Match Report: Wakefield 40 Wigan 14
Posted by Bilko on April 08 2006 - 00:17
Our closes rivals Wakefield batter us 40-14 at Belle Vue and as I predicted in the match preview, I'm not surprised. Time for the club to admit it's in a relegation battle before it's too late.

Click Read More for Report.
Extended News

Click: Last Match - Click: Next Match

Friday 7th April 2006
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 40 Wigan Warriors 14
Belle Vue, Wakefield
Engage Super League 11 - Round 8 of 28
Kick Off 8:00pm

- Wigan       - Wakefield    
5 Brett Dallas  T2      1 Colum Halpenny  T   
2 Mark Calderwood       20 Austin Buchanan    
4 David Vaealiki       3 Jason Demetriou  T   
14 Kevin Brown  T      4 Jon Whittle  T   
3 Pat Richards    G    5 Semi Tadulala    
24 Darrell Goulding       16 Jamie Rooney  T   G8 
7 Dennis Moran       6 Ben Jeffries    
17 Jerry Seuseu       17 Duncan MacGillivray    
9 Mick Higham       7 Sam Obst  T   
16 Bryn Hargreaves       10 Michael Korkidas  T   
15 Danny Tickle       18 Oliver Elima    
31 Tim Jonkers       11 David Solomona    
13 Sean O'Loughlin       13 Monty Betham    
Interchange:
6 Danny Orr       8 Darrell Griffin    
22 Joel Tomkins       12 Jamie Field    
32 Oliver Wilkes       14 Paul White    
34 Jordan James       26 Ned Catic    

Report: 

Not much more I can add that the scoreline doesn't tell you. Brett Dallas (2) and Kevin Brown scored but pretty much we were sh*te.

Last week officials from the club came out the blocks like Linford Christie to tell us how we had "turned the corner" after our cup win.
I await the reaction to that shambles of a performance.

No Excuses! Injuries are no excuse for that performance!

Like my Drama teacher said to me once - "I've seen more fizz in a bottle of milk".

Until the club admits to itself that they are in a relegation battle we won't be able to move forward.

Well we sunk to new depths as our fellow strugglers Wakefield made sure we remained bottom of the table ahead of the derby with Saints next Friday

First-half tries from Michael Korkidas, Jamie Rooney, Colum Halpenny, Jon Whittle and Jason Demetriou had given us a right kick in the teeth first half. We couldn't really get any worse after the break and the Wigan response from Brett Dallas (2) and Kevin Brown was scant consolation in the face of the one-way traffic early doors.

Second-row David Solomona, who this week turned down a move to Wigan opponents, returned after a two-match absence for Wakefield with a rib injury, while Ben Jeffries was passed fit at scrum half.

The absences of Wayne Godwin (hip), Paul Prescott (eye) and Bryan Fletcher (suspension) meant Jordan James, a signing from Swinton got a debut on the bench.

The home side got off to the best possible start when Pat Richards dropped the ball in Wigan's first set of six and Korkidas crashed over from Solomona's neat short ball.

It was the first of several dreadful handling errors from the Australian import, filling in at full-back, who looked so impressive in winning the NRL title with Wests Tigers last term but who has struggled to adapt to Super League so far.

The Wildcats added a second try on seven minutes, when Olivier Elima broke through some poor tackling and found Rooney on his inside, with Rooney's second goal opening up a 12-0 lead.

Two minutes later it was 18-0 as Korkidas this time made the easy break for Halpenny to back up and score, with Rooney again on target with the boot.

18-0 down after ten minutes, this was embarrassing. "At least we might get St Helens off the record books" was one remark from a Wigan fan.

We offered absolutely nothing in attack and Wakefield were in again after 18 minutes, Ned Catic brushing off more woeful tackling to offload to former Warrior Whittle to cross in the corner, Rooney's touchline conversion adding salt to Wigan wounds.

After 26 minutes came a passage of play that summed up our season perfectly - the home side fumbled on Wigan's 20 metre line, and Mark Calderwood fly-kicked the ball ahead three times only to touch down inches over the Wakefield dead-ball line.

To make matters worse the speedy winger injured his hamstring in the process which, despite him trying to run it off, forced him from the field shortly after.

Rooney extended Wakefield's lead to 26-0 with a penalty bang in front after Jeffries was obstructed chasing his own kick, before we finally got something to cheer.

Mick Higham made the break, handed onto Sean O'Loughlin, who put Dallas over for a try under the posts that Richards quickly converted.

