Wigan Defeated In Lockers Testimonial

[josie andrews]

A very young Warriors side were defeated 18-30 by the Huddersfield Giants at the DW Stadium in Sean O'Loughlin's Testimonial fixture on Thursday night.

Wigan included new additions Anthony Gelling and Gil Dudson in the side as well as Tommy Leuluai, Jack Hughes, Gareth Hock, Chris Tuson and of course Testimonial man O'Loughlin, the rest of the Warriors squad was made up of young promising stars, the Giants were virtually at full strength.

One of the biggest cheers on the night came when legend Kris Radlinski appeared in the second half with 65 minutes on the clock, the 35 year old coming out of retirement for one match for Sean's fixture.

Wigan got off to a great start grabbing the lead after just 3 minutes, a swift passing move to the right opened up the Giants defence and Anthony Gelling was in for a try out wide. Jack Murphy missed the extras, 4-0.

The visitors looked for a response, on 10 minutes Cudjoe made the break but was held by Joe Mellor in midfield. Shortly after a Brough kick was misjudged by the Wigan defence and the scrum half picked up the loose ball to score. Brough added the goal, 4-6.

A spell of Wigan pressure led to the Warriors second try on 19 minutes, Gareth Hock returning after his suspension to score out wide. Tommy Leuluai with a kick on the final tackle and Hughes fed Hock to score. Jack Murphy's attempted conversion was narrowly wide, 8-6.

Within seven minutes Wigan were in again in the corner, John O'Donnell doing well to ground the ball under pressure. Another difficult attempt for Murphy was just not strong enough, 12-6.

At the other end Giants full back Greg Eden found a gap to stride over for Huddersfield's second try of the evening , Brough's goal on the half an hour mark levelled the scores at 12 all.

Within a couple of minutes Nathan Brown's men were in again, this time Eorl Crabtree the scorer from a short pass close to the line. Brough made it three from three, 12-18 at the break.

The Giants extended their lead on 50 minutes; Shaun Lunt with the try, Brough added the extras, 12-24.

On 65 minutes Wigan brought on Kris Radlinski to a standing ovation from the Warriors faithful, Rads rolling back the years to play his part in this special night this time playing in the second row.

The arrival of Radlinski and the return of O'Loughlin inspired the Warriors for their fourth try of the night, Tom Spencer with the touchdown seizing on a loose ball close to the line. Murphy added the extras, 18-24.

Two minutes later a Fairbank try and Brough goal extended the Giants lead to 18-30.

Wigan Coach Shaun Wane will have been delighted with his young sides performance against a side of vast more experience and a number of players impressed including Anthony Gelling, Tom Spencer and Jack Hughes.

Wigan now have one pre-season game against Salford next Tuesday ahead of the new season which kicks off next month.

Scorers;

Wigan Warriors 18

T - Gelling, Hock, O'Donnell, Spencer

G - Murphy

Huddersfield Giants 30

T - Brough, Eden, Crabtree, Lunt, Fairbank

G - Brough 5



Teams;

Wigan Warriors

Joe Mellor, Matthew Russell, Anthony Gelling, Jack Hughes, Jack Murphy, Sam Powell, Thomas Leuluai, Gil Dudson, Logan Tomkins, Tom Spencer, Gareth Hock, Chris Tuson, Sean O'Loughlin

Replacements - Greg Burke, Liam Carberry, Jamie Acton, Scott Leatherbarrow, Rhodri Lloyd, John O'Donnell, Matty Crowe, Kieron Harrison, Kris Radlinski

Huddersfield Giants

Greg Eden, Jermaine McGilvary, Leroy Cudjoe, Lee Gilmour, Luke George, Simon Grix, Danny Brough, Keith Mason, Luke Robinson, Dale Ferguson, Jason Chan, Bob Fairbank, Tommy Lee

Replacements - Eorl Crabtree, Shaun Lunt, Adam Walker, Jon Molloy, Jamie Cording, Matt Sarsfield, Josh Johnson

Referee - Thierry Alibert

Att - 5652



Timeline;

3 Gelling (Try) quick hands to the right from Logan Tomkins and Tommy Leuluai, new signing in at the corner 4-0, conversion missed by Murphy

10 Brough (Try) a Brough kick was allowed to bounce and the scrum half re-gathered the ball to score. 4-4

10 Brough (Goal) 4-6

19 Hock (Try) Wigan pressure, a Leuluai kick to the left bounced away from the Giants defender and Hock powered over from close range 8-6, conversion missed by Murphy.

26 O'Donnell (Try) the youngster in at the corner under pressure from the Giants defence, difficult conversion again missed 12-6

30 Eden (Try) for Giants through a gap to score 12-10

30 Brough (Conversion) to level the scores 12-12

34 Crabtree (Try) crossing from a short pass 12-16

34 Brough (Goal) 12-18

H/T

50 Lunt (Try) 12-22

50 Brough (Goal) 12-24

73 Spencer (Try), picking up the loose ball for the toucghdown 16-24

73 Murphy (Goal) 18-24

75 Fairbank (Try) 18-28

75 Brough (Goal) 18-30

http://www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news

[ragman]

very, very encouraging night I thought. For a team of such youth and little first grade experience, I thought we were magnificent at times.

Gelling looked the real deal, and for him to play all 80 minutes was amazing.

Also thought Tom Spencer, Matty Russell, Jack Hughes and Gaz Hock played well, and looked sharp.

All round very impressive for me, and the future's brighter than it's been for a long time

[ragman]

Thought that young lad Radlinski looked quite promising as well......

[Wigan_forever1985]

To be honest despite the fact it was basically a youth team i was a little disappointed. I thought wigan looked slow, flat footed. I realize that it was a bit man against boys but i expected a little more zip from the youngsters.

