Fri 12th May: SL: Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos KO 20:00 (Sky)

[John Rhino]

On 10/05/2023 at 22:22, Cw25 said:

Wigan 44-12 Leeds

Swop the teams and that's a terrific effort

[JohnM]

19 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

The whole season's been a bit unpredictable, but this match stands out even from the background madness.

We're still recovering from jet lag after the WCC....and we weren't even in it.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

22 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Who's that bloke on the left holding Dave Topliss aloft?

Aloft?

[soulboy]

27 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Aloft?

Keith Tindall .

 

[OnStrike]

1 hour ago, JohnM said:

Doesn't auger well for next Saturday's game. Should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. 

Augers well for the neutral!

[Industria ditat]

I know the 3 interceptions had a big say in the result, but the Wigan pack threw in the towel when the intensity increased and that just turned the whole game around. Not what you expect from a Wigan team, they look like they are short of a couple of high quality forwards to hold them together under pressure.

[Josef K]

Id imagine when Leeds went 14-6 behind and down to twelve men their fans were fearing the worst. But what a turnaround, Leeds scored some fantastic tries and the fans whom made the journey would’ve been chuffed they went after all. It’ll be one of those games that won’t be deleted for a while. 

[Futtocks]

Just now, Josef K said:

Id imagine when Leeds went 14-6 behind and down to twelve men their fans were fearing the worst. But what a turnaround, Leeds scored some fantastic tries and the fans whom made the journey would’ve been chuffed they went after all. It’ll be one of those games that won’t be deleted for a while. 

There'll be quite a few who were deterred by the rail strike. The ones who made it can strut a bit this weekend.

[Davo5]

4 hours ago, Industria ditat said:

I know the 3 interceptions had a big say in the result, but the Wigan pack threw in the towel when the intensity increased and that just turned the whole game around. Not what you expect from a Wigan team, they look like they are short of a couple of high quality forwards to hold them together under pressure.

We’ve been short of them for a few years now,unfortunately Radlinski thinks shopping in the bargain basement is the answer to that glaring problem.

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, Davo5 said:

We’ve been short of them for a few years now,unfortunately Radlinski thinks shopping in the bargain basement is the answer to that glaring problem.

Does Radlinski make these, or any other, major decisions? 

Additionally, I thought Smith was heading for MoM until he was er...er...how best to put this...er.  adjusted by Tetivano. 

Edited May 13, 2023 by JohnM

[Exiled red]

An absolute bonkers game ruined by "Wilko". Why say a few words when you can say two billion over and over again. 

Reminds me of my wife.

[dkw]

The only thing worse than Wilkins commentary is people constantly whining about Wilkins commentary. I think we all know no one likes it now.

[Dunbar]

42 minutes ago, Exiled red said:

An absolute bonkers game ruined by "Wilko". Why say a few words when you can say two billion over and over again. 

Reminds me of my wife.

My deepest sympathies. 

[EagleEyePie]

It was a crazy game for sure. Hopefully from a Wigan point of view it's one that we'll look back on at the end of the season and wonder how it happened, rather than looking back and not being surprised.

Leeds certainly are dangerous when they go down to 12 men though. You've got to give them credit for how they react to adversity (though given their discipline over the last few years I'm sure it's a case of practice makes perfect). Wigan should have been aware that as soon as that happened Leeds would throw caution to the wind and take a few more risks.

Smith had probably his worst game for Wigan, pretty much gifting Leeds 3 tries, and Cust joining in the party late on just made things a bit embarrassing. Still, there were some really soft tries conceded in the middle of the field so you can't put all the blame on the intercepts.

Interestingly I thought our pack was poor but statistically they were much better than Leeds, at least in terms of metres made. I think part of the problem last night was they would make the carries and get us into position but then it was almost like job done, now the ball goes wide. We've got a habit of just wanting to get the ball wide to French and assuming there's going to be space. I didn't see much movement off the ball from the middle players. I didn't see them do much that would make a defender thing hold on, I better keep an eye on these forwards in case they make an angled run. There's no threat of an offload from a middle to keep the defence compact and interested in the ruck area.

Now part of that is probably down to the fact we played a lot of the game with only one recognised prop on the field. When KPP and Mago were on the field they made some strong carries but Mago is too lazy to do much work off the ball and KPP isn't used to playing down the middle. The try Leeds scored by going through KPP pretty much summed up the issues he was having defensively as he's just not used to defending those crash balls, he's mostly part of a sliding defence when playing back row or centre.

There weren't many players who played well for Wigan other than Havard and Shorrocks, who somehow looked the most competent of our playmakers with a good try assist and a couple of smart passes that came close to tries. 

I hope we bounce back and put in a good performance next week. We've got an opportunity to put things right immediately which is good, and if we were playing any team other than Leeds I'd expect us to do it, but I just think Leeds are a team that have our number. They are a bit like Hull KR for us in recent years, they seem to have our number. Maybe we'll have to wait until the week after to bounce back. Oh wait...

