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Wigan Warriors 16 Huddersfield 20
Warriors v Huddersfield Giants: Gareth Hock
SHAUN Wane’s first competitive match as head coach ended in defeat after his team went down 20-16 against a Huddersfield team lacking seven senior first-team players.
Once the dust had settled, the Warriors lamented the number of times they squandered possession against enthusiastic opponents.
They made ground with ease at times, but far too often let the Giants off the hook with plays that didn’t come off, or passes that wouldn’t stick.
Two tries by Giants prop Larne Patrick - sandwiching a touchdown from Liam Farrell after a move he started - put the visitors 20-12 up leading into the final quarter.
Wigan rallied frantically and Sean O’Loughlin earned his side a lifeline when he burrowed over from short-range in the 74th minute, closing the gap to four points. But in the final few minutes, the Warriors never had the composure or attacking edge to unlock Huddersfield’s defence and claim a match-winning try.
Earlier, a try by ex-Warrior Lee Gilmour was cancelled out by Sam Tomkins as Brough’s penalty before the break gave the visitors an 8-6 advantage at half-time.
Huddersfield beat the Warriors 30-18 in a friendly on this ground a few weeks earlier. But that was against a youthful Wigan side missing several key players, and the Super League-starved, bumper home crowd who braved the cold snap yesterday afternoon expected a different story.
It didn’t materialise that way.
Huddersfield put chances on a platter early on, with Eden running into touch and Tommy Lee throwing the ball away minutes later. But Harrison Hansen and Gareth Hock were both guilty of spilling possession as the home side struggled to get into their attacking rhythm.
Huddersfield slowly improved, and midway through the first quarter, Gilmour angled onto a pass from makeshift stand-off Simon Grix, and beat Tomkins to the line. Brough made no mistake with the conversion.
That try served notice that for all their injury woes, they meant business.
Epalahame Lauaki and Ben Flower came off the bench for their competitive bows, and pounded the Giants’ line with useful drives. Leuluai, who had caught the eye with a string of stinging tackles, tried his best to spark his team into action, but two further errors - a spill by McIlorum and a penalty by Finch - unravelled their good work.
In the 32nd minute, they finally troubled the scoreboard when Tomkins raced through an opening, and showed enough composure and strength to round Eden on the line and touch down. RIchards made no mistake with the conversion to level the encounter.
But before the break, Finch was penalised for holding down and Brough’s goal handed the visitors a slender two-point advantage.
An impressive defensive stint - led by the tireless Flower - forced the Giants into turning over the ball inside their own half. But yet again, Wigan undid their hard work, Leuluai this time spilling from the second tackle.
Patrick thundered over from close-range, and Brough’s conversion put the visitors 14-6 ahead. Scrum-half Brough frequently kept Wigan pegged back with his impeccable range of kicks. The home side, by contrast, rarely troubled their opponents with their limited kicking option - so much so that there was an ironic cheer when McIlorum turned full-back Eden with a well-measured punt from dummy-half.
Trailing by eight, WIgan desperately hunted points, and when Farrell stormed through an opening it put them into a solid position to mount a serious attacking raid. One set later, and it was Farrell who fittingly finished off a short passing exchange, rushing through an opening close to the uprights. Richards’ successful conversion dragged the margin back to two points.
But the feelgood factor disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, as Huddersfield roared back to re-establish an eight-point lead. Patrick attacked a scattered defence down the middle, slicing beyond O’Loughlin’s desperate grasp and rounding Tomkins to grab his second try in eight minutes.
O’Loughlin marshalled their revival, sending the ball left and then right as Carmont and Charnley went close. Tomkins injected himself into the attack with real venom, and with more polish Wigan could easily have crossed for vital tries.
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Comments
There are 43 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
B. Fletcher
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 01:34 PMOnce again Latouche lowers himself to insults which is the last refuge of the out argued. I did not insult you at all, which only goes to show that you have failed to read or understand properly what was written.Take a lesson fron WAFC as he can enter into a debate without the insults. I didn't come up with any lies because I didn't make any claim other than your claims are founded on a false premise. in other words I pointed out the rather obvious flaws in your argument and brought into question the veracity of your argument. I never stated that the newspaper was lying, I stated that the newspaper had gathered its 'facts' from another source, namely an internet survey, which the same national newspaper calls 'fascinating but silly'; mainly because they produce spurious results. One even producing the result that the most influential person on the planet is Lady Gaga. A poll can produce any result based on the question is presented. How would you define coming from Wigan? being born here but living elsewhere? living within the WN postcode? What happens if you are born in Wigan but live in Golborne or Lowton who have a WA postcode, or Horwich with a BL, or Leigh. If you are born in Wigan but live in Stoke, does that mean your not a Wiganer; or you were born in Timbuctoo but have lived in Scholes for 40 years, does that mean your not a Wiganer. You have no idea how many people responded to the internet poll used to quote the four year old figures you rely on as factual; it could have been as many as 1000 or as few as 10. The facts are, you presented your arguments as facts when they are not. I would be interested to see the confirmation of these figures from the fans forum if you mention, and this 'official survey on the WiganWarriors website' Jayster1 refers to.There will be no apology as I am only discrediting your source data; if you fail to understand that and see this as a personal attack, that is your problem and not mine so do not waste your time asking.
Jayster1
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 07:20 PMGricer..yes this user name Jay1! Jay1's been taken on here since it last closed and reopened. Are you never returning to WW?!
