Matt Peet reacts to hard-fought victory over Sheffield Eagles in Challenge Cup: ‘We were below our best’

The 2022 cup winners avoided a repeat of history against the Eagles, who had led 12-10 for a brief period thanks to tries from Matty Marsh and Matty Dawson-Jones, replying to scores from Bevan French and Liam Marshall, before Harry Smith levelled the points with a penalty conversion on the half-time hooter.

Wigan eventually ran in six second half tries for a blowout score in the end, including a completed hat-trick for superstar French, while Sheffield played 10 minutes with 12 men after Oliver Roberts was sent to the sin-bin.

Mark Aston’s side made a contest of the clash against the reigning Super League champions, including a second 40 try from Evan Hodgson, as Peet reflected: “I think credit to Sheffield for the way that they attacked the game, they were good and made a real contest of it.

“We were below our best, but I wouldn’t like to take too much away from Sheffield and the way they made a contest out of it.

“I think we’ll move on pretty quickly from it.”

Off-season recruit and hooker Kruise Leeming marked his return from a footy injury with a try in the second half, with Liam Marshall (2), Jake Wardle and Patrick Mago also crossing in the sixth round victory.

“It was good to see Kruise out there,” Peet added.

“He was involved with some of our better moments and he’ll certainly be better for having a game under his belt.”