[Sports Prophet]

I just watched the mini version of this game. Wish I watched the whole thing. Seemed very entertaining. Great win Leeds.

[JohnM]

5 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

It was a crazy game for sure. Hopefully from a Wigan point of view it's one that we'll look back on at the end of the season and wonder how it happened, rather than looking back and not being surprised.

Leeds certainly are dangerous when they go down to 12 men though. You've got to give them credit for how they react to adversity (though given their discipline over the last few years I'm sure it's a case of practice makes perfect). Wigan should have been aware that as soon as that happened Leeds would throw caution to the wind and take a few more risks.

Smith had probably his worst game for Wigan, pretty much gifting Leeds 3 tries, and Cust joining in the party late on just made things a bit embarrassing. Still, there were some really soft tries conceded in the middle of the field so you can't put all the blame on the intercepts.

Interestingly I thought our pack was poor but statistically they were much better than Leeds, at least in terms of metres made. I think part of the problem last night was they would make the carries and get us into position but then it was almost like job done, now the ball goes wide. We've got a habit of just wanting to get the ball wide to French and assuming there's going to be space. I didn't see much movement off the ball from the middle players. I didn't see them do much that would make a defender thing hold on, I better keep an eye on these forwards in case they make an angled run. There's no threat of an offload from a middle to keep the defence compact and interested in the ruck area.

Now part of that is probably down to the fact we played a lot of the game with only one recognised prop on the field. When KPP and Mago were on the field they made some strong carries but Mago is too lazy to do much work off the ball and KPP isn't used to playing down the middle. The try Leeds scored by going through KPP pretty much summed up the issues he was having defensively as he's just not used to defending those crash balls, he's mostly part of a sliding defence when playing back row or centre.

There weren't many players who played well for Wigan other than Havard and Shorrocks, who somehow looked the most competent of our playmakers with a good try assist and a couple of smart passes that came close to tries. 

I hope we bounce back and put in a good performance next week. We've got an opportunity to put things right immediately which is good, and if we were playing any team other than Leeds I'd expect us to do it, but I just think Leeds are a team that have our number. They are a bit like Hull KR for us in recent years, they seem to have our number. Maybe we'll have to wait until the week after to bounce back. Oh wait...

Smith was doing really well, superb goal kicking.  Then he was clouted by a "gentleman" playing for Leeds

...

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Leeds running over the top of Wigan’s middles,which continues to be their weakness.

But it wasn't for 3 games on the bounce Leigh, Saints and Wire?

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, Davo5 said:

By the sniper ?

What was the ref thinking? He sees a big bulliking forward who it useually takes multiple defenders to wrestle him to the ground, yet French sneezes in his direction and it knocks him over, if this was football Lisone would have been done for 'simulation' - that's what trying to con the ref is called isn't it?

[Padge]

I watched two games last night.

Wigan v Leeds 8:00 - 8:45

Then I watched Wigan v Leeds 9:00 - 9:45

The contrast between the two games was startling.

[redjonn]

16 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

What was the ref thinking? He sees a big bulliking forward who it useually takes multiple defenders to wrestle him to the ground, yet French sneezes in his direction and it knocks him over, if this was football Lisone would have been done for 'simulation' - that's what trying to con the ref is called isn't it?

He pushed him whilst he was off balance.   Anyway it was to Leeds disadvantage as it allowed Wigan to get defence into place, otherwise without the stoppage of the card Wigan had no defence in place...

[Tommygilf]

18 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

What was the ref thinking? He sees a big bulliking forward who it useually takes multiple defenders to wrestle him to the ground, yet French sneezes in his direction and it knocks him over, if this was football Lisone would have been done for 'simulation' - that's what trying to con the ref is called isn't it?

You stick your knee into someone as they're getting up to push them off balance to slow them down because you know they will likely score, its a professional foul every day of the week.

[Havenwarrior]

Having watched Wigan many times this season, still cant see what KPP is doing, or has done to be heading  to the NRL

 

HW

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Havenwarrior said:

Having watched Wigan many times this season, still cant see what KPP is doing, or has done to be heading  to the NRL

 

HW

Escaping to a better world.

[Damien]

2 hours ago, Havenwarrior said:

Having watched Wigan many times this season, still cant see what KPP is doing, or has done to be heading  to the NRL

 

HW

I can see why he would ve an attractive signing for any NRL club. Hes young, just turned 22 and he ticks all the boxes when it comes to size and physique. 6' 5" and almost 17 stone. That's a lot of raw potential.

I do agree that he has been far from fulfilling that potential at Wigan though.

[Gavin Harrison]

Just watching the game back. 

How on earth does Matty Lees get away with that hit on Wright?

Causes injury & should have been off the field himself. Where was the VR??