Down to the Wire

My Verdict from the East Stand

WIGAN WARRIORS 17 - WARRINGTON WOLVES 17, FRIDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2013

Before the game started with the number of forwards we had injured, i.e. Epalahame Lauaki, Harrison Hansen, Chris Tuson and Paul Prescott, I would of happily taken a point against a very strong Warrington side.  However, when the hooter sounded for full time I was gutted that we had drawn, it felt like 1 point dropped rather than 1 point won.

In my opinion Warrington's two first tries shouldn’t of been given.  I don’t know where Phil Bentham got the Wigan knock on from which resulted in the Warrington scrum from which that dog botherer, Joel Monaghan scored from.  An even worse decision was allowing the try from fido’s best friend (again) to stand as it was oblivious that Josh Charnley was taken out in the air by Ryan Atkins in the build up.  Therefore, Wigan scored three perfectly good tries and Warrington only scored one.  Don’t get me started on old saggy tits Briers, on another day that drop goal would of hit the post and bounced out.  Unfortunately for us in this game it hit the post and bounced in.  Hopefully we will get our slice of luck against them in another game but we will win a trophy for it.

I was impressed with the half back partnership of Blake Green and Matty Smith, seeing that was was only the fourth game (two friendlies, two league games) that they have played together in.  However, at some points within the game our kicking was poor.  There is acres of space to kick the ball into but time and again we managed to kick it right down the throat of Brett Hodgson.  Don’t get me wrong Hodgson is a good, experienced fullback but to win massive games like this we need to find the turf.

Don’t forget that Wigan fielded eleven academy products out of their seventeen in this game and none of them looked out of place in both defence and attack.  This is fantastic and it shows that we are really building for the future.  We may not win any trophies this season but in the future we may possibly win them all again. 

Wigan Warriors 17	---	Warrington Wolves 17
Tries (3): Josh Charnley Ben Flower Liam Farrell	---	Tries (3): Joel Monaghan 2 Richie Myler
Goals: Pat Richards 2/4	---	Goals: Brett Hodgson 2/3
Drop Goals: Matty Smith 1	---	Goals: Lee Briers 1

***This article first appeared in issue 1 of Cherry & White (a Wigan Warriors Fanzine).  You can follow Cherry & White on twitter @CherryWhiteZine and purchase the fanzine here :- cherrywhite.bigcartel.com ***