Adrian Lam's reaction after Wigan Warriors' 12-8 victory against Catalans Dragons

And coach Adrian Lam was understandably proud of their display, made even more impressive given he rested six frontline stars for next week.

The Warriors will host Leeds in a sudden-death play-off match next Thursday, with the winner then just 80 minutes away from a Grand Final.

Lam said: "I'm very proud, there were a lot of changes to the team - but we'd played more games than anyone else so we decided to freshen up the side.

"The kicking game was great, our defence was awesome again - it's been the cornerstone for us these last few weeks.

"I don't want to get too ahead of myself, I thought the players who came in did brilliant, we'll get confidence from this but we've still got a lot of work to do.

"We'll play Leeds on a six day turnaround, it'll be here before you know it, so we need to keep our feet on the ground and rise again next Thursday."

Willie Isa's opening try was followed by an impressive effort from James McDonnell, who was recalled from a loan spell at York.

And Lam revealed: "There's a funny story, a couple of minutes beforehand he was rattled, the message was coming up that he was exhausted and I sent the message back to tell him to rise and find something - and he certainly did that. The boys love him, he's a great young man and he's got a great future."

Lam will check on shoulder injuries suffered by McDonnell and Joe Bullock.