In one of the all time great Magic Weekend tries, somehow Wigan found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreline.
Whether you want to point to the red card or St Helens’ dramatic turnaround, Wigan appeared to do enough to win the game with some superb defence and some scintillating pieces of attack; Bevan French’s second try created by Jai Field was deserving of winning any game.
Yet they were beaten by the Champions but in doing so showed that they are on the same level as the Saints – something which seemed unlikely at the start of the year.
After the game, Wigan Head Coach Matt Peet opened up on his disappointment but also noted what he felt was good about the performance: “Disappointed with the loss especially at Magic but I think we’ll learn a lot from the game particularly building and sustaining pressure. The effort was there to be seen but we were a bit off with the ball control.
Of course a key moment was the aforementioned red card to Brad Singleton. Peet had his say on the decision: “I can understand why it was given. Sometimes I think the difference between a yellow and red card is open to interpretation.
“Players are aware of it, physios are aware of it deciding when to stay on the ground which crept into our game a bit which I don’t like but if that’s the way we’re going police the game that’s the danger.
“We need to be better, Brad’s got to be better and get his technique right With 12 men we’ve got to handle that scenario better as well.”
He didn’t want to blame that on the defeat and confessed that he still thinks Saints looked a little better than they did: “I think when the game was set for set I think that it showed that Saints were a little bit better than us.”
There was a surprise omission from the Wigan team today in the in form Kai Pearce-Paul. Peet revealed why he didn’t play: “Kai Pearce-Paul was set to play but he was taken ill over night.
“Every squad is being tested at the moment and the teams that contest the big games will be the ones where the whole squad stands up to the test.”
