within one score at 20-14.
The Warriors were then looking to pull off the comeback and were rewarded when Ratchford bulldozed his way over in the corner to reduce the deficit to just two points.
Wigan continued to attack the Saints line and what looked like an accidental collision finished with Reagan Sumner receiving a yellow card on 56 minutes. St Helens exploited the gap on Wigan’s right edge due to Sumner’s sin-binning and scored on an overlap through Ellis Anderson on 66 minutes. Roberts missed the conversion and Wigan trailed 24-18.
Despite Wigan’s efforts, the Saints defence held firm to clinch a 24-18 win and the 2024 Reserves League title with Jonny Vaughan named Player of the Match.
Photo Credit: Bernard Platt
