Anybody want to offer some praise to this Wigan team and SW?

[moto748]

And I always used to say that Thaler was the best ref in SL, but I have to say, I'm going off him lately.

[DaveO]

To address the OP's point: it was indeed a ground-out win, neither side looked good, and our attack is certainly misfiring (mostly down to ordinary play from our halves), but once again we finished the stronger, and spent most of the second half at Leeds' end of the pitch. We restricted Leeds to one try (how many other teams have done that?), kept ourselves in the game, and at the end of the day, deserved it for our second-half pressure. Yes, it wasn't pretty, but if we can beat Cas next weekend, we will be looking good.

I thought Leeds were uncharacteristically timid and shut up shop too soon. They seemed to decide to defend an 8 point lead far too early which is never a good idea but against Wigan who are showing a never say die attitude in 2018 I would suggest they picked the worst team to attempt that with.

Overall the quality of the game was poor. The first half in particular was one error after another from both sides. A neutral would not have been drawn to RL on that. The drama of the finish for fans of Leeds and Wigan was out of all proportion to that.

As you say we kept them to 8 points and as John Monie used to say "defense wins matches" and it certainly did tonight because our attack was garbage. We have a serious issue with Williams and Powell if they carry on like this. A ground out win yes but class? Not much of that on show apart from Sam's cool head at the death from either side.

[Firestarter]

That game was dreadful. Our attack was shocking. Our last tackle players downright embarrassing and our halves pretty much anonymous yet again...and we've gone and won at Headingley for the first time in ages! It was a weird game. Both teams were dire.

We've had some really entertaining games at Headingley that have ended in defeat. I'll take that boring win any day.

very honest cp and i was gonna put a similar thread having watched it after my 2-10 shift...... i spent 65 mins slagging us off too the missus

[DaveO]

Comments from both coaches courtesy of the BBC:

Leeds coach Brian McDermott told BBC Radio Leeds: "It was an error-ridden game and I didn't think there was much from both teams in attack.

"I thought we were great defensively for the majority of the game but we went 8-0 up and started playing crazy, started defending differently and we started to back off, allowing Wigan to go 70 metres per set.

"I'm really disappointed we lost but our task, next time we're in that situation, is to be better managing a tight game."

Wigan coach Shaun Wane told BBC Radio Manchester: "This team will never give up, they will always keep fighting and they know how to win big games.

"This is a touch place to come and we've not got a great record here but to turn up and play the way we did was an outstanding effort.

"I thought there were a few good performances but Sam Tomkins was outstanding. I'm happy with the way we ground out the win."

Mr Wane seems to be under the impression we played well. Mr McDermott seems to agree with the vast majority of opinions I have seen in places like Rlfans and the A&L facebook site.

[moto748]

I don't see much to dispute with either coaches' remarks.

[DaveO]

I don't see much to dispute with either coaches' remarks.

So what do you think Wane meant by this....

"...but to turn up and play the way we did was an outstanding effort."

I have been on Rlfans, the A&L facebook site (happy clapper central) and no one thinks we played well.

When he says "play the way we did" clearly meaning this was positive what do you think he is referring to because I don't have a clue.

[josie andrews]

The after match review with lockers is worth watching explains why some of the last tackles options were not taking and the reasoning is actually pretty intelegent. Makes leeds fet use to the play so the commit to it later on which opens up the overlap.

It could explain in part why we always look better in the second half as the oposition is expecting the same tactic and we switch.

He was discussing the passing choices and it definitely made sense - but it doesn't explain the last tackle plays, i.e the kicks and kick set ups. Kicking wide to Hall again and again - and not even putting in particularly threatening kicks at that. The only time the kick to Hall seemed to work was when Bateman put one in. Williams has (or at least used to have) a devastating short grubber yet for some reason the tactic was to put tame kicks to their most dangerous winger who continually got them out of trouble. It just lets them off the hook and fails to build pressure. Right now we're winning in spite of our dire kicking game - which seems to have been the case for so many years now.

