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Bramley were without Andy McGann (holiday), Paul Coates (injured) and playmaker Tony Williams (personal commitments. Warrington Wizards were also missing a number of players from the previous weeks 60-20 win over Gateshead Storm.

On a bright but windy afternoon Bramley kicked off and after only 2 minutes Stuart Pirie carved open the Bramley defence down the middle and some how the Wizards failed to score with the line open.

The early sets from both teams were completed with long kicks downfield the order of the day. Warrington Wizards dominated early possession however on nine minutes Bramley finally managed to get within range of the Wizards line and Paul Drake took the ball to the line and slipped a neat inside pass to the supporting Shaun Flynn who scored by the posts. A simple but effective try.

Paul Drake converted. The lead lasted only 2 minutes as Bramley spilled possession from the kick off and were then forced to drop out asJohn Richardson tidied up over his own line. From the drop, out influential loose forward Alan Reddecliff strode through some poor tackling to score by the posts, Chris Mellor easily converted. Billy Sheen then made good metres as Warrington looked to capitalise on their dominance.

A penalty was awarded to the Wizards who signalled their intentions by going for goal rather than exert more pressure on the Bramley line.

Mellor missed the penalty, however within 15 minutes the Wizards had crossed for two more tries. On 23 Minutes a cross-field kick saw Danny Shaw score in the corner as John Richardson appeared to be impeded as he went for the ball and five minutes later after more good work by the Wizards forwards, Warren Ayres went 30m down the middle of the pitch to score an easy try. 28 minutes gone and Bramley were starring down the barrel of a 6-16 scoreline and not playing particularly well.

Credit to the Wizards for their approach work and excellent go-forward, however Bramley were making many unforced errors, dropping the ball and giving away silly penalties.

On their second real test of the Wizards defence Bramley crossed for their second try on 32 minutes to lift hopes of a comeback. The set appeared to be going nowhere when Danny O'Connor drove the ball towards the line and then slipped a neat pass out to skipper Jon Nicholls who appeared on his shoulder on the left wing and he outpaced the covering defence to get in at the corner. Paul Drakes conversion hit the post. From the kick-off Wizards re-gathered the ball and took it right to the Bramley line, however that attack was repelled by more scrambling defence.

Daniel Caston had a good run to relieve pressure on the defence. Any thoughts that the half would end quietly were dismissed when the Wizards used the wind to their advantage to get an excellent 40/20 quick.

From the resultant scrum Ian Stephenson had a walk-in try against some non-existent defence from the scrum, there was no conversion. To their credit Bramley hit back within 2 minutes when Paul Drake followed his own little dab kick through the defensive line and plunged over by the posts for a vital try. Paul added the conversion and on the stroke of halt time added a further penalty when Paul Wilson was sin-binned for a professional foul.

Half-time 18-20 and Bramley were probably feeling as though they had got out of jail. For the best part of 30 minutes Warrington had dictated play and created numerous chances whilst Bramley had been restricted to no more that 10 minutes play in the Wizards final 20m, but they had posted points.

Within 2 minutes of the re-start and with 12 men Chris Mellor added a penalty to increase the visitors advantage. Eight minutes later and following more lost possession, the Wizards forwards powered out of some indifferent tackling and sent Billy Sheen over in the right-hand corner, 18-26. Bramley continued to struggle to build pressure, lost possession and a poor kicking game were symptomatic of their situation. Their cause was not helped on 58 minutes when Paul Drake was sin-binned for talking back to the referee, frustration was creeping into the Buffaloes game. Matt Taylor for the Wizards followed Drake to the bin 6 minutes later for the same offence.


The game was scrappy but was not yet won or lost by either team. Chris Gardner had a determined run to the line, offloaded to Thomas Webb who went in for a try by the posts on 65 minutes. Shaun Flynn converted. Fifteen minutes to go and all to play for again!! On 71 minutes Paul Drake kicked forward, the ball hit the foot of the post and Daniel Lavery backing up crashed over to score. Paul Drake converted and suddenly the Buffaloes were 30-26 up with 9 minutes to go.

Bramley typified their performance however when they were unable to control the last 9 minutes of the game by not completing any of their set of six , and turned the ball over in poor areas of the field. There were no kicks to gain field position or use the strong wind and ultimately they paid the price.

Following further Wizards pressure which appeared to fizzle out when they lost the ball, the referee waved play on and the ever alert and dangerous Billy Sheen jinked through the Bramley defence from 15m for a good try. Chris Mellor easily converted to put Warrington 30-32 up. The drama was not quite over.

Almost on time Bramley were awarded a penalty a good 40m out, but within Paul Drakes kicking range and inexplicably they opted to run the ball rather that go for then 2 points which would have secured a draw. Inevitably the ball was lost and Daniel Lavery was dismissed for a high tackle on the whistle.

On balance Warrington played the smarter game throughout, they dominated both possession and field position for long periods and asked more questions of a strangely lacklustre Bramley team. That said for all they did not play well Bramley hung in the game and put themselves in a position to win with only minutes remaining.

A loss is not the end of the world, if it can galvanise Paul Cook and the players to lift their performances in the closing weeks of the season then we can be confident that it will take a really good team (on the day) to stop us getting to a fourth consecutive grand final appearance. We may need to come from third place to do it but not many teams will relish playing us.

Next up for Bramley is a home game against Crusader Colts, on Sunday 17 August, kick off 3.15 pm.

BRAMLEY BUFFALOES: 1) Shaun Flynn, 2) Danny Johnson, 3) Matt Mullholland, 4) Paul Drake, 5) John Richardson, 6) Jon Nicholls, 7) Scott Pendlebury, 8) Richard Leese, 9) Thomas Webb, 10) Mark Butterill, 11) Danny O'Connor, 12) Gareth Thirsk, 13) Graham Harrison, Subs:14) Daniel Caston, 15) Shaun Gilmour, 16) Daniel Lavery, 17) Chris Gardner
Tries; Flynn (6), Nicholls (32); Drake (39), Webb (65),Lavery (71)
Goals: Drake 4/5, Flynn 1/1


WARRINGTON WIZARDS: 1) Shaun Daley, 2) Ian Stephenson, 3) Danny Shaw, 4) Matt Taylor, 5) Stuart Pirie, 6) Billy Sheen, 7) Warren Ayres, 8) Scott Davidson, 9) Steven Smythe, 10) Matt Clarke, 11) Matt Wilson, 12) Chris Mellor, 13) Alan Reddecliff, Subs: 14) Paul Wilson, 15) Carl Lloyd
16) Jono Smith, 17) Luke Worsley
Tries: Reddecliff (11), Shaw (23), Ayres (28), Stephenson
(35), Sheen (50 & 78)
Goals: Mellor 4/8


Sent off: Daniel Lavery (Bramley Buffaloes – Head high tackle
Sin binned:
Paul Wilson (Warrington Wizards) - Professional foul
Paul Drake (Bramley Buffaloes) - Talking back to the referee
Matt Taylor (Warrington Wizards) - Talking back to the referee
Referee: M Mannifield

Men of the Match:

Bramley Buffaloes - Thomas Webb
Warrington Wizards - Billy Sheen