Wakefield Trinity boss sets new challenge after ‘outstanding’ win as game-changing tactical switch explained

Wakefield Trinity put in an unbelievable second-half showing to defeat Catalans Dragons and head coach Daryl Powell has revealed the tactical switch that helped guide his side to the win.

After going 10-0 behind early on, Wakefield scored 11 unanswered tries to win 58-10 with nine of those tries coming in a dominant second-half.

Catalans found success early on by targeting Wakefield’s right edge but a tactical change from Daryl Powell helped fuel what would go on to be an incredible victory.

“I thought we started really sloppy, and then they came to move the ball around, and they were outstanding in the first period,” Powell admitted post-match on Sky Sports.

“We just needed to change our game a little bit and we got back into the game by half-time, and that second half was as well as we’ve played. I thought we were phenomenal, the forwards were superb, and everybody else went on the back of that.”

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How Wakefield Trinity turned the game on its head

The major change came at the 15 minute mark as Caleb Hamlin-Uele came onto the field with Caius Faatili also making a wonderful impact from the bench, scoring a second-half hat-trick.

Hamlin-Uele came on at the expense of Cameron Scott, the centre who had started in the second-row, and when explaining that switch Daryl Powell took responsibility and insisted it was through no fault of Cam Scott at all.

He said: “It was tough, it was Cam’s 100th game today and he’s been playing great for us but I just felt like something had to change there on the right edge, and Cam sort of took the fall for it.

“I put him back on there at the end, I don’t think it was one player, we just needed to change the combinations there. Pittsy (Jay Pitts) is an experienced back-rower, so I put him there first and then Mike (McMeeken) there.

“I’m not throwing anybody under the bus, I just think something had to change on the right edge and stiffen us up, and it didn’t happen immediately, it took a little bit of a while for us to stiffen ourselves up, and then once we’d tidied that up, we started to play.”

Powell admitted: “There were some lessons there for us in how we started that game, particularly once they came and moved the ball, and we didn’t handle it too well at first, but there is every game, and sometimes you’ve just got to make tough calls. Like I say, it’s not Cam’s fault, it was just something that had to change out there.”

Forward pack and Trueman hailed amid call for consistency

Powell also gave plenty of flowers to all of his forward pack after initially being asked about Caius Faatili, the hat-trick hero, and Jake Trueman, who bossed the game from the halves.

“He’s got so much energy, you could have taken your pick in the pack,” he said when asked about Faaili.

“I thought we were so strong there in that second half. Tray Lolesio comes off the bench, and I thought he was a powerhouse, Caleb (Hamlin-Uele) did the same, and he looked incredibly strong.

“I thought Tyson (Smoothy) had a really strong game in the middle, and then Jazz (Tevaga) comes off the bench as well, so Caius had a really good second half but I just think whenever you look in the middle of the field, we punched holes.

“Our outside backs didn’t have an awful lot to do, second half, we just punched holes through the middle, and that’s what I expect from our middle boys, we’ve got some phenomenal players in there.”

On Trueman and his chances of featuring for England in the World Cup this year, Powell agreed: “Yeah, he was superb. I thought you could see right at the start of the second half, I mean, he even started taking kick-off carries, he was that confident.

“I think when he runs the ball, and how statistically we look at players, that when he’s running the ball over 13 times, then he’s having a big game, and he started to do that a hell of a lot. Sometimes you think, well, I’m not sure why he’s run there, but I think just when he’s like that mentally, he’s going to run the ball, and he’s so damaging and dangerous, and then his creative juices start, and when he does that, then he’s an outstanding player.”

Setting forth a new challenge, Powell called on his side to start cleaner and become more consistent though he couldn’t hide his happiness at how strong Trinity were in the second 40 minutes.

He admitted: “There are some bits there that we’d want to tidy up, but I mean, when we can put our foot down like that, and be as damaging as that, we know what kind of team we can be.

“I think for us, it’s just consistency. We go away to Toulouse next week, which will be a difficult game, they’re playing pretty well, and still handling all the Super Leagues thrown at them.

“We’re in a good place, I think there’s some challenges for us along the way that we need to be better at, and you’re always saying that as a coach, but wow, some of the things we did tonight, I just thought were outstanding.”

.@WTrinityRL absolutely blow the Dragons away in the second half 🤯#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/YasoTDmtCQ

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 15, 2026