Warrington gave Ben Westwood a happy testimonial with a 20-0 win over Wigan in their final friendly of the year. The game looked in doubt as snow descended on the North West overnight but 50 plus fans and past players turned out armed with shovels and wheelbarrows to ensure it could go ahead. READ MORE ON THIS STORY.... - www.rlfans.com/indexmain.php?fid=0&id=993

Warrington gave Ben Westwood a happy testimonial with a 20-0 win over Wigan in their final friendly of the year. The game looked in doubt as snow descended on the North West overnight but 50 plus fans and past players turned out armed with shovels and wheelbarrows to ensure it could go ahead. READ MORE ON THIS STORY.... - www.rlfans.com/indexmain.php?fid=0&id=993

Just returned from a trip abroad, so missed the match. It sounded very much a warm up game for the first team, but did any players 'catch the eye' ( other than Mr Thaler ) ?

Rhys Evans was very good and the pick of the backs for me. The forwards all played very well and dominated the opposition. It was credit to Wigans defence and some sloppy handling that we didn't score more.

All in all, a good solid workout in tough conditions that should set us up for a good start to the season.

Any injuries?

No injuries to report. Good run out for the lads. Wigan will miss the likes oh Hock, Carmont and co. C'mon the Wire !!!!

What did Thaler have on his head? (Apart from the usual appendage)

I think Ben Harrison may have took a bit of a knock. He didnt come back on after his first stint.

And Joel limped off-didn't look too serious though.

You have to give credit to everybody who helped make this game happen because I suspected it would be called off when I saw the conditions this morning.

I did not attend the match but I hope that Ben Westwood enjoyed the game and Im sure that Warrington fans will be pleased with the final score and keeping Wigan pointless.

I don't enjoy these pre-season games because they can be very mis-leading of how teams will perform during the season but with the loss of some key players and the arrival of some new ones its going to be interesting to see how Wigan adapt.

Roll on round 1.

We were late getting to ground match was well underway I looked at ref and I thought he had a huge pair of glasses on. Which in quite a few cases they may be needed, but it was a lot larger than normal whatever it was

Apart from the obvious requirement for refs to have glasses, the one I heard mentioned last night was it had a tiny camera on them. At ref debriefs (and I suppose maybe even at disciplinaries) it means they can actually see what the ref could see.

Credit to everyone for getting the game on yesterday. Shame the weather ruined the attendance. Haven't been that cold at a match for a while! Couldn't believe how poor Wigan looked yesterday. I know its only a pre season game but in attack they had little go forward and barely got near our line all game! Squad depth is going to be a problem for them it seems.

I can confirm Thaler was indeed wearing glasses that contained a small camera during the first half. The 'ref cam' will be worn by all referees during live sky games this year (dependent on them working!)

Source: I'm friends with the touch judge.

I happened across a second division Union match today on Sky (by accident, honest), and they were very keen on using 'ref cam'. Gave an interesting perspective, but could become a bit annoying if overused I feel. Will be good if they use it for when they're bollocking someone after a scrap though!

Ref cam can only be better than that Swingoneter thing used t the begining if last season. That was a joke. Can't wait till Sunday.

I thought that might be it. Not exactly inconspicuous, are they? He looked like a cross between Reggie Kray and Homer Simpson (when he wears his reading glasses). The RU refers have the camera's discretely tucked under their shirt which is a bit better.

If ref cam is to be worn during all live sky games then that is a surprise. I can imagine them using them in their gimmicky Monday Night SuperLeague games but will seem odd twice a week!

Just glad they managed to get the game on because when I woke up on Sunday morning I just thought there was no chance.

I don't like friendly games because from my experience they really give you little indication of how players will perform when the season starts for real, I have been to many of these games when players either look fantastic or rubbish but when the actual season starts they can turn out the opposite.

Having said that I think that with all the changes at Wigan in terms of players leaving and the new players coming in many Wigan supporters are feeling a little anxious right now. The new half-back combination is obviously going to be important and Blake Green seems to be an unknown to many supporters (myself included). I think a lot may also rest on how Scott Taylor performs too with the departure of Jeff Lima to Souths who I think was an important player for Wigan.

The match on the 8th of February will tell us a lot more about how good or how poor Wigan will be in 2013.

Don't understand why people don't like friendlies as they can be misleading! Can't you go and watch a match and enjoy it for its own sake?

Enjoyed the game, nice to be watching RL again. Ref was a bit whistle-happy which made the affair a bit stop start...god it was bloody cold though!

I bet it was, interesting conditions for players and supporters alike.

Here is a link to thoughts on the game by Bilko.

[urlhttp://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2501[/url

Roll on summer rugby.

Yep, pretty fair assessment by Bilko. Wigan were pretty poor, in admittedly difficult conditions, they never really looked like they were going to break through our forward line all game. However I'm expecting a very different side to be running out against us in a couple of weeks time!

Not too different though as they only had Sam T, Sean O'L, Harrison H & Luaki missing, although Luaki did show us his pace over 3 yards whilst attempting to warm up during half time.

I was referring to the quality that these missing players will bring to the Wigan side that will make it a different proposition, not the amount returning.

Don't kid yourself, most of the first team players were brought off by Wane after 20-30 minutes. The only 4 players out of the first 17 on the field after that were Prescott, Charnley, L Tomkins and Dudson. It will be a very different team in a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, wire will still be favourites but least Wigan might be able to get out of their half!