Challenge Cup Winners 2024!

[w.thomas]

Good win and a great day out. Thought it was a solid performance from us and that we never looked like losing. Wembley Stadium ain’t half bad either. Only negative for me was getting caught up in bad traffic with crashes then Wembley Central station being closed down! Nightmare.

[Southern Softy]

Well. as leader of the Sussex Warriors (Provisionals), I was delighted at the team's performance. Matty will say that our defence won the match and he was right. What it did was to reduce Warrington to increasingly desperate measures. (Special mention to Sam Powell for some Olympic whingeing when he came on.) One-out forward attacks, throwing the ball away on the last tackle; slowness in reading our tactics and in responding suggests to me that SB might just a wee bit overrated as a tactical coach - how Ratchford doesn't play is baffling.
Oddly, no one played badly for us and no one really stood out. It was a pretty complete team performance, with Jai Field looking an accomplished team player rather than a solo game-breaker, which was proof of how well the team were playing.
Miski and Marshall were top-class at bringing the ball out of defence and my personal highlight was 10 minutes from the end when Mike Cooper demoralised Wire by a fantastic run which nearly took him over.
As for the ref? It looked from where I was sitting that he wasn't even going to give a penalty for Cooper's non-tackle but the video ref got involved and it's one occasion where inviting the ref to look at a screen might have got a better decision. Dufty's tackle (!?) was a yellow all day in any match. After that, Kendall was OK and even-handed. I'm assuming that French's try was disallowed for a double movement because he certainly got it down under control.
Cracking day out (transport excepting) great atmosphere and we wound up in a bar with a family of Wire fans who were brilliant about the day so, a big shout-out to them and their attitude.
Roll on next year..

[mickali1]

Just like to add that I thought Ellis was fantastic, especially 1st half. Tackled like a demon. God help the rest of the league when we move out of second gear.

[EagleEyePie]

I thought it was a really composed, controlled and confident performance from Wigan. If you're being picky you could say we should have scored more points but I think it was a case of not needing to risk anything so not taking any risks. That criticism of point scoring used to come up a lot during Michael Maguire's time at the club and again at times under Wane, but what matters most is that you win.

Our forwards were outstanding. A lot was made of the poor last tackle plays from Wire and that's true, but I feel like you need to give credit to our pack for keeping them out of the positions they wanted to be in and for controlling the ruck well enough to reduce their time on the ball. I thought a sign of our control was how ineffective Danny Walker was at 9. Brad O'Neill was head and shoulders ahead of the 3 other hookers and he's the perfect player for games like these. He was a big part of our defensive dominance down the middle along with Thompson, Ellis, Havard and Cooper.

I'm delighted for Cooper given what he went through last year. I'm sure there were times when he wondered whether he'd get a chance to play in another occasion like that again. Experience is so important when you've got so many young players in the side and I think being able to start the game with Thompson and Cooper alongside O'Neill is such a good option to have (despite the ridiculous decision to sin bin Cooper).

For all the criticism (probably justified) that he was getting at the start of the year I feel like Farrell has really picked up his performances recently, which gives us a good balance between our right and left edge.

The forward dominance meant both Smith and French had the ability to do what they do best. French deserved man of the match but I thought Smith should have been up there in the voting too. His kicking game was fantastic. He was calm a calming influence and moved us around the field well and allowed French to make the telling contributions to the scoreboard.

Our backline was also impressive. Eckersley stood up really well and didn't look out of place. He's got a real hunger for defence as well as in impressive attacking game. Getting his try was reward for his perseverance after his earlier error. Marshall and Miski showed the value of getting good yardage from your wingers. There were times when Wire pinned up back but more often than not those two were able to get their nose through the line and put us back on the front foot.

All things considered, a good performance that sees all 4 trophies where they belong.

I do think I have to make a point about the two sin bin decisions though, and the influence the video ref seems to be having on potentially major decisions. I was generally in favour of being able to use the video ref to identify foul play. It could be really frustrating in years gone by when you'd see an obvious yellow or red card offence missed by the official while the video ref, with a clear view of the incident and all the angles, could do nothing about it. Unfortunately what we've been seeing recently has been a complete farce. For the video ref to intervene in that moment saying that it should be a sin bin because the challenge is forceful is just plain wrong. Cooper has barely had time to lift his arm and it's not even the arm that makes first contact, it's his bicep, which is imparting no movement into Thewlis at all. The only reason any force is being imparted at all is because of how quickly Thewlis falls. It's just a spectacularly bad decision from someone who is seeing all the facts and doesn't even have to intervene but still does so and completely misrepresents what he's seen.

The saying is two wrongs don't make a right, so to then sin bin Dufty for a high shot that is clearly not dangerous and just bounces up off the shoulder makes things more ridiculous. I know some may argue that if he sits Cooper down he has to do the same for Dufty, but that's not how you officiate sports. You don't make a mistake and then decide to even it up by making another mistake. You limit yourself to just one mistake and do better. There's no blame on Kendall in my opinion, he's just following the advice he was getting from Liam Moore. For an established official to be making those interventions is really poor.

[fozzie58]

People for years it seems to me moaned about the video ref not getting involved,myself included frankly they should keep their traps shut and have no influence on play unless the on field ref asks them about scoring opportunity no more no less,ok I’ll let them take the half time drinks order for the ref and what they want for tea I’d allow that.

[mickali1]

Excellent summary as always Eagle Eye.

[Ipinwigan]

Just got back home, not watched it again yet, but it was a great result, they never looked like loosing it. Great team performance, even Byrne managed 10 to 15 minutes, without being sent off

[josie andrews]

Just watched it back again.