Well the kicking coach we had was an ex RU player. He has taught them to kick like they do in RU, high bombs. The ball is in the air that long any of the rest of the defending players can get to it!

Why not the grubber kicks? 8 times out of 10 the defending player will look up before he has got hold of the ball properly & will nearly always fumble the ball.

Tom Briscoe is a great fumbler of the ball but did we kick to him? Did we eckerslike! Straight to Ryan Hall every time. Thats like giving a pig cherries
:sly:

[josie andrews]

The Leeds streaker was the most exciting bit of the evening until the last ten minutes!

[josie andrews]

Wane on Leeds Win

Shaun Wane felt Wigan’s win at Leeds said a lot for their character after they beat the Rhinos late on at Headingley.
SW on the game:

“I’m thrilled to get the win but disappointed in the manner of it. There were too many errors, conditions were shocking and the ball was slippy for both teams. I thought we gave too many penalties too. We started ok but then started to put ourselves under a lot of pressure.

SW on some standout players:

“Sam (Tomkins) was great, I think Willie Isa was outstanding too – we played tough and showed some good character all across the park.”

SW on getting the points at Headingley:

“I just thought that we gripped the game towards the end, you need to be very good for 80 minutes against Leeds- they’re a good team. To stay in that game until the end, having been through so much adversity is fantastic.

“They can play, they play that risky football and they never know they’re beaten. That’s the way they are, you just need to make sure you switch on for that full 80 minutes and we did that.”

SW on another late comeback victory:

“I think it was different to last week, we started the game better. A few passes were off and our attack wasn’t crisp but it says a lot for our character that we can be off like that and still come away with two points at a tough place like this.”

Wane reported no injuries after the game.


http://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2018- ... dcHWeoP.99

[josie andrews]

Never Give Up

John Bateman says Wigan will always go until the end after Leeds win

Warriors trail 8-0 but comeback to win 9-8

Late Sam Tomkins drop-goal secure win
John Bateman believes Wigan’s dramatic win against Leeds on Friday night showed that they never give up.
The Warriors won at Headingley for the first time in six years as Sam Tomkins kicked a drop-goal late on to give Wigan an 8-9 victory.

Speaking after the game, Bateman said: “We’re a team that will always fight till the end and we’re fit enough to do that in any game. I think that last week as well as this week has proven that we are an 80 minute team.”

He continued: “I’ve not won here (at Headingley) myself and I think there’s quite a few lads that have never won here as well so it’s a really good result for us.

“The score line reflected the game in truth as both sides cancelled each other out.

“Obviously it was a tough game to play in and against Leeds it was always going to be a tight game.

“I think you expect it with two good teams and when you come up against a solid team they are hard to break down and we are the same. It’s something you expect but thankfully we got the result!”

Leeds were leading 8-0 with ten minutes to go after Tom Briscoe scored a try and Kallum Watkins added two goals.

However, the Warriors fought back to level the score at 8-8 with Oliver Gildart’s try and two goals from Sam Tomkins.

Bateman said: “I felt like we had them on the ropes but Leeds always hang in there and we needed to keep on working and breaking them down and that’s what we did.

“We finally got over for the try and got the penalty to level things up and it really paid off for us.”

Full-back Tomkins then stepped up from 35 metres out with three minutes remaining to score the one-pointer which ultimately won the game for Wigan.

Bateman admitted: “To be fair I didn’t know what he was doing as it was the last tackle and he was stood in the middle of the field!

“But it was a really good drop-goal and he showed great vision and it just shows how good of a player he is.”

Wigan host Castleford Tigers at the DW next Friday and Bateman can’t wait for the anticipated clash.

He said: “It’s always a good game against Castleford and it obviously got cancelled at their place earlier on in the season so it will be good to play them for the first time in 2018.

“Two points from that game will put us in a really good position so we’ll be working hard this week and look to kick on next week.”


http://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2018- ... BCfj5Rc.99