Ian Watson has final say Wakefield pitch and the impact it had on his players

Ahead of last week’s clash between Wakefield Trinity and Huddersfield Giants, the pitch became a talking point after Round One when Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara complained about the pitch.

McNamara had said of the pitch after the game:

“It was a pretty tough game on a pitch that took skin of your legs. The boys there, their legs are red raw. It’s an issue. It’s an issue for Wakefield moving forward for their players. I haven’t seen anything like that before in terms of the blisters and blood that’s in there off that field there.”

When asked if he was a fan, he said: “No I’m not a fan, not if that’s the outcome. If the outcome is that, then definitely. It’s going to create issues I’m sure. We haven’t got to play on it again but they have to play on it every other week.

“I didn’t quite realise it was like that before we came. We’d seen pictures but it’s an issue.”

He then stated: “That’s the worst dressing room I’ve seen for skin taken off legs without a doubt.”

After the decision was made Huddersfield boss Ian Watson revealed that he was desperate for the game to go ahead after his side missed Round One due to St Helens playing in the World Club Challenge.

He revealed that the Giants offered plenty of solutions as he said that Wakefield should have considered an alternate stadium.

The game went ahead and the Giants won a tight affair 8-0 with Joe Greenwood scoring the only try of the contest.

Speaking after the game, Ian Watson confirmed that some of his players, such as Theo Fages, used protective clothing for the game but even that tore.

However, unlike the Catalans squad, most of his players were okay:

“Because we play on it I think we’re a little more battle hardened. He’s split his tights, he’s got a hole in them but other than that everyone looks pretty good to be fair,” he said to BBC Sport West Yorkshire.

Following this, today Watson spoke ahead of their game against Castleford Tigers and gave his last take on the Wakefield pitch saying:

“All the boys seem alright, no one is complaining about it. If anyone has a little bit of  a scratch then out medical team cleaned it all straight away so hopefully that settled anything done. Everyone has trained fully and no one was moaning or complaining, it’s been and gone for us.”