WIGAN SHOW TRUE GRIT
Wigan followed their win at theย Magic Weekend with a superb victory over the inform Castleford Tigers, at The Mend-A-Hose stadium on Thursday night.
Wigan haven’t won at this ground for the last 2 years, and it has always been a tricky place to go, with most of the matches being a real struggleย for the victor.
There was great anticipation from both sets of fans from the start. The game matched the fiery atmosphere and both teams delivered a great game of rugby league on the night.
WIGAN’S BACKS THE DIFFERENCE
Wigan’s backs where the difference in the game. All the points came from them, withย tries from Charnley(2), S.Tomkins, Powell and Manfredi, while Smith kicked 6/7 goals and a drop goal to finish.
A few weeks ago when weย saw the return of Manfredi, S.Tomkins and Williams. I stated that you would slowly start to see the difference in Wigan’s attacking prowess, and that has happened. Tonight, the backs for Wigan where tremendous. The half-back pairing of Smith and Williams in particular, had their best game of the season. Powell continues to impress and only looks better from the return of the others.
Sam Tomkins provides something different for the other lads in front of him. When the likes of Williams, Smith and Powell are struggling with options, Sam would pop up and provide as a dummy runner or receiveย the ball and switch the play.
CASTLEFORDย SHOW THEIRย STRENGTHS
Even though they lost this game, Daryl Powell can still be proud of his lads, who provided a great performance and shown why they are a team to worry about. However, tries from Solomona(2), McShane and Webster where just not enough for them on the night.
Yet again, Denny Solomona had an unbelievable game for the Tigers and proved to be a real problem for the right hand side of Wigan, which consisted of Manfredi and Gildart, who struggled to cope with him all night.
Ultimately, it was Castelford’s poor discipline which cost them the win. Countless cheap penalties and a sin-bin to jake Webster, allowed Wigan to take control of the game in the second half.
VIEW OF THE MANAGERS
Castleford coach, Daryl Powell was clearly disappointed with the result and in particular, the refereeing on the night. Powell said:
“The manner of what went on tonight was really disappointing, we fell away after half-time we were down to 12 men and were rattled, we conceded a real soft try and that was one of the defining moments.”
“I can’t quite get my head around some of the things, the manner of the referee was really poor to the players so there’s something that needs to be done.”
“The referee had a big impact all the way through it and I thought he lost his cool and that’s something referees can’t do. It was hostile out there, but I don’t think we got a 50-50 call all night.”
Wigan coach, Shaun Wane seemed relieved, and mentioned making up for previous losses. Wane said:
“We weren’t great, some of the detail in contact and attack was off but we played tough and took our chances. We were worthy of the win.”
“We trained on a smaller pitch all week, as soon as you give a penalty they’re in good ball and they throw a lot at you, you have to defend your line. We were just looking at the one-percenters.”
“One of my worst days was when we lost here and my team gave in so to get a win against a form team here is satisfying.”
IN THE SHEDS
While this game was a fiery one, which included a sin-bin for Castleford’s Jake Webster. There was no real incidents to report that could lead to any future charges.
There seemed to be no injuries reported from Castleford after the game.
Wane confirmed that Ryan Sutton took a hit on the ribs but is fine and Ben Flower was ok in the changing rooms after coming off with concussion during the second-half.
FINAL SCORE – MATCH DETAILS
Castleford Tigers:ย (12) 26
Tries: McShane, Solomona 2, Webster
Goals: Gale 5/6
Wigan Warriors:ย (14) 33
Tries: Charnley 2, S Tomkins, Manfredi, Powell
Goals: Smith 6/7
Drop Goals: Smith 1
Castleford Tigers: 1. Luke Dorn; 34. Paddy Flynn, 19. Ben Crooks, 3. Jake Webster, 5. Denny Solomona; 15. Paul McShane, 7. Luke Gale; 32. Larne Patrick, 9. Adam Milner, 10. Grant Millington; 17. Junior Moors, 12. Mike McMeeken; 14. Lee Jewitt
Interchange: 33. Danny Tickle, 22. Gadwin Springer, 18. Ryan Hampshire, 16. Matt Cook
Wigan Warriors: 1. Sam Tomkins; 5. Dom Manfredi, 4. Dan Sarginson, 20. Oliver Gildart, 2. Josh Charnley; 6. George Williams, 7. Matty Smith; 8. Dom Crosby, 16. Sam Powell, 10. Ben Flower; 14. John Bateman, 25. Willie Isa; 11. Joel Tomkins
Interchange: 17. Lee Mossop, 19. Taulima Tautai, 21. Ryan Sutton, 26. Greg Burke
Referee: Ben Thaler
Attendance:ย 5,558
Venue:ย The Mend-A-Hose Stadium, Castelford
Date/Time:ย Thursday 26th May – 20:00pm GMT
Great report without any biase ?