Wigan v St Helens

[PJC]

Thoroughly enjoyed last nights match. I do think that Fields contribution to French’s is sometimes understated. He wouldn’t score as many without his distribution

[DaveO]

We need to go up a gear to win the GF. We got done with two soft tries, that is Lussicks only move and we were not tight enough at the ptb. The move down the short side was one that Saints have thrown at us umpteen times and we need to be more switched on.

Also, Lomax is their conductor in chief and he will regularly stand behind the ptb, weigh up the defence and then take the ball to the side that creates an overlap. Field needs to do the same rather than defending in the line.

Having said that we were deserved winners.

Said at the time, Lussick doesn't score that try if Sam Powell plays.

Powell wasn’t missed. O’Neil had a great game and is already shaping up to be a better no 9. Not hard mind you.

[Wigan Watcher]

He had a good game last night

[josie andrews]

Marshall: Everyone did their bit

Liam Marshall praised the team effort as Wigan got the 30-10 win over St Helens on Friday night.

“Everyone has done their bit today, you’ll get the lads who are talked about but there’s a lot of the lads who do things that go unnoticed.”

FT | Wigan Warriors 30-10 St Helens.

Liam Marshall reflected on a ‘significant’ night as Wigan maintained their unbeaten home run in 2022, whilst securing a second-placed finish in Betfred Super League.

“It’s massive,” Marshall said, “I think being a Wigan lad, these are the games you want to play in and want to win. I think this one was even more significant with the things riding on it for them if they’d have won it and securing second place is massive so a good night all-in-all. There’s still things that we can do better, being smarter in certain areas of the game but we got the win and that’s probably all that matters.”

Marshall scored a great solo effort, but also appeared numerous times in defence to deny St Helens: “They’re just part and parcel of the game. I try and do my bit for the team and if the big plays come, they’ll come. Everyone has done their bit today, you’ll get the lads who are talked about but there’s a lot of the lads who do things that go unnoticed so we’re just building as a team. Matt and the Coaching staff will give the praise tomorrow but just a good all round team performance, it’s exciting and will give us a bit of confidence in the back end of the year.”

Marshall praised both sets of fans for making a special atmosphere on Friday night: “A massive thanks to the Wigan fans for turning up as they did, as well as the Saints fans. They made it a great occasion and I think that’s down to the hard work we’ve done on and off the field since the start of pre-season. The first week of pre-season we spoke about re-engaging with the Wigan fans and getting them back on board after a couple of tough seasons but I think they’ve really bought in this year.

“They get the matchday experience with the fan village etcetera, and if we can keep performing on the field that does go a long way but engagement, giving the time of day and making them feel welcome when they’re around the place is good and they got us over the line tonight.”

Finally, the winger spoke about gaining momentum going into the final few games of the year: “Second spot secured is good, we’ve got that home semi final and we can be smart with what we do now, but we also don’t want to lose any momentum. We still need to be hitting some nice form going into those big games against Hull KR, if we’re off it we can easily get turned over so we’ll continue to work hard in training and on the field.”

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2022/08/ ... their-bit/

[josie andrews]

Wigan Warriors 30-10 St Helens: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Wigan Warriors took on St Helens tonight at the DW Stadium in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Saints were the first on the board through a Jonny Lomax penalty, but Bevan French crossed the whitewash in the tenth minute to send Wigan into the lead.

The Warriors were in the mood not to mess around tonight and they had another just after the midway point in the first-half with Jai Field crossing off a brilliant Harry Smith break.

Konrad Hurrell thought he had replied for the visitors from dummy-half, but superb defence from Liam Marshall ensured the Tongan enforcer was kept out.

With Saints tiring, the Warriors hit again through Liam Farrell as Smith added the extras to make it 18-2 after 35 minutes.

Half-time came at the right time for Saints and it was clear that Kristian Woolf had had a few words at the break as the visitors registered a try through Joey Lussick on the hour.

However, a runaway try from Marshall sent the Warriors home and hosed just before Joe Batchelor registered a consolation effort as Ben Davies missed two conversions as Wigan notched up a 24-10 lead.

And, French had just enough time to notch up his second as the hooter sounded after being fed by Field once more. Smith rounded off a perfect night with the boot to make it 30-10 and maintain Wigan’s 100% home record.

Highlights

Jai Field’s try involved a brilliant Brad O’Neill offload to Harry Smith who then fed Field under the posts.

Liam Farrell cutting Saints apart through the middle for a brilliant individual score.

Liam Marshall’s runaway try was a brilliant effort.

Talking points

1. Harry Smith’s improvement

There were times in 2021 when Harry Smith was criticised for some of his performances. Remember, however, this was a young man with the weight of his team on his shoulders. Now, after being taken under the wing of Lee Briers, Smith is thriving and produced yet another masterclass against St Helens.

2. Wigan got in Welsby’s head

Jack Welsby is one of the most talented players in Super League, but Wigan got into the fullback’s head completely tonight. Welsby made a number of errors with the Warriors players rubbing it in whenever something went wrong. The frustration on his face was evident throughout and half-time couldn’t have come soon enough for him.

3. Wigan phenomenal

Wigan were in the mood to defend – and defence wins you games. Numerous sets were defended on their own line as Matt Peet must have been incredibly enthused by what he had seen.

Player ratings

Wigan Warriors

23 Jai Field – 9
1 Bevan French – 9
21 Kai Pearce-Paul – 8
11 Willie Isa – 7
5 Liam Marshall – 9
6 Cade Cust – 8
16 Harry Smith – 9
8 Brad Singleton – 8
28 Brad O’Neill – 8
20 Liam Byrne – 7
12 Liam Farrell – 8
13 John Bateman – 7
14 Morgan Smithies – 7
Substitutes
10 Patrick Mago – 6
15 Kaide Ellis – 6
22 Joe Shorrocks – 6
36 Mike Cooper – 7

St Helens

1 Jack Welsby – 5
20 Josh Simm – 6
23 Konrad Hurrell – 7
12 Joe Batchelor – 7
27 Jon Bennison – 6
22 Ben Davies – 6
6 Jonny Lomax – 6
8 Alex Walmsley – 6
9 James Roby – 7
10 Matty Lees – 6
21 James Bell – 7
16 Curtis Sironen – 7
13 Morgan Knowles – 6
Substitutes
14 Joey Lussick – 8
15 LMS – 5
17 Agnatius Paasi – 7
19 Jake Wingfield – 6

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/wigan-wa ... e=Connatix

[Brennox7]

Mike cooper deserved better than a 7 for me. He was decent

[josie andrews]

Mike cooper deserved better than a 7 for me. He was decent

Mm, I thought so too.

[Charriots Offiah]

Bateman's statistics were the best of any forward - 41 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 124 metres.

[Charriots Offiah]

Here's the stats from last night https://superleague.co.uk/match-centre/report/3721

[keptinthedarkfans]

Ratings made me laugh who does these for me 9s straight through the side