Wigan squad for Catalans (R10)

[ian.birchall]

Sky MOTM went to Wardle, fair enough but the 80 minute effort from Nsemba topped up by that juggling finger tip interception 10 yards from our line made him my MOTM.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Superb second half. A lot to like. I think Wardle is superb. Someone above suggested the best centre since Carmont. With respect to that fine player, Wardle is a class above. I would say the best centre we have had since Renouf.

[Blackpool_Pie]

Sky MOTM went to Wardle, fair enough but the 80 minute effort from Nsemba topped up by that juggling finger tip interception 10 yards from our line made him my MOTM.

I think he went well, especially in the second half, but he did make a couple of errors and he struggled a bit in both attack and defence in the first half. He got dominated on a few hit ups and the whole right edge looked quite weak in the first half.

His game upped massively in the second half and his physicality started to come out.

Not knocking him at all he's still a young lad and very exciting so please don't jump down my throat for the slight negativity.

I personally thought Thompson carried us in the first half. He put himself about and carried strongly and didn't take a backwards step in defence and finished the half with a well taken try.

[fozzie58]

Thompson for me MOM he just seems to be getting himself very settled, not a game you'll remember by Tuesday let alone next month but after the nonsense of last weeks performance good to get a win.

[moto748]

Sky MOTM went to Wardle, fair enough but the 80 minute effort from Nsemba topped up by that juggling finger tip interception 10 yards from our line made him my MOTM.

I think he went well, especially in the second half, but he did make a couple of errors and he struggled a bit in both attack and defence in the first half. He got dominated on a few hit ups and the whole right edge looked quite weak in the first half.

His game upped massively in the second half and his physicality started to come out.

Not knocking him at all he's still a young lad and very exciting so please don't jump down my throat for the slight negativity.

I personally thought Thompson carried us in the first half. He put himself about and carried strongly and didn't take a backwards step in defence and finished the half with a well taken try.

I said at the game, I'll bet they'll give MotM to Nsemba. Not that I thought they should have, but I thought they would. Shows what I know! He gets caught out in defence a fair few times, but he is still learning, and there's a lot there already; he is a great ball-carrier. And I can't disagree about Wardle. My slight doubt about him always was, I didn't think he was *that* quick. But, I guess, he's quick enough, as he showed last (?) week. But his all-round game is terrific. Agree about Thompson too.

[DaveO]

just got back after another nightmare journey due to roadworks and road closures.

Nsemba made a couple of unforced errors but apart from that had an excellent game for a rookie. Wardle is on another level though and I can see why he got Sky MoM. That pass was worth the motorway hassle.

The game changed when Peet made substitutions bringing Leeming and Dupree on. Leeming caused them problems in that hey weren’t sure what he was going to do. We scored the first try just after his introduction. With him and O’Neil I think we have a very good pair of no 9’s.

Second half - blew them away but I am sure Peet won’t be 100% happy with the way the game went. The number of unforced errors Wigan made must be easily into double figures. Fortunately our excellent defence kept them out despite the team putting themselves under unnecessary pressure.

After last week overall a much better performance and hopefully will gain some confidence from that.

Over 14k was an excellent crowd for a game v Cats as well.

[Charriots Offiah]

One problem we have in attack is the ball going from O Neil, to Smith to French to someone else without any dummy runners.

Shifting the ball this way makes it easy for the defence to number up man for man and defend against.

It’s why Field and our centres and wingers although getting the ball a lot it’s into a defensive line.

The problem is that the ball goes through Ellis’ hands too often and that slows things down.

[Charriots Offiah]

Thompson for me MOM he just seems to be getting himself very settled, not a game you'll remember by Tuesday let alone next month but after the nonsense of last weeks performance good to get a win.

Not for me Fozzie, he missed too many tackles.

[Charriots Offiah]

just got back after another nightmare journey due to roadworks and road closures.

Nsemba made a couple of unforced errors but apart from that had an excellent game for a rookie. Wardle is on another level though and I can see why he got Sky MoM. That pass was worth the motorway hassle.

The game changed when Peet made substitutions bringing Leeming and Dupree on. Leeming caused them problems in that hey weren’t sure what he was going to do. We scored the first try just after his introduction. With him and O’Neil I think we have a very good pair of no 9’s.

Second half - blew them away but I am sure Peet won’t be 100% happy with the way the game went. The number of unforced errors Wigan made must be easily into double figures. Fortunately our excellent defence kept them out despite the team putting themselves under unnecessary pressure.

After last week overall a much better performance and hopefully will gain some confidence from that.

Over 14k was an excellent crowd for a game v Cats as well.

I want to see us keep it tighter in the first 40 minutes and take the energy out of the opposition. We only completed at 73% in the first half and in the big games, against the best teams, that has got to be north of 85%. Our line speed also needs to improve and with it our tackling success will get better and we will suffocate and frustrate the opposition. The likes of French, Field and Wardle need space and time and when they get it our opponents are going to get a hammering. It was a massive step up from last week and I expect to see the same next week. I agree that our substitutes made a difference. After criticising Leeming in recent weeks, I thought he was much more threatening, Havard continues to improve the more game time he gets and Nsembe has superstar written all over him. There are going to be some interesting selections come the semifinal.

[Mike]

The first half was poor, but unlike the HKR game I felt we had the physical presence to make an impact on Cats. It did turn out that way. It never felt like we'd find the way back against KR but today it seemed like we'd got enough in the power in the pack to dominate long periods. I saw more from Thompson today and I liked that, Nsemba was good and is going to really benefit from a bit of a run of 80 mins of game time, Mago makes an impact from his limited minutes, Harry Smith back to Mr 100%, and great decision making for the chip through. Good second half, terrible first half in terms of errors. THat's enough at this point of the season though, we don't want to go into the second half of the year losing to every GF rival and now we won't.