The start of another come back? Nope it was a false start as Jason Demetriou added Wakefield's fifth try just before the break which Rooney again converted for a 32-6 advantage which certainly did not flatter the home side.

The second half got off to a lively start with new signing James going high on Korkidas and then another altercation involving Higham threatening to get out of hand as tempers became heated.

Rooney added a penalty for the second incident to make it 34-6, before the Warriors notched their second try on 52 minutes.

Danny Orr's kick was fumbled horribly by Austin Buchanan into the path of Dallas, who got downward pressure onto the ball over the line, although Danny Tickle missed the difficult kick.

Tickle suffered more misfortune on the hour mark as he dropped the ball on halfway and Sam Obst had too much pace for the covering defence, with Rooney's eighth goal bringing up the 40-point mark.

Brown pulled another try back for Wigan after 66 minutes, but Tickle's conversion bounced back off the post to compound our misery. The rain also began to fall heavily in the final ten minutes which was ironic as Wigan had been p*ssing in the wind all night.
Scoring: 
2nd Minute Wakefield 04 Wigan 00 Try: Michael Korkidas
- Wakefield 06 Wigan 00 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (1/1)
8th Minute Wakefield 10 Wigan 00 Try: Jamie Rooney
- Wakefield 12 Wigan 00 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (2/2)
10th Minute Wakefield 16 Wigan 00 Try: Colum Halpenny
- Wakefield 18 Wigan 00 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (3/3)
19th Minute Wakefield 22 Wigan 00 Try: Jon Whittle
- Wakefield 24 Wigan 00 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (4/4)
31st Minute Wakefield 26 Wigan 00 Penalty Goal: Jamie Rooney (5/5)
33rd Minute Wakefield 26 Wigan 04 Try: Brett Dallas
- Wakefield 26 Wigan 06 Conversion: Pat Richards (1/1)
36th Minute Wakefield 30 Wigan 06 Try: Jason Demetriou
- Wakefield 32 Wigan 06 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (6/6)
Half Time Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 32 Wigan Warriors 06
45th Minute Wakefield 32 Wigan 06 J.Rooney Missed Penalty Goal (6/7)
47th Minute Wakefield 34 Wigan 06 Penalty Goal: Jamie Rooney (7/8)
52nd Minute Wakefield 34 Wigan 10 Try: Brett Dallas
- Wakefield 34 Wigan 10 D.Tickle Missed Conversion (0/1)
59th Minute Wakefield 38 Wigan 10 Try: Sam Obst
- Wakefield 40 Wigan 10 Conversion: Jamie Rooney (8/9)
68th Minute Wakefield 40 Wigan 14 Try: Kevin Brown
- Wakefield 40 Wigan 14 D.Tickle Missed Conversion (0/2)
Full Time Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 40 Wigan Warriors 14
Referee: 

Phil Bentham (Warrington)
Attendance: 

4,557

Super League 11 - Round 8 Results
Fri 7 Apr Hull FC 26 Leeds Rhinos 34 10,958
Fri 7 Apr St Helens 16 Harlequins 6 9,520
Fri 7 Apr Salford City Reds 36 Huddersfield Giants 18 4,084
Fri 7 Apr Wakefield Wildcats 40 Wigan Warriors 14 4,557
Sat 8 Apr Bradford Bulls 18 Warrington Wolves 22 11,136
Sat 8 Apr Catalan Dragons 51 Castleford Tigers 14 6,109

Engage Super League 11 Table - After This Round
- Team P W D L F A Diff Pts
1 St Helens 8 8 0 0 233 76 +157 16
2 Leeds Rhinos 8 7 0 1 286 103 +193 14
3 Salford City Reds 8 6 0 2 196 120 +76 12
4 Bradford Bulls 8 5 1 2 208 138 +70 11
5 Huddersfield Giants 8 4 0 4 210 182 +28 8
6 Warrington Wolves 8 4 0 4 176 171 +5 8
7 Hull FC 8 3 0 5 178 206 -28 6
8 Catalan Dragons 8 3 0 5 195 256 -61 6
9 Castleford Tigers 8 3 0 5 182 305 -123 6
10 Wakefield Wildcats 8 2 0 6 161 196 -35 4
11 Harlequins 8 1 1 6 90 264 -174 3
12 Wigan Warriors 8 1 0 7 148 246 -98 2
- Team P W D L F A Diff Pts