No complaints from Wane after Saints defeat

Tries from Dominique Peyroux and Morgan Knowles were enough to see Wigan’s arch rivals take another step to picking up the League Leaders’ Shield and secure a double over the Warriors this term.

But Wane, who handed a debut to new signing Chris Hankinson and had frontliners Sean O’Loughlin, Oliver Gildart and George Williams joining Liam Farrell on the sidelines, said he would look at the bigger picture.

“I can’t stand losing against them - it hurts me badly but I’m all right with this one,” said Wane.

“I’ll look at the big picture stuff. We never gave in, and they’re a good team. Overall I’m all right.”

A try from Sam Tomkins with time running out was the only time Wigan troubled the scoreboard on an evening where Wane admits his side’s attack didn’t fire.

But the Wigan boss still thought the derby lived-up to its billing.

“The best team won without a shadow of a doubt,” he conceded.

“I was really proud of our efforts. I thought the referee was good - not many penalties - it was a Wigan-Saints derby.

“They got stuck into each other, there’s some injured bodies, blood everywhere so it’s a great sign. We were second best - they were the best team.”

As frustrating as Wigan’s attack may have been to watch at times, Wane revealed a clutch of players had struggled to train leading up to the game, and that contributed to their misfiring.

“I thought our attack was a bit clunky. I think we had too many players who haven’t trained all week and it looked that way,” he said.

“There was no real good detail with our attack and we didn’t put them under enough pressure.

“Our end of sets at really important times of the game when I thought we had them and our end of set quality was poor”

Despite fielding a patched-up squad which ran the table toppers close, Wane admitted his side wouldn’t have deserved a win if they had edged in front, and he joked Under-19s boss Darrell Goulding was nearly called back into playing action.

“Sam Powell’s not trained, Joe Greenwood’s not run since he was injured. We had to rush him back - we had number 41 playing today - it was just needs must,” said Wane.

“I was sizing up Daz Goulding at one point - he still looks all right!”

Wane did have praise for new signing Hankinson, though, who Wane said ‘did a good job’. The 24-year-old didn’t look out of place despite only putting pen to paper on a deal for the club two days ago.