Ethan Havard reflects on his return to action in Wigan Warriors' Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Warrington Wolves

The prop, who has just signed a new four-year deal with the club, played a key role in the 14-12 win at the DW Stadium.

Havard’s previous outing came in the sixth round tie against Leeds Rhinos, where he suffered a dislocated elbow- which kept him out of action for a month.

“It was really good to be back,” he said.

“I’ve missed it. We work hard week in, week out, to be able to play.

“To get back and get that win was a good feeling.

“It’s been frustrating being injured, but it’s part of the job, so there’s been plenty of hard work and that’s a credit to the backroom staff and the physios.

“I’m just taking things week-by-week to put my best foot forward, and train as hard as I can, hoping for the best.”

Tries from Toby King and Abbas Miski helped Wigan on their way to the semi-finals, but they had to do it the hard way following Kaide Ellis’ red card in the seventh minute of play.

Havard admits the Warriors kept their cool and remained confident they could progress.

“We love being at home, playing for our fans, so it felt good to be out there,” he added.

“Going down to 12-men was a challenge we had to accept, and we just got on with it.

“We were pretty calm, because we knew we could still do a job on their middle to put them in a corner.

“We knew we had to get back into the grind, and that’s all the chat was- if we stuck to our process, we knew it’d be in our favour.

“Winning the Challenge Cup only increases your hunger to replicate it, so we’ll be looking forward to the semi-final now.”

Wigan will now face Hull KR for a place at Wembley.

The tie will take place at Headingley on July 23 (K.O. 5pm), as part of a double-header with the women’s semi-final between the Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.