Wane praises makeshift half-back Tomkins

The Warriors ran in eight tries to record a 42-12 win over Kingstone Press Championship side Swinton Lions and set up a mouth-watering last eight tie against Warrington.

Wane said: “I’m very happy with that. It was a bit disruptive with losing George (Williams) in the build-up. It’s a job done - we wanted to be in the next round and we did that.

“We did some good things - our D (defence) was good and they threw a lot at us.

“It’s been a good day. If you look at the age of the team it’s a very young team, we have got two back-rowers in the halves so our attack was not going to be great.

“We just found a way to win.”

Williams was forced to pull out before the game with a migraine with Wane forced to start Joel Tomkins at stand-off and he was pleased with how he adapted to the new role.

“Joel is just a talented rugby player,” added Wane.

“It doesn’t matter where he plays, he knows what to do. He is very skillful is Joel, so is Nick (Gregson).

“We didn’t see the best of Nick but overall I am happy to get the win at an awkward place because they are a good team.

“George had a migraine. We wanted to see how he warmed up but he decided he couldn’t warm-up.

“As soon as I got the phone call about George I told Callum (Field) he could be in.”

Wane was full of credit for Swinton and insisted they caused his side a lot of problems.

“They are a good team and are well coached,” he said.

“They have a lot of talented players - some of who we know - and score a lot of points in their own competition. So to keep them down to two tries is pleasing.”

Wane revealed Sean O’Loughlin and Williams should be available to face Warrington at Magic Weekend, while Thomas Leuluai has an outside chance of being available following a broken jaw.

Swinton coach John Duffy was proud of his side’s efforts, saying: “We were just a bit inconsistent in that first half, but we had a right dig into them.

“They are not world champions for nothing, even their younger lads who came in were superb.

“We have had a good dig into them and hopefully we can take what we have done with the good parts of our game into our league campaign now.

“We have exposed them a few times, we’ll look at the video.

“I thought Jack Murphy was outstanding for us at the back and our wingers were superb.

“I’m happy with the lads because they gave a good dig. They’ll have a few days off now because that will have taken a lot out of them.

“We are only a part-time club and have another big one away at Hull KR next week.”