WARRIORS HARD EDGE
Zak and Jake help deliver top-four spot
ADRIAN LAM believes Wigan are running into form at the right time after a hard fought win over Hull confirmed a top-four spot and home play-off tie.
Tries from Jake Bibby and Zak Hardaker in the space of 10 second half minutes secured Warriors’ return to winning ways after Magic Weekend defeat to Warrington.
Victory also ensured hapless Hull can’t enjoy an end of season extension.
Proud
“It had a real semi-final feel to it and it is exactly what we needed,” said head coach
Lam.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game but I am really proud of the effort, especially defensively.
“If you have your defensive situation right at this time of the year, you have got every chance.
“There were times when Hull had the ball and we held them out, set after set. It looked like we were a team committed to each other.
“It’s been a long year and we have played more games than anyone. We have been fatigued in certain parts. But we have certainly kept players fresh in the last couple of weeks and we are getting the results back now.
“I just loved the mentality of the players and physically they were tough too,” added the Warriors chief (right).
For Hull, an eighth defeat in nine matches was a tame surrender in their final home game of the campaign, also failing to score for the first time in 2021.
Hull’s first season under head coach Brett Hodgson began promisingly, with four wins and a draw from their first five games.
But it soon unravelled culminating in their depressing end of term fade-out. Wigan had lost on their previous two trips to the MKM Stadium; last season’s agonising Grand Final defeat to St Helens and a Challenge Cup quarterfinal exit back in May.
But rarely did they threaten to suffer an unwanted hattrick, securing a Super League double by defending stoutly and maximising their limited attacking opportunities.
Bibby has a habit of try scoring against the Black and Whites and this latest effort was his fourth in as many games.
And it moved the former Salford favourite on to 13 for the season still in with a chance to finish as the competition’s top scorer in the regular season. Bibby was quickest to react to Jackson Hastings’ stabbed kick, catching the ball and having momentum to slide over the line. Hardaker missed the conversion attempt.
Then full-back Hardaker followed up his own kick on the sixth tackle, brushed aside Jamie Shaul in a short race for the ball and touched down in front of the Warriors’ fans.
Errors
Hardaker goaled to complete the scoring. When Hull did cross the visitors’ line late on through Fijian winger, Mitieli Vulikijapani, Marc Sneyd’s final pass was adjudged forward by referee Liam Moore.
Hodgson admitted: “There is lack of confidence in the group and having made too many errors, we are having to defend too often.
“We didn’t help ourselves in the second half. Rather than try to build pressure we went away from what we planned.
“The effort was there but not the smart to go with it.
“We need to make sure we are at a better level next season.”