On positives i thought Hock looked in good shape and gelling looked like he has real potential. Dudson i thought player really well and took the ball up hard. Logan im still not sure if he is gonna make the grade in SL after watching him at Widnes but then again Joel came on leaps and bounds over a couple of seasons so hopefully he will prove me wrong.

There were some impressive displays unfortunately i didn't have a program and am not savvy enough with the youngsters to know who was who, but number 2 have a very good game i thought in particular

Our kicking was very very poor which was a bit of a downer but i think young backs struggled behind a young pack that was being bossed.

Hudds i have to say looked very very sharp and fit.

[First Try Tickle]

funny but on another post i said i didnt want a panto, but last night i think i might of prefered one.

Can't see the point in playing all the u20's when hudds obviously thought it would be a good run out. Why play all the 1st team at Hull KR and not for Lockers?

But as for the ones that played I thought they did well. Shame thier names were not on thier backs so we knew who was who, but thought they did well against some well know players.

Thought that Gelling showed alot of promise and worthy of a subs spot seeing as he can play centre or second row. Thought Dudson looked tired, but again its hard when the other team are on top.

Think Hudds looked poor last night and seeing as they strugged against our kids was a worry for them.

Nice touch for Rads to play, i nice touch also to wear Feka's old shorts.

[mickh]

I concurr with First try tickle, I would have prefered to see a match with some meaning to it from the Wigan point of view, not a kids run-out! We were on the verge of shouting "Who are you"! And that was to the Wigan team.
Fair play to Huddersfield for putting a strong team out, not so to the underhand way that Wigan squeezed £15 out of my pocket, and, 5,500 more people.
We thought we would try the West Stand for a change, what was that "Executive Seats" (with tickets) malarky, that was kept very quiet, I thought it was a match you could sit anywhere.
Usually acts like that are posted on this website to warn us unfortunates that are not party to insider knowledge of what is going on, this must have slipped under the radar.

Good team workout from Huddersfield, Hock played well for Wigan, apart from that, poor show and nothing to gleen from the youngsters, the first team saftly wrapped up in cotton wool.
Mick

[Wigan_forever1985]

Fair play to Huddersfield for putting a strong team out, not so to the underhand way that Wigan squeezed £15 out of my pocket, and, 5,500 more people.

It was said pretty early after the announcement of the game that the squad would be a young side with one or two first team players.
If you went thinking it would be the first team that's hardly the clubs fault.

Sorry Cherry but i agree with Mick

Coach Shaun Wane is planning to hand chances to a clutch of rising stars in tomorrow night’s match (kick-off 8pm).

But there will be plenty of familar faces, too, with O’Loughlin himself, Chris Tuson and Thomas Leuluai set to figure.

New-boy Epalahame Lauaki is in the frame, while Gareth Hock is set to play his first match in four months after completing a suspension for gouging.

A clutch of rising stars, yet at the beginning of the 2nd half there was not 1 established regular on the pitch?

What about players like Roberts? surely good run out for the likes of him

[mickh]

Not wanting to argue with you Cherry, but Mr Wane at the same time treating Lockers with contempt, and the spectators who turned up on a terrible night with contempt, for not making a genuine spectacle of it.
Whilst I (and many others) wanted to have a feel good factor for our captain of many years and left with a sour taste. Usual teams for testamonials have a full team of their ex team mates, this match sparks of "cheapness" and teamsheet written without any forethought.
Mick

[Tuigamala]

Good team workout from Huddersfield, Hock played well for Wigan, apart from that, poor show and nothing to gleen from the youngsters, the first team saftly wrapped up in cotton wool.
Mick

I dont think it takes a rocket scientist to understand what shaun wane was doing last night, he will field his strongest side at salford but i think more to the point last night he was judging future potential and if they are good enough to make the step up this year should they need to be called upon for injuries etc.. i dont think we will see more than 1 or 2 of the kids making the bench this year barring injuries, but i think you need a pair of glasses if couldnt see any potential last night the young forwards out-performed Gil Dudson by a mile and are much more lean in stature, Matty Russell impressed with his magic feet and jack hughes looks a contender for the bench this year, ok a couple of the kids made some errors and mellor and tompkins have had better days but its all a learning curve and a great test for these kids and i fully applaud shaun wane for giving them their chance!

If your a true warrior youl remember that shaun o'loghlins first game in the senior side was at andy farrels testimonial if thats not a sign of great things to come call me winston and pack me off to timbucktoo!!

[mickh]

To Winston, sorry Tuigamala, You have got one up on me regarding Andy Farrell's testamonial, I didn't go, plus I've not got the encyclopaedia to hand, but I would bet that Andy's team would have had team members and ex team mates queueing up to play in that one.
Hope that was the case with Locker's.
I (and a lot of other spectators) do not have the priveledge of knowing every Wigan rugby player who walks into the DW (of all ages) so the players you mentioned, do not make a jot of difference, and, I wasn't paying £5 for a programme, I went to be entertained and got sold short.

Whose testimonial was it?

Did Lockers not have team mates phoning him up to be thought of when he (whoever), was picking the team?

Was their no personal input from Mr O'Loughlin? Because if it was my testimonial I would want to pick the whole team.

It wasn't Shaun Wane's call to pick the team

Testimonials of the past had a bit of banter in them (Billy Boston et al), and you got entertained, went away with the feelgood factor, todays players, think their face would stick if they broke into a smile, even in a friendly none-event like yesterdays
Mick
PS, One swallow (Shaun O'Loughlin in Andy Farrell's testimonial), doesn't make a summer!