Wigan v Saints

[DaveO]

Well we won and got a much needed two points but made hard work of it against 12 men.

Understandable to a degree with so many returning and lacking match fitness. Even so out attack was back to it's old poor self in the first half. Camped on the Saints line and could not score. It seems very flat to me and we give ourselves no space with no one running onto the ball from deeper so the defense just has to slide properly and we are no trouble.

Better in the second half and I thought Williams kick behind the defense for Budgies second try was class. Marshall finish for the fourth try was also great to watch. He is a talented young player and is going to give Wane a selection headache I think.

The returnees did well I felt. Budgie looked sharp, MM showed no signs of being affected by his injury. Lockers was fine.

Gelling did not look fit though and was wisely subbed.

While Wane will have his eye on Wakefield and he will have wanted to not over-play those returning the Gelling sub apart the substitutions all seemed pretty random to me. I think we even brought Isa on for a prop at point point with Lockers in the front row. I don't think all this helped the attack or shape of the team much either.

Still we beat Saints on Good Friday after suffering a long stretch of bad luck with injuries so I will take the two points and crack open a few cans tonight to celebrate. :eusa2:

[Wiganer Ted]

Agree with that.
Thought we looked nervous throughout.
Saints looked better than they've look for some time. They will be encouraged by their game
We must be better than we seemed at times for as soon as Saints scored we did on our next set. When we needed to score we did.

[mickh]

A very good win, hoping for a bit of consistency now to build upon, correct Dave about the selection headache once the injured backs return, the young kids were a joy to watch.
One bit of constructive criticism, iv'e notice in recent games that the players have started bunching in the middle, be it when the opposition have the ball (ready to tackle them) then the opposition swing the ball out to their more experienced centres, or, at a Wigan play the ball, they bunch up ready to take the ball up ie. not a proper attacking line.
A hard fought win = hoping no injuries!

[Suzieb]

Agree with Dave O and Mick glad for the win but no goid playing one man rugby in the middle just shows you can score tries by passing the ball out Gelling didnt look fit so why play him should of put 40 on them they only had 12 men but hey ho onwards and upwards

[yokozuna]

Gelling did a fair bit of work defensively, and I think that's why he was in the side. We're not over-blessed with numbers for the centres.

He'll be back to full fitness soon enough.

[Wigan_forever1985]

Gelling is far from fitness imo but it was a good game to bring him in on

Thought we played well we seemed to be pacing ourselves turning it on when needed.

On a separate not that young grace for saints will be some player imo he looks to me just like Tomkins did when he came through that bend gangly running style

Think our young lads did well too Marshall has really impressed me. Escare was brilliant and rightly mom

Lockers back and we can start playing well again - it's great but we really need to fix that lockers can't go on forever

[Rochdale Warrior]

Agree with most comments, I think we had a game plan to tire them out , one man down or not, just watched it back, thought Saints gave it everything but I always thought we would get them in the last 20mins , we did . Not many negatives from me , just need to turn that early possession into points , 4 big players back from injury , we do miss SOL when he goes off, Marshall and Escare very good , and I thought Sutty and JT did very well today , with some troupes back we will be there about

[Barney841]

I was abit nervous about today's game, teams always seem to put in a good or better performance when there coach has been sacked.
Also what does flower bring to the team? He seems very ineffective these days

[Kittwazzer]

On a separate not that young grace for saints will be some player imo he looks to me just like Tomkins did when he came through that bend gangly running style

He is one of the 'kids in the gym' that KFC insisted was not ready for first team action. If anything else was needed to justify his departure this is it!

[butt monkey]

Lots of pertinent points

A few things missed though. Despite the one man advantage, it was saints who regularly created the overlaps. It is also fair to say that Wigan very often "bunched up" both defensively and offensively - it showed!

Whilst Wigan looked far to pedantic in attack. Williams kicking was far better than Leuluai's.

Great to see MM back without any apparent fears for himself