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Ouchy! |
Trips to Wigan are fast becoming a real chore. Pair a ground at which the Dragons have yet to win with the presence of the Sky cameras and it's obviously going to be a tough one. With around 250 travelling Catalan fans cheering the Frenchmen on, the game was in the balance until mid-way through the second half when the class of one Trent Barrett ultimately proved the difference. |
It all started so well. The first 15 minutes, one brief period aside, was played out deep in Wigan territory. Indeed, the Dragons got over the line through Clint Greenshields. A Stacey Jones kick was batted down by a Wigan man straight to Greenshields who was prostrate in the in-goal. Unfortunately, he was in front of Jones and the score ruled out as Greenshields was within 10 metres of the man receiving the ball. A worrisome incident occurred shortly afterwards. Chasing a kick through to the in-goal, Justin Murphy couldn't stop before reaching the hoardings at pitch-side. He couldn't quite hurdle them and ended up somersaulting towards the stand, appearing to catch himself rather badly on the stairs. Gasps could be heard all around the ground, but Murphy eventually got his head clear and carried on with no more than a grazed hip. The scoring finally began on 18 minutes with a Pat Richards penalty from bang in front after Alex Chan had gone high on Stuart Fielden.
Mick Higham showed us all his speed out of dummy half in the 23rd minute, engineering a long break downfield that ended with Chris Ashton just being held short. From the play-the-ball, Adam Mogg was deemed not square in making an attempt on Thomas Leuluai and was despatched to the sin-bin for his troubles. Eschewing a simple goal attempt, the ball was swung first left and then right where Phil Bailey got over for a try confirmed by the video ref after a hint of an obstruction. Richards hit a great goal from the sideline to stretch Wigan out to 8-0. Virtually from the restart, that man Barrett - a class apart on the night - went between Jones and Thomas Bosc - where Mogg should have been stationed - and outpaced the cover over 40 metres to the line. Richards' third goal made it 14-0. The Dragons held their hosts out for the remainder of Mogg's enforced break, but offered little in attack for the remainder of the half and so it remained 14-0. And that wasn't bad. If the Dragons could get on the board early in the second stanza, then this was far from over.
The second half started much like it did the previous week at Hull. Up to round 15, the Dragons were second on the new Frontline Fair Play Index. Since then, it's all gone a bit wrong and the penalties are mounting up. This keeps the side on the back foot and while we got away with it at Whitehaven, it's a lot harder to do against Super League opposition. Eventually, ten minutes into the half, one of these penalties was deemed kickable. What was more criminal was that it was a penalty given away in possession - for crossing. Richards potted the two from 30 metres out. Within seconds of the restart, Barrett had engineered a big gap for Chris Ashton to burst through and score from half-way. Richards again goaled and while 14-0 hadn't looked insurmountable, 22-0 suddenly did.
Two further scores came in quick succession just after the hour mark. First, with the Dragons camped in their own 20, Jones attempted to kick wide for Bosc, but his flick back to John Wilson went to ground and was swooped on by Mark Calderwood. He was denied, but two tackles later, Leuluai had grubbered to the in-goal and Richards beat Murphy to the loose ball to score. The final score came on 66 minutes as Barrett once again prised the defence open down the middle, handed on to Calderwood and the winger easily outstripped any remaining cover to score. Richards couldn't convert either of these while, in the dying seconds, Calderwood somehow managed to butcher a chance of a second, inexplicably knocking on under little to no pressure and so it remained 30-0 as the final siren sounded.
It capped a tough week. Maybe flying back to France last Monday and coming back to Britain on Thursday took a bit of a toll. Maybe Wigan's extra two days of preparation helped. One thing that isn't in doubt is that Trent Barrett is world class. He was the difference today, a day where a very inexperienced bench may have cost them against a side better equipped to finish chances. Dragons' best on the night was Stacey Jones - sang-et-or.net man of the match and scoring three player of the season points. He was the only one anywhere near Barrett's wavelength and he was constantly probing the Wigan defence with a dazzling array of kicks and passes. That it came to naught is frustrating in the extreme. Luke Quigley had another solid game at hooker and really looks part of the team now. He's second in the poll and scores 2 points. The final point is awarded to Justin Murphy, simply for carrying on after what looked a nasty one and could have been so much worse. Wigan concrete is unforgiving stuff, and attacking it head first at pace is probably not something Murphy will try again.
So it was a disappointing night. Disappointing for the fans who had travelled, disappointing for the Sky viewers who again saw little of what we can actually do, and almost certainly disappointing for players and staff alike. A fairly swift opportunity for revenge comes in the Cup semi-final at Warrington next month. We'll have to be a lot more switched on than we were here tonight.
MATCH FACTS
DRAGONS 0-30 WIGAN
| | DRAGONS | T | G | DG | | WIGAN | T | G | DG |
| 1 | Greenshields | | | | 1 | Ashton | 1 | | |
| 2 | Murphy | | | | 2 | Calderwood | 1 | | |
| 4 | Mogg | | | | 3 | Bailey | 1 | | |
| 3 | Wilson | | | | 14 | Vaealiki | | | |
| 14 | Bosc | | | | 5 | Richards | 1 | 5 | |
| 6 | McGuire | | | | 6 | Barrett | 1 | | |
| 7 | Jones | | | | 7 | Leuluai | | | |
| 19 | Chan | | | | 8 | Fielden | | | |
| 26 | Quigley | | | | 9 | Higham | | | |
| 10 | Guisset | | | | 18 | Prescott | | | |
| 17 | Gossard | | | | 19 | Hansen | | | |
| 21 | Touxagas | | | | 12 | Fletcher | | | |
| 13 | Mounis | | | | 13 | O'Loughlin | | | |
| 28 | A Bentley | | | | 22 | Tomkins | | | |
| 15 | Griffi | | | | 24 | O'Carroll | | | |
| 8 | Ferriol | | | | 20 | Goulding | | | |
| 25 | Khattabi | | | | 25 | McIlorum | | | |
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