WAKEFIELD TRINITY went down 22-6 at the DW Stadium against Wigan Warriors this afternoon.
With regards to previous results, Wakefield didn’t perform too badly but head coach Mark Applegarth cited individual errors and a punishing Wigan side as key reasons for the loss.
“I thought we coughed up too many errors in that first-half, it felt like we defended our line constantly and against a team of Wigan’s quality you can’t afford to be doing that. I thought that was the difference,” Applegarth said.
“We put a few things in to fix it up at half-time and I’ve said in there that I can’t fault the lads in terms of their desire to work hard for another but those individual errors are hurting us pretty bad. When you play a team competing for honours and gift them easy field position, they will hurt you.
“You can see they are fighting hard for one another, we’ve just got to stick at tit and have that belief we can turn things around.
“I thought overall, despite our defence conceding 22 points, I thought they worked really hard for one another.
“Look at the play count in that first-half and the little ball we had compared to Wigan, we had one ball on their 20. Wigan are a top team and have top quality players so it wasn’t through lack of effort on our part.”
After admitting he had some “brutal” conversations with his Wakefield players during the week, Applegarth was happy with some of those players’ responses.
“I saw some improvement from those players, we made a couple of changes that we felt were needed after last week,” Applegarth continued.
“I’m not questioning whether someone has given it everything they have got – which should be there as it’s their job.
“I can’t ask for no more. I definitely feel 1-17 they answered those questions I asked of them.”
Wakefield were cut down before kick-off when Will Dagger pulled out of the warm-up.
“It’s a lay over from last week, he hurt his back last week but he trained on Thursday and Friday so he put his hand up.
“In the warm-up he went into a collision and felt some shooting pains down his side. We had to pull him out.”
Following the loss, Applegarth was seen conversing with chairman John Minards and chief executive Michael Carter.
“I have a chat after every game and they said what I have talked about. A few individual errors cost us and then we talked about the effort and desire they are showing.
“As long as you aren’t questioning someone’s commitment to the cause and playing to their level you can’t ask for more.”
Applegarth also explained Kelepi Tanginoa’s absence once more.
“As tempting as it is for me to play him, he was 50/50 and maybe could have played but common sense kicked in for me.
“I’m desperate for him to get out on the field but that extra week or so will be massively beneficial.”