On Bevan’s disallowed try, Kendall puts it up as ‘no try’ & asks Moore was it a "loose ball carry?"

I thought that, that, was what the VR was supposed to look for? Bevan’s fingers never left the ball & IMO, he was pushed over by the Warrington players.

Because the VR couldn’t say that Bevan’s fingers left the ball, which they didn’t, Moore then decides to look at something else "is it a double movement?”

I thought the VR isn’t supposed to look at an alternative to to disallow a try because he couldn’t find a cause from the original question?

Is that right or can the VR pick & choose what he wants to look at to disallow a try?

Thank you for any replies.

As an aside, I had a bet on French to win MOM but I also put a bet on, & I never bet on an opposition player, I put a bet on French & Dufty both to score a try

At the end of last season & the win at Old Trafford I put a bet on Wigan to win the CC I don’t put big amounts on in my bets usually a fiver is the most usually it’s £2. Anyway when I got back to the & checked my bets, I won £196

[MaggieH]

On our way home. Very happy with the outcome. Thought our defence was very good, thoroughly enjoyed our day

[DaveO]

I thought it was a really composed, controlled and confident performance from Wigan. If you're being picky you could say we should have scored more points but I think it was a case of not needing to risk anything so not taking any risks. That criticism of point scoring used to come up a lot during Michael Maguire's time at the club and again at times under Wane, but what matters most is that you win.

Our forwards were outstanding. A lot was made of the poor last tackle plays from Wire and that's true, but I feel like you need to give credit to our pack for keeping them out of the positions they wanted to be in and for controlling the ruck well enough to reduce their time on the ball. I thought a sign of our control was how ineffective Danny Walker was at 9. Brad O'Neill was head and shoulders ahead of the 3 other hookers and he's the perfect player for games like these. He was a big part of our defensive dominance down the middle along with Thompson, Ellis, Havard and Cooper.

I'm delighted for Cooper given what he went through last year. I'm sure there were times when he wondered whether he'd get a chance to play in another occasion like that again. Experience is so important when you've got so many young players in the side and I think being able to start the game with Thompson and Cooper alongside O'Neill is such a good option to have (despite the ridiculous decision to sin bin Cooper).

For all the criticism (probably justified) that he was getting at the start of the year I feel like Farrell has really picked up his performances recently, which gives us a good balance between our right and left edge.

The forward dominance meant both Smith and French had the ability to do what they do best. French deserved man of the match but I thought Smith should have been up there in the voting too. His kicking game was fantastic. He was calm a calming influence and moved us around the field well and allowed French to make the telling contributions to the scoreboard.

Our backline was also impressive. Eckersley stood up really well and didn't look out of place. He's got a real hunger for defence as well as in impressive attacking game. Getting his try was reward for his perseverance after his earlier error. Marshall and Miski showed the value of getting good yardage from your wingers. There were times when Wire pinned up back but more often than not those two were able to get their nose through the line and put us back on the front foot.

All things considered, a good performance that sees all 4 trophies where they belong.

A good summary and the only thing I would add is Leeming caused them all sorts of problems when he came on. At last we have two no 9's who are different types of no 9 which means when they interchange tactically we see something different

I do think I have to make a point about the two sin bin decisions though, and the influence the video ref seems to be having on potentially major decisions. I was generally in favour of being able to use the video ref to identify foul play. It could be really frustrating in years gone by when you'd see an obvious yellow or red card offence missed by the official while the video ref, with a clear view of the incident and all the angles, could do nothing about it. Unfortunately what we've been seeing recently has been a complete farce. For the video ref to intervene in that moment saying that it should be a sin bin because the challenge is forceful is just plain wrong. Cooper has barely had time to lift his arm and it's not even the arm that makes first contact, it's his bicep, which is imparting no movement into Thewlis at all. The only reason any force is being imparted at all is because of how quickly Thewlis falls. It's just a spectacularly bad decision from someone who is seeing all the facts and doesn't even have to intervene but still does so and completely misrepresents what he's seen.

The saying is two wrongs don't make a right, so to then sin bin Dufty for a high shot that is clearly not dangerous and just bounces up off the shoulder makes things more ridiculous. I know some may argue that if he sits Cooper down he has to do the same for Dufty, but that's not how you officiate sports. You don't make a mistake and then decide to even it up by making another mistake. You limit yourself to just one mistake and do better. There's no blame on Kendall in my opinion, he's just following the advice he was getting from Liam Moore. For an established official to be making those interventions is really poor.

I don't think it was necessarily a deliberate decision to make another incorrect call just to even things up. He had decided an accidental contact to the head was a sin-bin so Dufty had to follow Cooper to the bench. Both calls were wrong even under the new rules this season in my opinion and if these were sin-bins then so was the high shot of Field later in the game.

I think this was a classic case of a referee looking to interject himself into the game when it wasn't required. We have all seen refs who seem to want to make the game about them and this was a good example. I don't have an issue with the video ref calling a foul the ref missed but they heave to be incidents of genuine foul play. I am sure by using slow motion or picking one frame from the video you can make both incidents look worse than they were but referees should not be basing decisions on slow motion replays for foul play when it is obvious what happened in normal speed.

Kendall certainly saw nothing wrong with the Cooper incident that warranted a card.

Hopefully the disciplinary panel will say there is no case to answer here but if they are stupid enough not to do so and issue a fine or worse a ban that would definitely be a decision Wigan should appeal as a matter of principle. A player slipping and hitting the arm of a defender who was set to wrap him up should not be considered something the defender should be punished for at all.