Daryl Powell makes ‘phenomenal’ Wigan Warriors admission as Wakefield Trinity boss gracious in defeat

Wakefield Trinity coach Daryl Powell labelled Wigan Warriors as ‘phenomenal’ after watching his side suffer a heavy 48-10 defeat at the DIY Kitchens Stadium on Friday night.

The Warriors produced another dominant display to win their sixth game in their last seven outings, with Matt Peet’s side running in nine tries against a Wakefield team that struggled to cope throughout.

Powell admitted Wigan were simply too good on the night and said his own side must learn some ‘harsh lessons’ from the defeat.

“I just thought Wigan were awesome today, from start to finish,” Powell said after the game.

“Too slow from us, a really poor performance, and that’s all I’ve got to say, really - just learn some lessons from it and move on.”

Wakefield entered the contest on the back of a positive run of form and sitting inside the Super League play-off places, but they were outclassed by a Wigan side that continued the impressive standards they have shown in recent weeks.

Asked why the game had slipped away from Trinity, Powell felt Wigan’s quality was the overriding factor.

“I just thought they completely dominated the game, and they’ve been playing that way for a few weeks now, and they just continued in that vein of form,” he said.

“I don’t think we did that much to stop it, it is what it is - it’s a game that we’ve turned up at and got beaten in every facet of the game.

“I just think we have to put it behind us, move on, and learn some lessons. Everything I’ve got to say, I’ll say it to the players during the week, so I’ll not make anything public.

“We’ve just got to learn some pretty harsh lessons from what Wigan did to us today. I just thought they were phenomenal.”

The victory was another statement performance from the Challenge Cup winners, who once again received major contributions from several of their younger stars, with Noah Hodkinson scoring four tries on a night he will not be forgetting anytime soon.

Powell was particularly impressed by the way Wigan’s pack laid the platform and singled out Junior Nsemba for praise after another influential display from the towering 21-year-old.

When asked whether any side could have lived with Wigan in that kind of form, Powell pointed to the challenges teams are currently facing against Peet’s men.

“I think teams are struggling with them at the moment, aren’t they?” he said.

“I think they’re pretty sharp, I think the young kids are playing great for them, I thought their pack was awesome, they carried the ball with some real venom about them.

“Junior Nsemba is going top level at the moment, and I just thought everywhere, they all played well as a team.

“And then when things are going well, they bring Bevan French off the bench and whack him into you!

“A disappointing night for us, and it’s a long season, it ebbs and flows, sometimes you’ve got to cop them and move on, and I think this is one of them that we’ll learn some pretty big lessons from, and I think we need to.”