todays game and updates

[DaveO]

A very poor performance to concede 34 points against anyone let alone a team in Sheffield's league. Worst performance of the season even compared to Bradford????

Can't see MM (or Wane) being at all happy.

Dave

[ancientnloyal]

Would there be a feeling amongst the players that they were trying to save themselves for next week and the huddersfield double? I am pretty sure we didn't give even 70% of our potential in defence today but even so, can see why the coahces are unhappy.

a win is a win, we're in the hat

[jaws1]

Been to the game today mixed reactions on attack and defense .We were penalised too much.When we did get the ball we made a lot of yards going forward but we were too eager trying to score at every set of six it was only a matter of time before we took the lead.No discredit to Sheffield they took thier first 2 tries well .Wigan started to dominate at the end of the second half and started well when Farrell scored in the second half within 5 minutes only to have it ruled ouy for an obstruction.Some good rugby played from both teams today some good tries from Barnett down the left wing 2 full length efforts.For all those who wanted the young players to give them a game today WE WOULD PROBABLY HAVE LOST.Sheffield had plenty of resilience to come back from 44-10 down to penetrate a Wigan defence that has not let in so many tries all season this must be a worry for the coaches.Goulding went off early in the second half with Gleeson on the wing for that time.
Overall Wigan scored some fantastic tries (as did Sheffield) but today the defense was not as it should be one on one Barnett ran rings around Phelps who IMO did not have a good defensive game .
In conclusion we won with some terrific tries scored let down by a leaky defense good job we were not playing Saints as they would have murdered us.

[jaws1]

The crowd was given as 2.500 but there were far more on that they filled nearly the Malta stand.Loads of Wiganers there i counted at least 15 coaches .

[josie andrews]

The crowd was given as 2.500 but there were far more on that they filled nearly the Malta stand.Loads of Wiganers there i counted at least 15 coaches .

Missed you jaws sorry.

There will be a few bruises too a lot of high tackles from the Eagles went unpunished. Thought the officials were dire today. The touch judges were a farce. never saw anything except when one of their players went into touch in the second half, then he had to think about it :doz:

[cpwigan]

Perhaps playing youngsters would have actually been bettwer. Such players would have played as if their lives depended upon it. Perhaps the players Madge has been showing faith with are getting complacent. I daresay, if they continue to follow his game plan, Madge will have them replaced. We are missing Amos though far more than many fans copnsidered possible.

[neilbass]

Sadly must agree that Barnett made Phelps look slow & poor. But this was after Phelps got hammered by the Sheffield centre - looked late and high to me but the ref ignored it. Having said that thought the Eagles centre / wing combination on the left were very good throughout

[GeoffN]

We scored too quickly! After that first try, the lads were just pi$$ing about expecting to score on every play, and completely lost the game plan. I agree that we might well have done better with a few more youngsters playing, they'd have showed more respect for the opposition than we did.

The way it worked out , we got in front, switched off for a while, then woke up occasionally just to get back in front...then fell asleep again.


As others have pointed out, the officials were poor, even by their usual standards, not that that should be any excuse. I reckon we had two perfectly good tries disallowed, too - one by Farrell & one by Goulding. Maybe the highlights will prove me wrong, but both looked OK to me.

Overall not too disappointed, though - if we're going to have a bad game, this was the one to do it.

Sam T was his usual ebullient self, and Faz had an excellent game. Still not convinced with Lockers at #6 though - he should have been the one organising things in the halves. Also not convinced by Mossop at loose forward - Joel or Faz might have been a better idea, although I thought Joel had probably his poorest game for us, and Phelps was back to being fragile in defence.

I don't know where they got that attendance figure from - there wasn't all that much space in the stand (which I think holds 7k+) - it was certainly a lot more than the less than half-full 2950 that was officially given.

Ah well - we're in the next round draw, that's all that matters - though I'd actually feel more confident drawing a SL team than one of the "minnows"; at least there's less danger of us taking things easy again.

[cpwigan]

I think Faz playing so well shows that sometimes v lesser opposition you need that enthusiasm factor that non regulars, relative newcomers to the first team can bring. Players can pretend otherwise but many regulars fail to produce their best v lesser opposition.

[GeoffN]

I think Faz playing so well shows that sometimes v lesser opposition you need that enthusiasm factor that non regulars, relative newcomers to the first team can bring. Players can pretend otherwise but many regulars fail to produce their best v lesser opposition.

Yep, but I'd go with the "non-regulars" definition rather than "newcomers" on today's performances. Feca looked like he was playing for a place, too, and deserves a spot v Quins, IMO.

It wasn't so much on account of individuals not performing, though, it was more that they weren't playing as a team. Even many of the tries that we scored were down to individual play (Sam's 3, for example), rather than the flowing team tries that we've come to expect this season.

I wouldn't single many out as playing poorly (Joel & Cam perhaps the only two), but on too many occasions players just got greedy and tried to go it alone, thinking they could break through at will.