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As appeared in Wigan
Evening Post 18th Man Page - 7th June 2016
Apart from the last seven
minutes when Wigan seemingly did their level best to chuck away this
result, this was another excellent away day for Wigan.
Salford of old was more
often than not an easy trip for Wigan but those days look to be gone. Like
I hinted at last week, the six points deduction is deflecting from the
fact that Salford are having a pretty tidy season this year, especially at
their home ground where they had found six wins from eight before Wigan’s
visit.
Without those lost points
they’d be comfortably inside the Top 8 at the moment and they provided
Wigan with a good pack battle and more importantly some defensive steel
that Wigan had to work hard to break down.
Wigan’s coaching staff
though had clearly done their homework. I’ve no doubt they’ll have seen on
video that Justin Carney likes to go AWOL on his wing and it was exposed
to the full with Josh Charnley gaining the twelfth hat-trick of his Wigan
career.
The result also saw Wigan
join Warrington, Catalan and Hull in being six points clear inside the Top
4, the positions you want to be in for the play offs come October. Six
points is a huge gap and whilst it’s nice for Wigan to be comfortable at
the moment, I don’t think it’s great for the league that we have that kind
of gap with still 13 matches to play. At this stage last year 10th
place was only four points off the top four, this year 5th place isn’t
even that close.
You honestly can’t see
that gap being closed though. Saints are nearest but face Catalan Away
this weekend and mutiny is in the air at Langtree Park with them not only
losing matches but being well beaten by the top sides in recent weeks. The
really poor crowd for the visit of Warrington last Friday was quite
reflective of the mood around that town.
It was perhaps not great
timing then for Keiron Cunningham and Sean Long to both be inducted into
the St Helens hall of fame on Sunday but that occurring surely makes it
difficult for them to be sacked?
For Wigan this week it’s
all about continuing this form at Hull KR on Friday. During one set at
Salford last week the travelling support cheered every tackle as Wigan
kept the Red Devils trapped near their try line. That told me that Wigan
fans are beginning to enjoy their away trips again because they are seeing
much more competitive displays. Let’s hope we continue the roll on with a
good win on Humberside!
I hope and I pray that our
attack will finally spark into life this Saturday and put in performance
that will surely condemn Leeds to the embarrassing indignity of Middle 8s
Rugby come the mid-season split.
I have the faith to be
honest, because we’ve put in some great performances at Magic Weekend in
recent years, but if we produce what has been a very typical first half
display this season then I don’t think we’ll beat Leeds. I hope we are at
this one from the off! |
