With all the months of buildup, anticipation and hype surrounding the bold, brave new era in British rugby league, not even the most canny and clever marketers could have imagined an opening game of Super League XX as enthralling as this.
As far as games of rugby go, Widnes’s draw with Wigan had everything. A controversial red card seems to be somewhat commonplace in the game these days after the unforgettable actions of Ben Flower in last year’s Super League Grand Final, but this game was about so much more than the dismissal of Patrick Ah Van.
Ah Van was shown a straight red for a dangerous shot on England international Josh Charnley midway through the first half, and had Wigan taken their chances towards the end of that first half the contest could have produced a much different outcome, as the Vikings continued to reel.
While that dismissal seriously threatened to overshadow the contest at one point, the spirit and endeavour of Widnes – who were trailing 16-0 midway through the first half – grabbed them a quite incredible point. Buoyed on in front of their biggest crowd since they returned to Super League in 2012, they clawed their way back despite the loss of their captain, Kevin Brown, to a nasty head injury in the first period. “We’ve had a couple of days like that before where we’ve played with 12 men,” said the Widnes coach, Denis Betts. “What you saw tonight was character; the kind of thing you can’t buy. You have to grow it and nurture it, and we saw a massive effort from those lads. Factor in we lost Kevin early on too, and that is a big result.”
For Wigan, though, the result will stand as a point lost, as their dismal record on the opening day of the season continues. They have now won just four of their last 15 opening-day fixtures, and will look back on a number of missed opportunities to blow the Vikings out of sight with a numerical advantage.
“We gave away eight penalties in the second half, and rightly or wrongly awarded, they got those penalties,” said the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane, who confirmed afterwards that Charnley was “in a bit of a mess” after that controversial tackle from Ah Van. “We invited them into areas we shouldn’t have done; we had to be squeaky clean after that red card and unfortunately we weren’t.”
Wigan were arguably more fluent against 13 men, and they were 10-0 up early on thanks to tries from Joel Tomkins and Anthony Gelling, before the game’s big moment arrived in the 23rd minute.
Ah Van was dismissed by the referee, James Child, for a wild swipe and with their man advantage Wigan began to tear loose, Gelling trotting over shortly after for his second – but Widnes would haul themselves back into it before the break.
The England wing Joe Burgess had already blown one golden opportunity to further extend Wigan’s lead, and when he spilled another routine pass just before the break, the Widnes half-back Joe Mellor picked up and scampered to the line to make it 16-6.
Suddenly, it was game on. And the game was even more on soon after the break when Rhys Hanbury crossed to reduce the arrears even further.
Handling errors were still proving to be a problem for the Warriors in attack, but they would finally put together a slick handling move to re-open a healthy lead on 55 minutes, with Burgess finally making one stick to cross for his first try of 2015.
Widnes, typical of their revival up to this point, fought back again through Rhys Hanbury, setting up an incredible grandstand finish on the first night of the game’s new era. And the points were ultimately split when Chris Dean dived in under the posts, with Stefan Marsh’s goal ensuring a thrilling comeback for the Vikings. If this was rugby league’s exciting new era at play, then fans are in for a rollercoaster ride in 2015.
Widnes Vikings Hanbury; Ah Van, Phelps, Marsh, Hulme; Brown (capt), Mellor; O’Carroll, Carberry, Gerrard, Clarkson, Tickle, Cahill.
Interchange Manuokafoa, Heremaia, Isa, Dean.
Tries Mellor, Hanbury, Phelps, Dean. Goals Tickle 2, Marsh.
Sent off Ah Van.
Wigan Warriors Bowen; Charnley, Gelling, J Tomkins, Burgess; Williams, Smith; Crosby, L Tomkins, Sutton, Bateman, Farrell, O’Loughlin (capt).
Tries J Tomkins, Gelling 2, Burgess. Goals Smith 3.
Interchange Powell, Tautai, Patrick, Clubb.
Referee J Child (Leeds).
