WIGAN WARRIORS centre Anna Davies believes the improvement her team has shown this year can stand them in good stead for going one step further than they did last year.
In a repeat of the 2022 semi-finals, fourth-placed Wigan face League Leaders York Valkyrie for a place in next month’s Grand Final. The Warriors produced their best performance of the season in last year’s encounter before going down 12-4.
“We really stepped up last season for our semi-final and we’ll look to do the same this year,” said Davies.
“Last year’s game was a real breakthrough for us. We’d not had a result that close all season against York, Saints or Leeds, but already this year we have been much closer to them and had much more competitive games.
“We’re definitely a better side than we were this time last year and there is a real possibility that, if we get it right on the day, we could beat them.
“And that’s what we want to do because we’re not satisfied any more with being a fourth-placed team.”
Wigan must find a way to put in an 80-minute performance, however, as anything else will give York the perfect opportunity to strike late on.
In the final league game of the season, Wigan’s strong defensive performance was holding Leeds to just a 4-0 scoreline, before four late tries in the final 15 minutes saw them go down 24-0.
It was a similar story when the same two sides met in the Challenge Cup semi-final in July, and Davies knows that’s what they need to work on.
“We knew the Leeds game was the best way to get into that semi-final mindset and we did that for 65 minutes,” added Davies.
“But what we didn’t well enough, was getting our mindset ready to go again after we’d conceded, and that why Leeds scored back to back.
“Things won’t always go our way against York, so it’s about knowing how to get back into the game, resetting ourselves and making the next play really count.”
YORK VALKYRIE v WIGAN WARRIORS, Saturday, September 23, 15:30, Sky.
