Wigan 6-10 Warrington: Player ratings and major talking points

In a real battle, Warrington claimed a third win over Wigan this season to secure third place in the Super League table. Neither side deserved to lose this aggressive tussle, but in ultimately Wigan found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

Major Talking Points:

1. Running halfbacks

I don’t think I’ve ever seen halfbacks take on the line as much as I saw in today’s game. Both George Williams and Gareth Widdop caused Wigan endless problems with ball in hand with the former scoring after a probing run from the latter. Even Stefan Ratchford got busy in terms of carries as did Jackson Hastings for Wigan. It made for an interesting tussle and plenty of quick play the balls prompting momentum to swing and swing.

2. Cooper is king

I said last Monday before a ball was kicked that Warrington would miss Mike Cooper against Champions St Helens. They did as they struggled to replace the punch he provides down the middle of the field. Today he returned and Warrington looked like a different side. Always busy taking in carry after carry and making tackle after tackle he was at the heart of Warrington’s performance.

3. Wigan missing the firepower to win this war of attrition

This game was most certainly a war of attrition. Both packs battled hard, defences were tested but every time their line was threatened both Wigan and Warrington scrambled to deny their opponents. As I said earlier, Wigan didn’t deserve to lose but ultimately lacked the firepower to get over for a second try which could’ve seen us head into golden point. Having scored just five tries in four games, their points scoring is the biggest obstacle between them and Old Trafford at the moment.

Player Ratings:

Wigan
3 Zak Hardaker – 7
28 Sam Halsall – 7
22 Jake Bibby – 6
12 Liam Farrell – 7
5 Liam Marshall – 6
20 Harry Smith – 6
31 Jackson Hastings – 6
8 Brad Singleton – 6
25 Joe Shorrocks – 6
14 Oliver Partington – 7
27 Kai Pearce-Paul – 7
13 John Bateman – 6
15 Morgan Smithies – 6
Substitutes
9 Sam Powell – 7
10 Joe Bullock – 6
19 Liam Byrne – 6
21 Ethan Havard – 7

Warrington
1 Stefan Ratchford – 7
5 Josh Charnley – 6
18 Jake Mamo – 7
4 Toby King – 6
23 Josh Thewlis – 8
31 George Williams – 8
7 Gareth Widdop – 8
8 Chris Hill – 7
16 Danny Walker – 8
10 Mike Cooper – 8
11 Ben Currie – 6
12 Jack Hughes – 7
13 Joe Philbin – 7
Substitutes
14 Jason Clark – 6
19 Rob Mulhern – 7
20 Sitaleki Akauola – 7
26 Ellis Longstaff – 6