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Well realistically I think what we saw was the
difference in quality between the Wigan and St Helens sides but
sad as it is to say it, I thought our boys did well.
The effort and commitment was there, they never
gave up, we just weren't good enough to overcome an awesome St
Helens defence.
Special praise for the tackle from Chris Ashton
which denied Vinnie Anderson a try. He could have just given up as
Saints were scoring at will, but he didn't. He played in the 21s
last Sunday and clearly he doesn't want to go back there.
Ashton's try was excellent as well. But I remember
thinking that Mark Calderwood has not had a ball out wide like
that all season.
At the end of the day Wigan's spirit was not
enough to compete with St Helens but if they show the same spirit
on Monday, surely we will win?
As always Knowsley Road produced a great
atmosphere and despite relegation problems we sung loud and proud
for the full 80 minutes. That's what we have to do, if we are to
go down this year, let's do it with a smile and a laugh!
Last season's 75-0 loss was an embarrassment. And
even though 48-10 isn't pretty, I don't think we embarrassed
ourselves with that performance. Wigan started well I thought and probably should have scored erly
doors.
But it was Saints who took the lead as Paul Sculthorpe
scored the first in the 7th minute as he went through a huge gap
in our defence.
Jamie Lyon set Paul Wellens up for the second try in the 18th
minute and at 12-0 just before half time you had to be happy that
we were still in the match.
But just before half time, a killer blow! Sean Long finished
off a break from Leon Pryce to make it 18-0.
Into the second half and it was soon 24-0 as Adrian Gardner
scored in the corner.
We feared being nilled again but much to our relief Chris
Ashton made a 70 metre run down the wing to get us on the
scoreboard in the 52nd minute. Pat Richards missed the conversion
- 24-4.
Then came a video ref decision against which I haven't see
again, which could have made a game of it but Richards was denied
a try, for a knock on I think/
Into the final quarter and Wigan's effort began to show as they
tired. Saints scored tries for fun with Ian Hardman, Jason Hooper
(2) and Leon Pryce all touching down.
After Pryce's try Saints had 8 minutes to hit the half century
but it was Wigan who had the last say in the game, with a late try
for Jordan James, his first for the club.
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