Thompson: Focus on the task

[josie andrews]

* Women’s Vice-Captain Rachel Thompson looks ahead to Sunday’s Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup Semi-Final.

* Thompson: “It’s 80 minutes from Wembley but you have to pack that to the back of your mind and focus on the task in front of us first.”

* Full ticket information can be found online HERE.

WIGAN WARRIORS WOMEN’S VICE-CAPTAIN RACHEL THOMPSON IS LOOKING FORWARD TO A ‘GOOD CONTEST’ AS THEY TAKE ON LEEDS RHINOS THIS SUNDAY FOR A SPOT IN THE BETFRED WOMEN’S CHALLENGE CUP FINAL AT WEMBLEY STADIUM.

Thompson crossed for two tries in the Warriors Round 3 victory at Huddersfield Giants, hitting 150-points in Cherry & White: “It’s been a long time coming. I haven’t scored this year so it was nice to get over, I got a little bit too excited as well and wanted to do it again. To score any points for this team is a privilege so to be able to hit the 150 mark is just a massive honour.”

The Vice-Captain reflected on the 102-0 victory: “The main thing that Denis [Betts] wanted us to take from the game was not about them, it was about how clinical we were in everything that we did. There were great performances all over the field, our completion rate was probably the best it’s been all season and that’s the stuff we want to take away and the confidence we want to take into this week.

“We did score some great individual tries but we also scored some great team tries so we’ve got to take that away from it. It’s really exciting to be a part of this team at the moment and we’re looking good.”

Reflecting on the season so far, Thompson said: “We’ve had some good performances and we’ve had some tough performances where we’ve had to work hard but I think from every game we’ve learnt a lot and taken a lot away. We’ve managed to dig deep when we’ve needed to and that will happen, there will be times where we’ll have to do it tough but there’s is a confidence that we can get ourselves out of tough situations.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s Semi-final fixture, she said: “These big games were new to us last year, the opportunity to play at Wembley was new and exciting and we probably overplayed that a little bit. We realise we have to take every game as it comes but we also have to perform and if we don’t perform we won’t make it to those big stages.”

She added: “These aren’t things that we get to do every week so we have got to enjoy it. It’s 80 minutes from Wembley but you have to pack that to the back of your mind and focus on the task in front of us first.”

Finally, Thompson gave her thoughts on Sunday’s opposition: “Leeds are looking strong, they’ve got some great players, phenomenal internationals across the park and we always know that they’re a team that are tough and capable.

“It’s going to take the best of us to beat them but we have to take confidence in to the game on what we’ve achieved so far this season and if we play to our strengths it’s going to be a good contest.”

Ticket information for Sunday’s Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup Semi-final can be found HERE. Watch match previews on Wigan TV HERE.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/05/ ... -the-task/