Wakefield Trinity have a real dig as they show spirit in tough defeat to Wigan

Daryl Powell’s men dominated for large spells at the Brick Community Stadium, but two long range breakaway tries proved the difference between the sides along with a controversially disallowed try for Wakefield as the 26-12 final score did not tell the story of how much Trinity pushed their hosts.

Wigan were more clinical and showed their attacking prowess in the first half as they showed exactly why they have now won 12 games in a row while for the visitors there was plenty to give them hope that they can live with the best.

Both teams looked sharp early on and could count themselves unlucky not to score in the first 10 minutes.

Wigan crafted the first opportunity off the back of Brad O’Neill’s break carried on by Liam Marshall and looked certain to score with a huge overlap on the right only for Bevan French’s pass to Zach Eckersley to go just forward.

French was then involved at the other end attempting to make a try saving tackle on recalled Wakefield full-back Max Jowitt following a flowing move that saw the ball carried 60 metres downfield by another of the returning players in Oli Pratt off a brilliant Jake Trueman pass.

Jowitt backed up his winger well and was rolled over after crossing the line. Referee Chris Kendall said it was no try and video official Liam Moore agreed although replays showed he did get the ball down.

Moore suggested the Trin player may have lost the ball and said there was “insufficient evidence” that it was a try, but a later replay showed clearly that it should have been given and Wakefield boss Powell made his feelings clear about the decision.

On such mistakes games like this can be decided and it certainly played a part as the visitors’ next attack saw them aggrieved again, but only having themselves to blame this time.

After forcing a goal-line drop-out they were pressing near the home line when Trueman’s wayward pass was not gathered by a teammate and the speedy French was onto it in a flash to race more than 70 metres downfield for a try right against the run of play.

This was the cue for a hot spell from the Warriors as two tries in five minutes for winger Marshall off smart moves suddenly took the score out to 18-0.

It was now looking like being a long night for Trinity and their frustrations showed when a harshly given offside was disputed and the penalty was compounded with the ball moving another 10 metres on for backchat to the referee,

But they dug in, did not concede from the next attack and got themselves back in the game, aided by new signing Emre Guler, who came off the bench after coming straight to the game from his flight from Australia with his move from NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons having been brought forward.

A high kick was unconvincingly defended by the Warriors and another promising attack was ended when Matty Storton lost the ball three metres from the line.

Jack Sinfield’s grubber was then just too strong for the chasing Zac Lipowicz who was a whisker away from marking his debut with a try.

Relieved Wigan had the final word in the half with Adam Keighran kicking a controversially awarded penalty when it looked like Shea O'Connor had lost the ball in a tackle to make it 20-0 at half-time.

Trin had to rejig their side at the start of the second half with Pratt injured, but they did not let it affect them as Mike McMeeken was only just stopped less than a metre out. From their next attacking set they took play to within 10 metres of the tryline only for McMeeken to drop Trueman’s pass.

Another injury threatened to derail the visitors with Storton off with a leg injury, but again they continued to show spirit and finally scored as Hall – now on the wing – caught a high kick from Trueman to cross for a try converted by Jowitt.

Trinity briefly thought they had another try soon after when Hall somehow got a pass away after being tackled in the corner and Jowitt collected it to touch the ball down over the line. But after no try was signalled on the field the video referee correctly backed that up as Hall’s foot was on the line before he made his pass.

Another attack ended in the opposite corner with Jayden Myers collecting a Sinfield high kick only to be unable to force his way over.

A goal-line drop-out was forced by Trueman’s clever kick and the hosts were forced to defend stoutly. But they were to strike a killer blow from yet another Trin attack as Sinfield ignored an overlap to his left and gave a short pass to McMeeken who then dropped the ball two metres out.

Jai Field picked up the loose ball, went round Sinfield and raced the full length of the pitch for the gamebreaking try.

It was thrilling, but cruel on Wakefield and the game was now effectively over as a contest.

To their credit, they still stuck to their guns and had another try disallowed when Harvey Smith lost the ball over the line trying to get the ball down after collecting a superb offload from Caleb Hamlin-Uele.

They were awarded a penalty for offside, however, and from the next set Ky Rodwell powered over from close range. Jowitt added the extras, but this proved the final score of the game with the home defence staying strong in the closing 10 minutes.