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| Tuesday 29th September 2020 | ||
| Wigan Warriors 0 St Helens 42 | ||
| AJ Bell Stadium, Salford (Switched from DW Stadium, Wigan due to Covid-19 Restrictions) |
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| Betfred Super League 25 - Round 14 of 20 | ||
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Kick Off 7:45pm |
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| - | Wigan | - | St Helens | |||||
| 39 | Umyla Hanley | 1 | Lachlan Coote | G7 | ||||
| 35 | Sam Halsall | 22 | Jack Welsby | T2 | ||||
| 3 | Chris Hankinson | 3 | Kevin Naiqama | |||||
| 36 | James McDonnell | 26 | Josh Simm | |||||
| 23 | Jake Bibby | 5 | Regan Grace | T2 | ||||
| 27 | Jake Shorrocks | 6 | Jonny Lomax | |||||
| 28 | Harry Smith | 7 |
Theo Fages |
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| 19 |
Joe Bullock |
8 |
Alex Walmsley |
T | ||||
| 32 | Amir Bourouh | 9 | James Roby | |||||
| 20 |
Liam Byrne |
15 |
Matty Lees |
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| 37 | Harry Rushton | 14 | Morgan Knowles | T | ||||
| 15 | Joe Greenwood | 20 | James Bentley | T | ||||
| 29 |
Jack Wells |
32 |
James Graham |
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| Interchange: | ||||||||
| 14 | Ben Flower | 11 | Zeb Taia | |||||
| 22 | Mitch Clark | 13 | Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook | |||||
| 34 | Kai Pearce-Paul | 16 | Kyle Amor | |||||
| 40 | Ben Kilner | 27 | Lewis Dodd | |||||
| Report: |
A derby against St Helens three and a half days before a Challenge Cup Semi Final was always a tall order and given that Saints hadn't played last weekend and don't play next weekend it made the fixture an even more evil task. So personally I think the decision to play pretty much a reserve side and offer out six debuts was the right call. It was a hiding to nothing under the circumstances but for me the Cup is the closest target and for now you put your best eggs in the cup basket. The young kids put in an enthusiastic display but whilst I didn't think Saints got out of first gear in attack, they were very determined to hold the nil in defence and played with efficient speed throughout. Three quick tries created an 18-0 lead in a flash but Wigan didn't collapse at any point and although 42-0 looks a heavy defeat on paper it was a spirited effort, full of desire during the whole match. It was quite an achievement really to not be buckled up the middle of the field too often. In fact most damage came from our own errors or penalties. The first set restart only came after 50 minutes and they hadn't played under those rules either, whilst also haven't played a minute since March they didn't flag for fitness too much. So not the result we ever want in a derby but Leeds, Salford and Warrington have all done the same ahead of the weekends Semi Finals and no doubt Saints would have gone the same way had they been involved. A necessary evil. It may not be the result we wanted but players like Ben Kilner caught they eye and if the Cup Final is achieved more opportunities will surely arise as the season progresses. |
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| Scoring: |
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| Referee: |
Ben Thaler |
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| Attendance: |
0 (Non Fans in Attendance due to Covid-19 Regulations) |
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| Note: |
This match was originally meant to be Round 28 of 29 in original fixture list and played on Friday 4th September 2020. It had also been due to be played on Wednesday 30th September at DW Stadium with a trial crowd of 1,000 spectators but this was abandoned a week before the match due to a rise of infections in Wigan. |
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