Rugby: Wasps youngsters can learn from record defeat

ON THE RUN: Wasps' Darren Callaghan at Warrington

York Wasps' ambitious youngsters now know what it will take to achieve their Super League dreams after being given a harsh taste of reality by Warrington Wolves.

The Wolves inflicted a club record 84-1 defeat on York in a devastating display of world class rugby at rain-drenched Wilderspool yesterday.

But the York players claimed it was the experience, rather than the result, that they will be taking away from their Silk Cut Challenge Cup mauling.

The lessons learnt from facing the likes of Allan Langer, Tawera Nikau and Andrew Gee are ones that will never be forgotten.

And the Wasps are confident it will stand them in good stead as they return to the more important mission of climbing the Northern Ford Premiership table.

Second row Lee McTigue, who in three months has gone from playing in the amateur ranks to going up against the world's best, was thrilled to have faced such opposition.

"You learn about the difference in standard and what you need to achieve that standard," he said. "It was really fast. We knew what they were doing. They had quick play-the-balls so when we were trying to get back they were already running at us.

"We expected them to be tough but they were just so quick. You can tell the difference. But to say you've played against the likes of Allan Langer is a good thing.

"You never enjoy losing but we enjoyed it more than we have in the last couple of weeks. There is great team spirit. There's probably a better spirit after this than there was at Hull KR last week."

Warrington half-backs Lee Briers, who smashed the Wolves club points in a match record with a incredible personal tally of 40, and former Australian Test scrum-half Langer formed a devastating combination.

They left opposite numbers Mark Cain and Darren Callaghan trailing in their wake but coach Dean Robinson believes it could be an important lesson for the York pair.

"It was tough for them," conceded Robinson of Cain and Callaghan. "They battled and continued to try and keep us going forward. But the biggest plus is they'll have realised just what it takes to play at this level.

"They've both got aspirations to do so, so I'll be saying, you've seen the quality in Super League and if you're going to try and turn the dream into reality it will take a lot of hard and work and commitment.

"It was a fantastic performance from Langer. He is a quality individual and gave Briers all the room in the world."

Robinson had few complaints with the performance of his side and thought only 18 of Warrington's points were down to York errors.

He said: "In the first half we contributed to some of their tries with some poor individual defence and I believe there were several players who were overawed by the occasion.

"All credit to Warrington, a number of their tries were quality tries and any NFP side would have succumbed. But we valued possession, kicked well and deserved to take something from the game."

Robinson was referring to two York tries which were disallowed by referee Steve Nicholson.

The first came midway through the first-half when Matt Woodcock was ruled offside after touching down Cain's kick and the second late in the game when Alan Pallister was pulled back for taking a tap penalty too quickly.

York's match at Dewsbury on March 12 will be re-arrenged due to the Rams reaching the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

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