A THREAD stretching back to the beginning of the National Conference League Division One season was snapped on Saturday when 100 percent winners Ince Rose Bridge beat Wigan St Judes, and Wigan St Patricks lost at Kells.
The two Saints’ setbacks were the first defeats suffered by Wigan sides this year in the flagship league’s second tier.
Even so, you could forgive the nine teams in the National Conference League First Division who do not hail from Wigan to view any forthcoming fixtures against sides from the borough with some trepidation.
The area’s three teams had, even taking Saturday’s results into account, started the 2025 campaign with a real bang.
Each had gone into the Easter break unbeaten although two, admittedly, had already dropped a point – but against each other, St Judes and St Patricks having drawn 16-16 on the first Saturday of April.
Ince are riding high at the top of the table, having won all six of their fixtures to date.
There was a harbinger of things to come on the very first day of the Division One season, when the trio enjoyed comfortable victories. Ince led the way with a 46-6 success at Crosfields, Pats pummelled Woolston Rovers 36-10 at home and Judes returned from Cumbria on the back of a 34-12 victory over Egremont Rangers.
Pats had a ‘rest day’ the following week, when the Bridge cruised to a 26-6 win over visitors Heworth, who had been a shade unlucky to be relegated from the top flight last autumn. Judes, meanwhile, had an impressive 32-16 home victory over Stanningley.
March closed with yet more success for the Wigan sides, with Oulton Raiders being walloped 54-16 in Leeds by Judes and Oldham St Annes going down 32-4 at Pats. Ince, meanwhile, carved out a 38-14 result over visitors Woolston.
Oulton’s misery continued the following Thursday, the Bridge heading back over the Pennines reflecting on a 48-4 triumph. Two days later the spoils were shared between Judes and Pats, Judes recovering from 16-4 adrift to snatch that 16-16 draw.
Ince maintained their 100 per cent record ahead of Easter with a notable 16-8 victory at promotion hopefuls Shaw Cross Sharks. Pats thrashed Egremont 48-4 at Clarington Park and Egremont’s neighbours Kells went down 21-8 at Judes.
Something (barring another draw) had to give last Saturday and it was Judes’ proud record in a 20-16 reverse at Ince. Pats, for their part, travelled to Whitehaven for their tilt with Kells and finished on the wrong end of an 18-10 scoreline.