DEVILS COP THE BACKLASH
Wigan 45 Salford 4 Match Report – David Clegg
Rather like the walker who gets to the top of one peak only to find another even higher peak, which had been obscured by the first, awaiting him, so must the Salford players be feeling after last night’s heavy defeat at the hands of Wigan. Just when the whole club had been coming to believe that the momentum generated over the last two months would take them forward to the end of the season, it stuttered, then stalled, and ground to an absolute halt in the face of the onslaught thrown at them by the rampant Warriors.
In fairness, the whole context of the game could not have been worse, with the home side having to face their own fans only days after their humiliation at Bradford, last Sunday. It is highly unlikely that anyone could seriously have doubted what sort of response the Wigan players would produce in the wake of this. Meanwhile, the Red Devils had expended considerable energy levels to compete, over eighty minutes, with mighty Leeds, less than a week before, and this may well have taken more out of them than we realised, with nothing to show for it in terms of a result.
Not that this showed in the opening stages, when, although Wigan monopolised position and possession, the Devils stood up to the pressure manfully, and although always at full stretch, their defence coped with, and thwarted each wave of attack. That lasted for almost quarter of an hour.
When the first try came, on 12 mins, it was an almost carbon copy of the try Hardaker had scored from a seemingly identical kick, the week before, though on this occasion Bowen’s grounding was far less secure, the video referee giving it the nod, as a result of a one finger touchdown.
Up until then there had been a number of aspects, on which the Salford players had produced improved performances. Most notable was the kicking game, which had started a little tenuously in the early minutes, but which improved with each completed set, culminating, on 24 mins, with a great 40-20, from Chase (right).
So too, for sixteen minutes, the completion rate was good, being devoid of any handling errors. Once these did appear, however, they came thick and fast, not towards the end of the sets, but alarmingly on tackles one, two, and three, thereby giving the Warriors plenty of ammunition to fire at the already overstretched defence. On no occasion were Wigan penalised for raking the ball in the tackle, although the referee did over-rule himself upon the intervention of touch judge, George Stokes, on one occasion, having previously awarded a penalty
The immediate response to that opening try was significantly better than had been the case the week before, and for a seven minute spell the visitors had Wigan under pressure, once coming close to scoring, and then gaining four consecutive sets of possession, between 19 and 23 mins, on the Warriors’ line, courtesy of a couple of penalties which the home side were forced into conceding.
This, in fact, went some way towards evening out the earlier 4:1 penalty count against the Devils, which had been the poorest aspect of their play in the opening stanza.
It was, however, that missed try, on 18 mins, that will come back to haunt them. Sa’u did extremely well to get under, and take, a Salford high kick, but then with Chase and Ashurst supporting him on the inside, he chose to take the defence on himself on the outside where the Wigan defence had little trouble in closing him down.
The simplicity of the inside pass would undoubtedly have changed the course of the remainder of the half, not just in that it would have put Salford back on level terms, but the increase in momentum, self belief and determination, over the following few minutes, and possibly longer, would have been colossal. In addition, we would have seen an element of uncertainty, which had been evident for a period prior to their opening try, returning to unsettle the Warriors.
It was not to be, however, and a short goal line drop, following which Rangi Chase appeared to be fouled, was collected by the Warriors, and from that their lead was stretched to ten points. Two minutes later and the half time score of 16-0 had been reached.
Any hopes that things might be turned around in the second half, initially seemed doomed, when Wigan went further ahead, as a result of Salford’s losing the ball in their first set of the half, but the Red Devils did respond well. A half break by Fages (left), who had an extremely good game both on attack and defence against much bigger and stronger opposition, could have led to a Salford try under the posts on 45 mins, had his pass been taken cleanly.
It was, once again, Evalds’s clean break, from close to his own line, that set up Salford’s only try of the evening. Two penalties immediately followed this and Chase’s kick into the corner, incredibly, was grounded by Josh Griffin,(right) on 16 mins, when he appeared to have no chances of so doing.
Wigan’s response was swift – not with a try, nor even a penalty goal, but with the much despised drop goal. The statement that this made seemed to have the most profound effect on both teams, and the remaining fourteen minutes were punctuated by four further scores, as the tiring Salford defence appeared to collapse.
Very few teams would have lived with Wigan in this form, for once they had overcome their early nerves, they were dominant almost throughout, and unstoppable in the closing stages. Certainly, Salford’s overall teamwork which had appeared to be developing so well in recent weeks, was shown still to be in its infancy, and they struggled to cope with the slick well-drilled masters of the game, leading to a final period all too reminiscent of previous visits the DW Stadium. The required maturity and steadfast belief in the structures and systems will come, however, and in seasons to come the Red Devils, too, will have the means and capacity to ‘turn it on’, as the Warriors did, last night.
Wigan Scorers:
Tries – Gelling (3), Bowen, Charnley, Williams, Clubb
Goals – Smith (6) Drop Goal – Smith
