The season has begun so I thought I'd get a thread up, even if I may end up mostly talking to myself
We (Wigan) opened the season yesterday night with 16-10 win against Warrington. However I thought they were the better side for much of the match and were greatly stymied by Chris Hill's red card midway through the first half for almost decapitating Sam Powell in trying (unsuccessfully) to prevent our second try. They also had Mike Cooper sin binned with 16 minutes to go and we scored the final try of the match in a period when we had a two man advantage.
Despite the win I was concerned by our lack of application throughout the game. We had only Bevan French's individual brilliance near the try line to show as an attacking threat, the rest was very pedestrian despite busyness from Hastings (constantly cajoling those around him which I liked) and decent displays by SOL and Farrell. They may have only managed one try in their defeat but Warrington's fans will probably be the happier of the two sets based on performance, but hopefully we can use the two points earned in a poor display as a springboard to better things in the coming games.
I must mention George Burgess's debut as probably the worst I have ever seen in my years of watching rugby, or possibly professional sport. He lasted barely fifteen first half minutes in which he produced three missed tackles, one meek drive and was annihilated by Ben Murdoch-Masila for their first try. He looked overweight, positionally all at sea and absolutely gassed five minutes into the contest, so I hope he's ready to smarten up his act quickly or be dropped.
We (Wigan) opened the season yesterday night with 16-10 win against Warrington. However I thought they were the better side for much of the match and were greatly stymied by Chris Hill's red card midway through the first half for almost decapitating Sam Powell in trying (unsuccessfully) to prevent our second try. They also had Mike Cooper sin binned with 16 minutes to go and we scored the final try of the match in a period when we had a two man advantage.
Despite the win I was concerned by our lack of application throughout the game. We had only Bevan French's individual brilliance near the try line to show as an attacking threat, the rest was very pedestrian despite busyness from Hastings (constantly cajoling those around him which I liked) and decent displays by SOL and Farrell. They may have only managed one try in their defeat but Warrington's fans will probably be the happier of the two sets based on performance, but hopefully we can use the two points earned in a poor display as a springboard to better things in the coming games.
I must mention George Burgess's debut as probably the worst I have ever seen in my years of watching rugby, or possibly professional sport. He lasted barely fifteen first half minutes in which he produced three missed tackles, one meek drive and was annihilated by Ben Murdoch-Masila for their first try. He looked overweight, positionally all at sea and absolutely gassed five minutes into the contest, so I hope he's ready to smarten up his act quickly or be dropped.