'Courageous effort' - Matt Peet's verdict on Wigan Warriors win with praise for 'excellent' York Knights
Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet felt the way his side found a way to win against an ‘impressive’ York Knights outfit was a ‘courageous effort’ as they continued their unbeaten start to the season.
The Warriors trailed 14-0 after 25 minutes but a brace from Liam Marshall reduced the deficit to 14-10 at the break. Wigan posted further tries in the second half through Noah Hodkinson and Adam Keighran, before a Harry Smith drop goal proved decisive as they secured a pulsating 23-22 win at the Brick Community Stadium on Thursday night.
"Very pleased with the win,” said Peet. “We had a bit to overcome, I thought York were excellent and challenged us in every way – challenged us with their ball carries, ball movement and kicking game – so for us to go 14-0 down and with missing a bit of experience in those spine positions, I think to find a way to win the way we did was a courageous effort.
"I think we’ll learn quite a bit from the way we ended up in that position in the first place, but I’m really proud of the lads holding their nerve and finding their way back into the game, which a lot of it came back through fixing up the discipline in the second half.
"I thought we weren’t winning the contact (at 14-0 down) and York’s back three were carrying smart and hard, and you can’t win every contact, but sometimes you’ve got to be willing to get on with it and defend the next play, we were just lingering in those a little bit. They got some deserved six-agains, I think there was one on the last play, which put us under pressure. We just discussed that and the simple cycle… If we could put York in tough positions and defend without giving penalties away, I thought we would earn enough land to cause them some trouble, and so it proved, but they didn’t go away.
"They’re experienced, strong ball carriers. I thought (David) Nofoaluma was a thorn in our side all night, as was the fullback (Toa) Mata’afa. He’s made a great start to the season, and we saw against other teams that he is a handful, and so it proved again tonight. I think it was a good win for us – brave. I thought York played a good, aggressive, physical game, and they’ll trouble more teams this year, I’m sure.”
Wigan have now played all three of the newly-promoted Super League sides – Toulouse Olympique (W36-16), Bradford Bulls (W30-6) and York (W23-22) – and Peet believes they are certainly competing in the top flight when it comes to on-field performance.
"They’re were every bit a match for us, weren’t they?” Peet added. “Toulouse tested us, Bradford was a tough game to prepare for… I think these teams and these squads, there is a lot of excitement, they’re competing every game, they’re working hard, and they’ve all recruited and got their own style a bit different to one another.
"You look at the York team, there is plenty of experience and physicality, Bradford were a different threat last week and Toulouse different again. There is no doubt that they’ve come in and are competing on the field.”