York Knights boss Mark Applegarth has issued his verdict on this afternoon’s 72-20 defeat at the hands of Wigan Warriors.
The Knights were outplayed for an hour, before a resurgence in the final 20 saw them score four tries, with half-back Cody Hunter crossing for his first two Super League tries.
Liam Harris and Scott Galeano added the other two, but the late improvement in form doesn’t counteract what was a woeful first hour of rugby against arguably the competition’s most in-form side.
“First and foremost, you’ve got to give credit to Wigan,” he said to Sky Sports. “I thought that first half, I don’t think we helped ourselves, if I’m perfectly honest with you.
“We kicked out on the full at the start. Just some basic errors that we’ve got to learn individually. You’ve also got to credit your opposition. I thought Wigan’s transitions were scary at times for us, in terms of how ruthless they were in picking apart our game.
“We spoke all week that they’re the best team in the league for their kick-in transitions. If your pendulum’s not on or having a play-off, they pick it apart, and they definitely did that. We spoke at half-time, 44-0 down, you need a response, and that’s what we spoke about.
“We definitely got that… Wigan will be unhappy that they’ve conceded, but I’m also happy that we showed a response, because that could have got ugly. We’ve got to take that back-end of that game now into next week’s game at Castleford, but we can’t have any complaints there.”
At 72-0 down with 20 to go, many wouldn’t judge the fans for leaving early. However, the vast majority stayed put, and were rewarded for that loyalty with the four tries at the end of the game.
“I get the fans’ frustration,” Applegarth said. “I get it, and as leader, as the head coach, that falls on me. It’s me that picks the team, it’s me that organises the team, and I’ll cop that one, that’s part of my job.
“I can’t thank them enough for how they are behind us, and it’s never nice getting 42, 44 on your ego, your personal pride, whatever you want to call it, it’s stinging.
“How they stayed with us and got behind us, that’s what York’s all about. We’re nowhere near where we want to be, that’s pretty evident after today’s game, but we’ve got players that have got to go through this. They don’t know what they don’t know yet, they certainly know what the elite level is, and that top of the elite level is after today.”
With five games ahead that look winnable from a Knights perspective, the judgement should perhaps come over the next month of action rather than ties like this week against Wigan, who were expected to put on a big score.
On the next few weeks, Applegarth said:”We just need to keep our own house in order at the moment. There’s individuals and collectives that we need to get after, and once we’re happy with the brand of rugby we’re putting out, we’ll start worrying a bit more about who we’re playing.
“But you are right, if you look at the table, we’ve just played the two grand finalists from last year, and we’re up against some teams now that are there around us, and as you say, the challenge is on us now, isn’t it?”
