Wakefield Trinity: Chester promises changes after ‘kick up backside’ in capital

WAKEFIELD TRINITY’S defeat at promoted London Broncos was a “kick up the backside”, their coach Chris Chester says.
Chris ChesterChris Chester
Chris Chester

Trinity were beaten 42-24 in the capital after leading 12-0 and 18-6 and Chester insists his team will put their reality check to good use.

Wakefield have finished fifth in each of the past two seasons and are tipped as contenders for the play-offs this year, but Chester said the game two days ago has proved every week will be a challenge.

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“It was a bad day at the office,” Chester said of the Betfred Super League round one setback.

“Anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

“We spoke all week about not underestimating them and for the first 20 minutes we were very good, but from minute 20 to minute 80 they got a leg up, some of our contacts were poor, we dropped off tackles and they seemed to take confidence from that.

“It was very tough.”

The coach felt some of his team took London, who began the campaign as favourites for relegation, lightly.

“It’s a good kick up the backside, probably what we needed,” he added.

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“In terms of preparation we’ve had a really good chat about things and is there anything we could have done differently during the week collectively as staff, players and leadership group?

“It just came down to maybe some lads underestimating how tough a game it was going to be on that [artificial] pitch.

“We have been preparing all pre-season for the first couple of months being winter rugby and we go out on that pitch and it is just like playing summer rugby.”

Chester said Trinity got through the game with no major new injury concerns, but confirmed he will consider altering his side for Sunday’s visit of St Helens.

“I’ve got to look at changes,” he said.

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“If you look at some of our numbers, losses, win/loss ratios – there’s some numbers I’ve not seen, ever.

“There were some very, very poor numbers of losses and ineffective tackles so some people have made my decision a bit easier this week.”