Wigan Warriors ace Thomas Leuluai says defence is key against Castleford Tigers

The sides meet at the DW Stadium for the first time this season after Wigan’s trip to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in March was postponed due to snow.

And with the Tigers scoring 40 points in their last two outings, against Huddersfield and Catalans Dragons, Leuluai says Wigan will have to call on the defence which kept Leeds in touching distance during last week’s 9-8 win.

“We have to make sure we don’t give them too much,” he said.

“They can put a few points on you and the game can be over quite quickly so we’ve got to make sure defensively we’re up but on the flip side we have to score some points to put the pressure on them.

“Cas’ are a really good attacking team, you can tell they’re well coached and they’re really smart so we’ll have to make sure we’re on.”

Warriors’ attack stuttered during their trip to Headingley where they ended a seven-match losing sequence at the venue.

But with the third best attack in Super League so far this term, with only St Helens and Hull FC attacking better and both having played a game more, Leuluai says he isn’t worried about any criticism.

He explained: “Since I’ve come back to the club it’s always been a talking point from the outside but when you look at the scores… We struggled with our attack at the weekend but it was Leeds, and we scored the same number of tries.”