Although Super League is a competition which prides itself on attacking flair as opposed to defensive grit, the England coach, Wayne Bennett, appears to have an unfortunate knack of picking games which fail to captivate the imagination.
We are now two-thirds of the way through Bennett’s fact-finding mission before this year’s Four Nations, and it would be fascinating to flick through his notepad to find out what he has learned so far. The honest answer would probably be very little; this game, coupled with Wakefield’s 10-2 win against Huddersfield on Sunday, means Bennett has seen two games yield two tries and 19 points.
His third match, St Helens’ clash against Hull Kingston Rovers on Friday, will hopefully provide the new England coach with more answers as opposed to questions. Yet when Bennett pencilled in this game as one of the three he would watch on his week-long visit to firm up plans for the Four Nations, it was hard to disagree with the selection.
Wigan provide a nucleus of players from which Bennett will select at the season’s end, but myriad circumstances meant that when he took to his seat here, very few of them were on show. Wigan have a history for fielding weakened sides at Widnes on their artificial surface, but aside from resting Sam Tomkins as a precaution and being without the suspended John Bateman, it was injury issues which were at the heart of their problems here, with seven more England internationals on the sidelines.
Yet somehow, the Warriors managed to emerge on the right side of another scrappy, low-key affair to keep up the pace with leaders Hull FC at the top of Super League: something they are gaining quite a reputation for this year.
“I was really impressed with that,” said the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane. “We deserved to win that; guts and desire are two of the best attributes a man can have and we showed plenty of that.”
All of Wane’s problems meant a debut for the young half-back, Jake Shorrocks, but his most telling contribution in a first half without any points whatsoever was the fine tackle in tandem with Lewis Tierney to deny the Widnes winger, Corey Thompson – one of several chances for the home side prevented by fine Wigan defending.
With so many internationals on the sidelines, Bennett may have begun to wonder what he was going to learn from this game and ironically, when the deadlock was broken after 48 minutes, it came via the one Englishman he is prohibited from picking this year.
Fine hands down the left released the Sale Sharks-bound winger Josh Charnley, although Shorrocks played a crucial role in the buildup to the try, with Matty Smith converting for 6-0. The boot of Matty Smith nudged Wigan’s lead out to seven five minutes later courtesy of a drop goal, and although the Warriors’ indiscipline saw them begin to surrender more and more possession in the closing stages, Widnes’ lack of composure with ball in hand ultimately cost them dear. On several occasions desperation got the better of the Vikings, who tried to press the play when they really didn’t need to, being bundled into touch on three separate occasions.
“We were over the line enough to win two games but we couldn’t keep hold of the ball. It was Keystone Cops stuff,” lamented the Vikings coach, Denis Betts. Widnes’ spot in the top eight is not likely to come under threat after this defeat, but this was far from ideal preparation for next weekend’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Warrington.
Widnes Hanbury; Thompson, Runciman, Bridge, Ah Van; Mellor, Brown; Cahill, White, Buchanan, Whitley, Dean, Leuluai. Interchange Heremaia, Duson, Manuokafoa, Chapelhow.
Wigan Tierney; Charnley, Gelling, Gildart, Manfredi; Shorrocks, Smith; Crosby, Powell, Flower, Isa, Sutton, Mossop. Interchange Tautai, Burke, Gregson, Bretherton.
Try Charnley. Goal Smith. Drop goal Smith.
Referee C Kendall. Attendance 6,219.
