Wakefield Trinity v Wigan Warriors: Trinity got '˜wake-up call' at Cas says Wood

WAKEFIELD TRINITY will have to compete for 80 minutes to overcome visitors Wigan Warriors today, hooker Kyle Wood has warned.
Kyle WoodKyle Wood
Kyle Wood

Trinity were 36-12 down at half-time against Castleford Tigers three days ago before an improved second-half effort led to a 42-24 defeat.

Wood knows Trinity have to be better with the ball today, particularly in the early exchanges.

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“That’s the lesson – you have got to keep completing your sets and getting to a kick and forcing them to come out of their end,” he said.

Ashley GibsonAshley Gibson
Ashley Gibson

“We competed in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to win because the first half was so poor.”

Trinity also conceded a series of tries from close to their own line and Wood reckons that is another area they need to be much better in this afternoon.

“With the errors we made, we need to be able to defend our line,” he admitted.

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“But Castleford are a good attacking team and they exposed us. We have got to learn from that pretty quickly, in time for [today].”

Max JowittMax Jowitt
Max Jowitt

Wood was a Castleford fan as a youngster and said he has been getting “a bit of stick off mates” following the Good Friday result, but he admitted: “Fair play to Castleford, they were better than us.

“We have got to quickly get over the loss and get back on the horse.”

Trinity had won five of their previous six matches and Wood is confident they can shock Wigan, who lost 62-0 at Belle Vue last year, if they return to that sort of form.

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Wigan are on a high after a 29-18 Good Friday win over St Helens, which was their first victory in five games and Wood predicted: “I think it is going to be another tough game that we’ve got to grind out.

Ashley GibsonAshley Gibson
Ashley Gibson

“We’ve got to learn from Friday what we need to do, which is complete sets and get to our kick. If we do that we are a team that can compete.”

Easter is traditionally the toughest time of the season for players who have to put their bodies on the line twice in just four days.

Wood said: “We’ll be doing a bit of recovery in the pool, icing and trying to get rid of the bumps and bruises.

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“We’ll do a bit of video on Wigan and have the captain’s run [final training session to prepare for the match] on Sunday. You have to eat as best you can and then do your best on Monday really.

Max JowittMax Jowitt
Max Jowitt

“You’re not fully recovered, but it’s probably what’s in your head – it is quite mentally challenging to back up, but hopefully we can do it and get the win against Wigan.”

Trinity are without Joe Arundel and Bill Tupou due to head knocks suffered on Friday.

Max Jowitt and Ashley Gibson could replace them.

Michael McIlorum and Joe Burgess drop out of Wigan’s squad, with Nick Gregson and Romain Navarrete coming in.

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Wakefield Trinity: Allgood, Arona, Ashurst, Caton-Brown, England, Fifita, Finn, Gibson, Grix, Hadley, Hirst, Huby, Johnstone, Jones-Bishop, Jowitt, Kirmond, Miller, Williams, Wood.

Wigan Warriors: from Bretherton, Davies, Escaré, Farrell, Flower, Forsyth, Gelling, Gregson, Isa, Leuluai, Marshall, Navarrete, Nuuausala, O’Loughlin, Powell, Sutton, Tautai, J Tomkins, Williams.

Referee: Jack Smith (Warrington).

Kick-off: Today, 3pm.