Scarecrow
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:39 PMApparently Latouche is a Mudhutter. That explains his bitter and twisted opinion of the Warriors and it's supporters
Scarecrow
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:26 PMIs that you jay1?
Jayster1
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:37 PMLa touche actually does the WiganRL support credit. The official survey on the WiganWarriors website said 59 per cent of fans were from the Wigan Met Borough-this stretches all the way to places such as Atherton and Tyldesley.So the support within traditional Wigan boundaries maybe below 50 per cent. It also stated the average age of a WiganRL fan was 48. Why would WiganRL lie about these facts? Mr Fletcher i think an apology is due..
Latouche
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:11 PMThese are facts which are correct and have been factually researched. The Warriors FACTS were from the Official site and were removed as people were quite rightly using this to point out the myth that Wigan is rugby is a town. The Wigan Athletic facts have been verified by the club at a fans forum - namely that 80% of Wigan Athletic seaosn ticket holders are from the Wigan area. They cannot be disputed until such a time comes as you come up with further facts to disprove them. If they are unsubstantiated rubbish then you shouldn't have a problem proving otherwise. You can't though can you - you just keep repeating the words "unsubstantiated rubbish" like an uneducated parrot. Saying it doesn't make it true. You're going to have to do better than that, continually repeating insults in the hope that your point, if you even have one becomes somehow valid. Get me the facts please which contradict these facts because as it stands, all you have come up with is LIES. Put up or shut up bigmouth - come up with some fact based research that PROVES BEYOND ALL DOUBT that two sporting clubs and a national newspaper are lying.
WAFC1
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 12:07 AMIt was previously made clear Warriors' season ticket info's from the official sites statistics page, a page that was taken down when the stats started to be thrown back and forth on sites like this. I understand your frustrations when so much rubbish is thrown around about both clubs, it just so happens your efforts are wasted given the information is correct.
B. Fletcher
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 07:43 PMBefore I forget.... Here is a link to demonstrate the veracity of internet polls from the same national newspaper that published the result of Latouche and WAFC's internet poll......http:blogs.telegraph.co.uknewspeterfoster100032818why-internet-polls-are-silly-but-fascinating
B. Fletcher
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 07:31 PMBecause WAFC and Latouche I sought out the link to the newspaper article last time you posted it and it didn't agree with your presentation of the facts. In fact Latouche, if you bothered to actually gain some knowledge of how polls are carried out instead of responding with insults, you would find that a recognised way of conducting polls is to stand outside somewhere and poll the people entering. You ask one hundred people where they come from, if 60 out of the 100 come from Narnia, then 60% of the poll are Narnian; and from that you could legitimately make the claim that 60% of Narnia Athletic fans are from Narnia. Nobody said anything about asking every single person did they? In fact if you read the article, it's got nothing to do with databases at all, it was actually an internet survey which is now four years old. You claim that only Stoke have more local fans, when in fact, according to this 'survey', Hull were also in front. Of course Hull are not in the premiership now; but they was at the time which was some time ago. Your 'facts' are reliant on secondhand information drawn in the first instance from a less than reliable source. So in fact, they are not facts at all, and it is unsubstatiated rubbish. Where exactly does your second link come from? Not the Warriors official site, which is what you claim it is. You present your claim like it Warriors have stated that this is how it is; when actually, the link goes to a forum and doesn't link to Warriors official site at all. What you said was 'Wigan Warriors advertise on their official site that fact that 40% of their support comes from outside of Wigan". Once again, unsubstantiated and untruthfull rubbish
MicrowaveMan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 06:35 PMNow we have two trolls. Jones AND Latouche. Get a life the pair of you. Good to see all the cherry and white shirts around. It’s what the town is famous for. Be good if the opposition can fill the north stand then we have over 20,000 for every game.
Latouche
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 04:05 PMWhat a shame an apology for being proved wrong isn't as forthcoming as insults. Is that brief enough?
Wandering Wiganer
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 03:06 PMLatouche says, " . . . Comments that I am delighted to put straight with the use of facts and coherent arguments . . . " Here's a fact: your comments are far too long and you seem to have too much time on your hands. Have you considered a hobby, community work, or perhaps getting laid?
jamesjoseph
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 01:00 PMWigan lose a match and it is like christmas for some of the more bitter latics fans,why cant you just concentrate on supporting your team because i think they need all the help they can get.One statistic latouche didn't give was the whereabouts of the wigan athletic fans before they got into the premier league.We have to be realistic and admit the latics did well to get where they have got but the plain fact is they are only making up the numbers and when they are relegated later on in the season it it is doubtful if they will ever reach those dizzy heights again.
WAFC1
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:23 PMLatics and the Warriors both have around 10,000 season ticket holders and similar numbers of home fans, I'd say that's a great credit to the football team who only entered the Football League in 1978. It's fair to say anyone with an interest in RL in the town is probably a Warriors fan, there isn't much doubt Latics only attract a percentage of the towns football fans, if they all went to Latics games we'd be turning people away at the gates every week! Whatever your favoured sport it's better for the town and the respective clubs fans to back their local clubs and enjoy live sport, better that than thinking it's just TV entertainment and the only criteria for supporting a team is if they're winning.
legoyed
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:59 AMWigan Athlectic are a small club with small minded fans, the other people in the ground have free tickets and are never going to buy a ticket as the football on show is drivel unless a big club is showing how it is done! anyway this page is about RL so a couple of points from Sunday... finch and tomkins at half back and tommy at 9, a centre is a priority too....
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