Fri 5th April : SL : Castleford Tigers v Wigan Warriors KO 7:45pm TV

[Futtocks]

"It was a game of two halves, Brian. First we were over the moon, but then we were as sick as a parrot"

[Kenilworth Tiger]

Is it just me that thought Hardaker didn't look arsed in the slightest during his post match interview? (hy they gave him airtime is beyond me but that's by the by)

[mickhornet]

A belter of a game.Well played Cas,commiserations Wigan.

[Saintslass]

Cracking second half which I almost didn't watch as I thought Cas had gone in the first.

Always good to see Wigan lose too. 

[Just Browny]

2 minutes ago, Kenilworth Tiger said:

Is it just me that thought Hardaker didn't look arsed in the slightest during his post match interview? (hy they gave him airtime is beyond me but that's by the by)

He was the most cheerful person they interviewed, it was slightly bizarre.

[Padge]

1 minute ago, Kenilworth Tiger said:

Is it just me that thought Hardaker didn't look arsed in the slightest during his post match interview? (hy they gave him airtime is beyond me but that's by the by)

He hasn't looked arsed all season.

Those of us that didn't want him at the club I suspect will be proven right.

[snapski]

37 minutes ago, Damien said:

Well played Cas, a great 2nd half. Missed goal kicks and injuries very costly for Wigan.

Ah yes. Injuries indeed.

[Kenilworth Tiger]

Just now, snapski said:

Ah yes. Injuries indeed.

indeed - good job we only had 9 out and didn't use one of our subs!

[snapski]

25 minutes ago, Kenilworth Tiger said:

well what a difference a week makes - our forwards were absolutely immense

 

so so chuffed right now

 

We deserved a draw last week. Superb that last 20 minutes. Leeds never left their half. Doing it tough and grinding results.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

4 minutes ago, snapski said:

We deserved a draw last week. Superb that last 20 minutes. Leeds never left their half. Doing it tough and grinding results.

you didn't deserve a draw because you didn't get a draw, you lost in the time allotted to get a result. No team deserves anything, you have to earn it and Cas like all other teams at some point didn't earn it.

[Padge]

10 minutes ago, snapski said:

Ah yes. Injuries indeed.

Wigan's problem with injuries was during the game, both teams had lots of players out from the start. Losing Sammut lost us our  best long kicker and losing Greenwood lost us our best forward on the field and really restricted our replacement options.

Cas used their subs very well bringing them on at the best times to inflict maximum damage, against Wigan players in the pack who were playing extended minutes.

Injuries happen during games, that is the nature of the game, they can have a detrimental affect on your team, but that is the nature of a high intensity, high impact, collision sport.

That said losing a key player during a game is no different to a key player having an off day, it may reduce performance of the team and could affect the result, but isn't that why we turn up expecting, the unexpected.

[DoubleD]

17 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

He was the most cheerful person they interviewed, it was slightly bizarre.

I wasn’t sure if he’d just got white line fever again

[EastLondonMike]

Missed the last 20 or so mins of the game, so missed most of the Cas comeback. But you can't have a three try lead going into the second half and get beat. That's appalling, though sadly quite common now among a lot of teams in SL.

Losing a couple of players to injury and then falling apart says a lot about where Wigan are currently as a playing group.

[JohnM]

Cas deserved winners without reservation. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Wigan are woeful. Call me bias but they’re terrible. To throw that lead away is unforgivable, really. 

[Padge]

1 minute ago, EastLondonMike said:

Losing a couple of players to injury and then falling apart says a lot about where Wigan are currently as a playing group.

It says more about Cas's resilience than anything about Wigan, resilience they showed last week also. 

During a game there are the possibilities of substitutions and replacements, when you make substitutions it affects how you can use your replacements.

Just think it through.

[Padge]

3 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Wigan are woeful. Call me bias but they’re terrible. To throw that lead away is unforgivable, really. 

You are so biased your opinion counts for nothing.

NEXT!!!

[DoubleD]

8 minutes ago, Padge said:

You are so biased your opinion counts for nothing.

NEXT!!!

The same could be said for yourself to be fair 

[Kirmonds pouch]

Well dons Cas, takes some doing does that.

[Kirmonds pouch]

10 minutes ago, Padge said:

You are so biased your opinion counts for nothing.

NEXT!!!

Then by his logic Warrington must be total ###### because they nearly threw away an even bigger lead against Trinity a few weeks back!

[Padge]

6 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

The same could be said for yourself to be fair 

Example as bad as his?

[Damien]

55 minutes ago, snapski said:

Ah yes. Injuries indeed.

Yes injuries indeed. 3 players injured in a game and one sub tends to do that.

[corvusxiii]

Spent so much time grumping at being second best I sort of missed the comeback. Did that really happen?

[dkw]

5 hours ago, snapski said:

No way Cas win with that team out.

Oh..... 

[EagleEyePie]

Ahead of the game I expected Cas to win given the two teams. Both had plenty missing but Wigan's losses were pretty much all in the forwards, whereas Cas could at least boast a strong starting pack.

The first half gave me hope. Wigan were able to bypass an arm wrestle by going wide and exposing some weak defending out wide. That took the pressure off the middles. Greenwood provided a good attacking threat on the fringes which is why losing him really seemed to push the game in Cas's favour.

There was always a fear that the forwards that Cas had would get on a roll and finally put Wigan under pressure and when that did happen the dam pretty much broke. I agreed with Lam's assessment that we probably needed a few more experienced players in the pack. Navarrete and Bullock are regulars but not key experienced players and crucially they have their defensive frailties. Tautai is way off form and Isa is just there to play wherever he's needed. The biggest miss for Wigan was Ben Flower. Against Catalans when our young forwards came on after around 25-30 minutes Flower was brought on at the same time. He dealt with the likes of Bousquet and Kasiano brilliantly and the youngsters flourished. Without him tonight they struggled and Cas were able to get back into the game before half time. Those points proved to be crucial.

Cas showed great resilience to come back and it's impressive how they can still cause problems with so many playmakers out. Once their pack took control it was pretty much game over because Wigan had no answer to it.

The injuries during the game also didn't help. Sammut was playing well and his injury forced Leuluai to play the full 80 down the middle and it weakened our defence out wide when Shorrocks moved there. Greenwood's injury removed our most dangerous attacking threat while Manfredi going off was just horrible to see given what he's been through. Not too disappointed with the result. It's better than I expected although losing after getting such a good early lead is a kicker. The biggest concern is trying to bounce back with more injury issues, on top of the loss of Hamlin, which is making the squad look thin in terms of real quality.