Just seen the highlights.

Matty Smith's defence for the first 2 Huddersfield tries was shocking.

Charnley's first try was all Bateman, Joel just caught and passed. His offload in the build up to Bateman's try was good though.

Surely it's time to give Hampshire a go there.

Joel missed the tackle for the first one IIRC. In fact pretty much everyone missed a couple of tackles especially in the first half. Huddersfield bombed a few chances, so they didn't all lead to tries. Why pick on Matty - who was excellent in the second half?

Being a category 367563 fan I wasnt at the game and i havent had chance to see the highlights but from Bilko's commentary on Wish (whilst enjoying the afternoon sun in the garden and a few sherberts) it sounded like only 1 or 2 of Matty Smith's bombs actually paid off and his goal kicking wasnt anything to write home about.....?

It was 3-on-3 and Joel was backing off to cover the centre and it was Matty who missed the tackle on the young fullback. He dropped off Wardle for the 2nd as well. Generally I think he's been much better in defence this season but those were two poor efforts yesterday. Definitely melodramatic for anyone calling for him to be dropped

Was away this weekend so wasn't able to get back in time to make the trip over for the game, sounded a good win for us over in Yorkshire on the radio, makes a nice change!

Anyone got any highlights of the tries? Sounded like Bowen is looking good, and Bilko was in high praise of Bateman and Faz. We've got Joel to come back in the back row too, is there a better second row in the league compared to ours?

We have an embarrassment of riches, certainly, but we are not the only decent back row.

Saints will be happy when Vea and Greenwood get fit. They will be strong. Catalans with Zeb Taia, Elliot Whitehead and Jason Baitieri are great at home (as we found out!). And somewhat surprisingly Hull FC look good with Westerman, Minichiello and Ellis.

Cracking game and well worth the lengthy round trip! It was so pleasing that we finished the stronger side; apart from the Brough breakaway, we really bossed the second half. Bowen was good in the second half, but that awful dropped ball in the first half really should have been six points to the Giants. He redeemed himself with some classy touches, though. Faz was terrific (how many times this season have he and Budgie scored that exact same try with the long pass inside? Three? Four? [edit: one of those was actually scored by Rocky, but you take my point). And as for Bateman; as well as his fierce appetite for ball-carrying and tackling, he has a hell of a step on him too! What can't the guy do?





Sarge almost seemed to make a point of stopping props one-on-one in response to recent complaints about his defence; he was again very good.

So, a good match-winning performance in the second half, but we could easily have been punished more heavily for those defensive lapses in the first half. Honestly I thought we were lucky to go in all square at the break.

Who was the guy down the front, applauding the players (and fans) behind the goal at the end of the game? Couldn't see from where I was.

The highlights of the game are on the skysports website.

Smith was at fault for the first two tries. Hopefully he's more aggressive in his efforts on Friday.

Matty missed two tackles in the whole game. Others missed tackles that you don't see on the highlights because they didn't lead to tries. Huddersfield actually bombed at least two efforts in the first half. But you won't see that on the highlights. The highlights comprise 2 minutes out of 80.

Look at the Super League stats and you see that Lockers missed 3 for example and so did MMc despite only being on the pitch for 20 minutes. Are you going to say the same about them? If you'd been to the game (I don't know if you were there) you would have seen that Matty played particularly well, especially in the second half. If you just watch highlights you aren't going on much for your information.

There's always some bright spark on here who comes out with 'So-and-so' needs to sort his defence out as if they've spotted something new. Earlier on it was Sarge, now it's Matty's turn. Guess what? Players miss tackles, rugby would be pretty boring if they didn't. Is Matty's defence good enough for Shaun Wane? Yes. And that's good enough for me.

I think the guy you are referring to was none other than - Henderson Gill

I've seen you use the phrase 'If it's good enough for Wane or If Wane thinks it's right' a few times now.

Do you form all your opinions based off what Wane likes?

No I dont. As you've commented - I've said it a few times.

Do you think you know better than SW?

I didnt see a lot from smith to be honest. Goes missing a lot through matches.

No I'm my own man and trust my own judgment and counsel.

SW opinion on something doesn't bother or trouble or influence my eventual opinion in anyway.

If I don't like a potential signing or if I think a player is doing badly then I'll say so. If said player has Wanes backing or not is irrelevant.

FWIW I agree with your assessment on Smith. I just don't agree with you're ending statement that seems to suggest SW opinion is the be all and end all and almost above reproach.

Fair enough. Keep taking those 'humility' pills.

Is it not just a fundamental function of a message board that people put their own opinions forward?

Must be a sad life to just always bow to what whatever action the club takes.

I put my own views forward on a whole range of topics. I just stop short of telling Wane I could do his job better!

I think his point is that while we all may have an opinion on what's best for the team, very few of us posters will know as much about RL as a man like SW does...

You could say that about any part of RL. I guess we can't question refs anymore because after all they know far more about the rules than we do. The next time an opposition coach puts an opinion forward do we all bow to their superior knowledge?

Just because someone is a rugby coach doesn't remove them from getting things wrong.

Thanks.

I thought it was a very significant win for the Wigan club, players and coaching staff.
That's two wins away from the DW when we'd struggled to do that in the previous 10 months.
Yes we beat Leeds which was a game away from the DW but it was at a neutral venue and obviously they weren't at home either.
Yesterday was a real away match, against a good defensive team on their field.

I thought in the first half we had gone back to the bad old days of trying to score off every set. Especiallly that last set just after we equalised at 12 all. What on earth were the players thinking throwing the ball around like that less than 10 mtrs from our try line with less than 2 mins on the clock?

The second half was a transformation. Although we scored very early, the half was about building pressure. The tackling was ferocious forcing Hudds to drop the ball an awful lot. Because Hudds were doing all the defending and tackling they conceded a number of pens which kept the pressure on. Repeated goal line drop outs drained them and their forwards looked shot at after 50 mins. Broughy's interception try was off a 2nd or 3rd repeat set. That was as good a second half as they've been for some time whether home or away.

For the second game they came from behind to win. Did it against Leeds and came back from behind three times yesterday. That is resiliance and character. A complete turnaround from the HKR and Catalans' games. Then going behind they collapsed totally. That is behind them now.

I was critical of everything after the Catalans' game, I thought it was a shambles.
Therefore I have to say well done to all who have turned it around. The players, coaching staff and all involved in preparing the squad for the past two games.
Well Done to All.

Very true.

Smith was at fault for 2 easily preventable tries with poor 1-on-1 defence. The blame rests solely on his shoulders that those tries were scored, nothing before those missed tackles matter because he was still in a perfect position to stop the tries from being scored. The fact that Wane thinks his defence is alright is irrelevant when those things happen.

Smiths defence was an issue yesterday but I don't think it's been an overly big concern this season so let's hope it was a blip. Dan Sarginson had a blip on that score as well after previously looking solid but these past two weeks he's been rock solid so hopefully Smith will follow suit.

One area of concern for is Smiths goal kicking which seems to have gone backwards this past few weeks. I backed it only a month or so ago and I thought he was much improved but his percentages seen to have dropped. It's not easy converting all the try's our wingers score but the miss after Faz's second yesterday really should be bread and butter.