Match Report: Wigan 19 Salford 12
Posted by Bilko on June 20 2015 - 19:19
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Friday 19th June 2015
Wigan Warriors 19 Salford Red Devils 12
DW Stadium, Wigan
First Utility Super League 20 - Round 19 of 23
Kick Off 8:00pm

- Wigan         - Salford    
1 Matty Bowen         6 Rangi Chase    
22 Dom Manfredi         18 Mason Caton-Brown    
11 Joel Tomkins         3 Josh Griffin    G2 
4 Dan Sarginson  T        4 Junior Sa'u    
5 Joe Burgess  T        5 Greg Johnson    
6 George Williams         14 Theo Fages    
7 Matty Smith    G3   DG    7 Michael Dobson    
8 Dom Crosby         8 Adrian Morley    
9 Michael McIlorum         37 Logan Tomkins    
10

Ben Flower

         16

Scott Taylor

    
14 John Bateman         31 Corey Paterson  T   
12 Liam Farrell  T        12 Weller Hauraki    
13 Sean O'Loughlin         11 Harrison Hansen    
Interchange:
20 Ryan Hampshire         10 Lama Tasi    
23 Lee Mossop         17 Jordan Walne    
24 Taulima Tautai         19 Niall Evalds    
25 Larne Patrick         26 George Griffin  T   

Report: 

 Hard to butter this one up. 34 errors between the sides say's it all and for the majority of the first hour, Wigan's attack was beyond belief. No structure. No cohesion. No ideas. It did settle down late on though, particularly because Micky McIlorum returned, and I thought late on that Wigan had a clear fitness edge on Salford.

Salford were not much better to be fair in attack but both sides did defend reasonably well. I thought Salford in particular did a good job out wide in keeping both Dom Manfredi and Joe Burgess quiet and that contributed to Wigan's woes in attack. We like to go out wide but when that avenue was closed, we hit a cul-de-sac, wondering what else to do. In the end we got over the line with some scrappy tries to be fair.

For all that though, I did say as we hit the air on Wish FM at 7pm that tonight was all about the result and I wasn't bothered how we got it. I didn't quite expect this display BUT I don't mind it, if we put in a good show after the enforced cup break when we play Warrington.

The only try of the first half went to Salford in the 9th Minute with Corey Paterson crashing over and Josh Griffin converting for 6-0. That was it. Nothing else to report.

Early second half that lead was extended to 12-0 within two minutes. Taulima Tautai's error was punished by George Griffin under the posts.

This was beginning to remind me of some dark days of the Brian Noble era when Wigan consistently were hard to watch at home but the positive for us this time was that we fought back to win.

In the middle of the game we had a spell of using Matty Smith at hooker with Ryan Hampshire off the bench to play with George Williams in the halves. It didn't really work to be honest but all round it was poor so maybe not the night to judge that idea.

A big key to the comeback was hitting back so soon after it had gone 12-0. Like so often this season, it was Joe Burgess that found a try with him plucking a bomb from Matty Smith out the air to finish. Smith converted for 12-6.

Wigan were still playing poorly when that try was scored but once McIlorum returned for his second spell, things settled down. It was still a flukey finish to equalise. Good work from Dom Manfredi down the right set up territory and swinging left a kick back inside from Budgie allowed Liam Farrell to pounce on a bouncing ball. Smith converted for 12-12.

Fifteen minutes still remained but Wigan now had all the momentum. Not even Smith missing a forty metre penalty goal could halt the charge and it was Dan Sarginson who claimed the crucial try. Another Scrappy one. Grubber went in, Theo Fages didn't deal with it and Sarge pounced for the score. Smith converted for 18-12 before adding a flapper of a drop goal, the 15th of his Wigan career, to complete the comeback victory with five minutes to go.
Scoring: 
9th Minute Wigan 00 Salford 04 Try: Corey Paterson
Wigan 00 Salford 06

Conversion: Josh Griffin (1/1)
Half Time Wigan Warriors 00 Salford Red Devils 06
42nd Minute Wigan 00 Salford 10 Try: George Griffin
Wigan 00 Salford 12

Conversion: Josh Griffin (2/2)
49th Minute Wigan 04 Salford 12 Try: Joe Burgess
Wigan 06 Salford 12 Conversion: Matty Smith (1/1)
64th Minute Wigan 10 Salford 12 Try: Liam Farrell
Wigan 12 Salford 12 Conversion: Matty Smith (2/2)
68th Minute Wigan 12 Salford 12 Missed Penalty: Matty Smith (2/3)
71st Minute Wigan 16 Salford 12 Try: Dan Sarginson
Wigan 18 Salford 12 Conversion: Matty Smith (3/4)
75th Minute Wigan 19 Salford 12 Drop Goal: Matty Smith
Full Time Wigan Warriors 19 Salford Red Devils 12
Referee: 

Joe Cobb
Attendance: 

13,710

First Utility Super League 20 - Round 19 Results
Thu 18 June Castleford Tigers 25 St Helens 24 6,086
Fri 19 June Hull Kingston Rovers 36 Warrington Wolves 10 7,455
Fri 19 June Wigan Warriors 19 Salford Red Devils 12 13,710
Sat 20 June Catalan Dragons 32 Wakefield Wildcats 12 7,843
Sun 21 June Leeds Rhinos 32 Hull FC 20 16,203
Sun 21 June Widnes Vikings 22 Huddersfield Giants 30 5,420

First Utility Super League 20 Table - After This Round
- Team P W D L F A Diff Pts
1 Leeds Rhinos 19 13 1 5 582 405 +177 27
2 St Helens 19 13 0 6 473 330 +143 26
3 Wigan Warriors 19 12 1 6 489 350 +139 25
4 Huddersfield Giants 19 10 2 7 424 309 +115 22
5 Castleford Tigers 19 11 0 8 431 400 +31 22
6 Catalan Dragons 19 9 2 8 491 477 +14 20
7 Warrington Wolves 19 9 0 10 437 404 +33 18
8 Hull FC 18 8 0 10 350 356 -6 16

Top 8 Qualify for "Super 8s" after Round 23 / Top 4 Qualify for Play Offs
9 Hull Kingston Rovers 18 8 0 10 444 481 -37 16
10 Widnes Vikings 19 7 1 11 438 469 -31 15
11 Salford Red Devils 18 6 1 11 344 460 -110 13
12 Wakefield Wildcats 18 2 0 16 288 750 -462 4