Wakefield Trinity aiming to answer questions over discipline

Trinity led twice in the first half, but struggled to get into the game after the break when Wigan went from 12-10 down to 28-12 ahead.

“We certainly didn’t get beaten on effort,” Wakefield’s Wigan-born forward Matty Ashurst said. “You couldn’t fault the boys’ effort, we had a dig all day, but a couple of smart things let us down, we gave away a couple of penalties at the wrong time and probably started a bit slowly in the second half.

“We let them get away from us, but there were some positives to take from it so we will move on.”

Ben Jones-Bishop was twice pulled back for a forward pass when Trinity looked set to score early in the second period and Ashurst felt it could have been a different story if some things had gone their way.

“We had a couple disallowed and we were maybe a bit unlucky there,” he said. “If they had been given it might have been a different game, but we can’t complain too much.

“I think we gave Wigan a leg-up in the second half with our discipline. You can’t give a side like that too much field position.

“They hurt us, but we weren’t far off and we will move on and learn from it.”

Wakefield are third in Betfred Super League after winning four of their opening five games. Ashurst revealed: “We set a goal to win four out of our first five.

“With winning the first four we wanted to go five from five, but we have got to be happy with where we are.

“It’s probably the best start we’ve had for a while so, , we can kick on from it. We have got a short turnaround [to Saturday’s game at home to Widnes Vikings] so we’ve got to look after ourselves.

“We had a day off [on Monday], then we’re back in and we’ll start looking at Widnes.

“They have played well so far so they’ll be a good test for us.”

Of his own form this season, Ashurst said: “I have started all right. I just want to be consistent.

“It has not been a bad start, but hopefully I can get better as the season goes on.”

Despite being one of the most consistent second-rowers in the competition, Ashurst was not selected for either the England elite or Knights squads.

“There’s a lot of good players in front of me,” he said.

“I’d have to play well to shift them, but hopefully if I get my form right for Wakey you never know. I’ll just concentrate on playing well for Wakey.”