A game like no other: In stats

[josie andrews]

Following Friday night’s incredible derby encounter, England Head Coach and Wigan legend Shaun Wane has heaped praise on both sets of players from St Helens and the Warriors.

Tries from Jake Bibby, Tommy Leuluai, Bevan French and Jackson Hastings sealed an 18-6 win for Wigan over their arch-rivals at the Totally Wicked Stadium – arguably the best game of the Betfred Super League season so far.

The competition’s top two sides locked horns in an intense, fierce and brutal battle, with the Warriors coming out on top and leapfrogging their opponents into first place in the league table.

Former Wigan boss, Wane, said: “I firmly believe the world needs to know how good our game is. There’s no other sport in the world that could go as long with the ball in play, physically smashing each other and showing outstanding athleticism and skill.”

Click here watch highlights of Friday’s game on Wigan TV.

Below are ten stats from the game which indicate the outstanding quality on show:

The ball was in play for 60 minutes and 10 seconds, including 36% in Wigan’s 40 and 38 % in St Helens’ 40 (26% was in transition).

In the first 15 minutes of the game, the ball only went out of play twice. One of the occasions was when referee Chris Kendell received treatment for clashing into St Helens’ James Graham.

The first 22 sets in the game were fully completed.

All of Wigan’s back five (Bevan French, Joe Burgess, Oliver Gildart, Zak Hardaker and Jake Bibby) ran over 100 metres each.

The top metre maker was Bevan French as he ran 194 metres throughout the game. Liam Farrell was second – running 166 metres, while Zak Hardaker was third – running 164 metres.

Saints skipper James Roby was the top tackler in the match with 67. James Bentley was second with 59.

Liam Farrell was Wigan’s top tackler with 56. Sam Powell was second highest with 52.

Wigan had 54% of possession throughout the game, accumulating to 32 minutes and 20 seconds with the ball in play.

Wigan had 39 sets throughout the match and completed 35 of them, accumulating to a 90% completion rate.

Overall, there were just three ‘6 agains’ won, five penalties and 15 errors (Wigan had 5, St Helens had 10).

Wane added: “Both sets of players deserve a massive amount of praise for that game. We need to get it out there as we have so much to be proud of. There are too many who profess to love this great sport but constantly focus on the negatives.

“I feel we don’t bang our drum enough to inform people of what a great sport we have. The young talent on display in that game is a credit to both clubs and as England coach it makes me feel very assured.”

On Saturday – the morning after the game – Wane gave Wigan Warriors executive director Kris Radlinski a phone call to offer his glowing praise on Friday’s game.

Radlinski said: “As we move into a critical year for the sport, that is exactly the type of game we need. To win the World Cup, Shaun Wane needs games of that intensity and to secure a great broadcasting deal, we need games with that level of entertainment.

I have not seen a game like it for a long time. With minutes to go, the players were still giving it to each other. The physical nature of the contest… there were moments of beauty from Bevan French and Jonny Lomax. I thought the referee Chris Kendall did a superb job and added to the spectacle. It must have been epic to watch on TV but it’s just a tragedy that people could not watch in live.”

Warriors Head Coach, Adrian Lam, added: “It was as tough a game as we have played all year. There were minimum stoppages. To top that off, both teams completed high which takes a lot of energy out of you as a team but keeping all that in mind we found a way to stay in the arm wrestle and find energy to win all the little battles.”

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2020/10/ ... -no-other/