What Sam Burgess told Warrington Wolves at half-time of dramatic play-off win revealed

Warrington Wolves defeated St Helens 23-22 in golden point after trailing at half-time and Sam Burgess’ half-time words have been revealed.

Man of the Match George Williams told Sky Sports exactly what Burgess had told his team at the half-time break when Warrington were trailing 16-10 despite taking the lead after just 90 seconds.

Toby King opened the scoring on the first set after Tommy Makinson’s error but two Makinson tries and a Mark Percival score saw Warrington staring down the barrel of a two-try deficit at half time before George Williams’ moment of magic freed up Matty Ashton to score in the corner.

That breathed life into the Wolves who would go on to take a 22-16 lead before being pegged back in the last minute of the game and taken to golden point, which Williams would end with his game-winning drop goal to send Warrington to a first Super League semi-final since 2019.

Williams was deservedly handed the Man of the Match medal and spoke post-game to Sky Sports about the dramatic affair, stating: “Credit to St Helens, they came to play tonight and they put it all on the line. We were struggling at some points there.

“We’re going to have to review our game, we’re not happy with that but we’ve found a way to win it again.”

What Sam Burgess told Warrington Wolves to inspire play-off comeback

For long periods of the game, particularly in the first-half, it looked like it would not be Warrington Wolves year but Williams inspired his side to victory with two assists and the match-winning one-pointer.

However, he credited head coach Sam Burgess’ team talk at half-time as the difference maker.

Asked about the rookie head coach, Williams stated:

“He’s brilliant, we were behind on the scoreboard and he just gave us belief, he said that ‘We’ve not played well all year to go out tonight’.

“We reacted really well and we’re looking forward to our opportunity next week.”

Next week, Warrington will travel to face Hull KR and he’s called for ‘a lot’ of improvements if they’re to win, arguing: “They’ve been one of the form teams in the competition. I don’t think they’ve been beaten often at home so we’re going to have to play 9 out of 10, and we were probably 6 or 7 tonight, but we’ve found a way to win.”

On his game-winning drop goal, Williams was quite blase and made the incredibly skilful act sound incredibly simple, explaining: “Get to the left post and then have a go at goal. Like I said, Saints competed hard and the first one got knocked down and the second just sneaked over.

“We needed to change our mentality but we’re not getting carried away. If we want to go to Hull KR next week and win then we’re going to need to play a lot better, for sure.

“We’ve got two games left hopefully but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”