Wakefield Trinity confident on back of big pack performance, insists Ben Jones-Bishop

The teams are locked on two points, but Trinity have a game in hand over their neighbours.

They got off the mark in Betfred Super League with a 22-12 home victory against Catalans Dragons last week and – after back-to-back defeats by London Broncos and St Helens – that has raised spirits in the camp.

“We would not have wanted to go to Leeds on three defeats, but week-in, week-out you’ve got to be on your game no matter who you are coming up against,” said Jones-Bishop.

“We will go there with a bit more confidence about ourselves.”

Trinity dominated most of the game against Catalans, but are yet to fire on all cylinders this year.

Jones-Bishop admitted: “We are still a bit scratchy with the ball and we can still improve and we will look to do that.

“I thought we made it a bit harder than it had to be in the second half [last week], but it was good to get points on the board and a bit of confidence and we’ll look to kick on now.”

Jones-Bishop felt Trinity’s depleted pack – missing Tyler Randell, Pauli Pauli, Craig Huby and Danny Kirmond – set the lead, muscling up against Catalans’ big forwards.

“Especially having a man in the bin, they did really well,” he added. “Catalans are a big pack so it was great for them to win that battle.

“Building on the back of what we did against Saints, we took that into the [last week’s] game and if we can keep that up we will keep improving.”

Trinity’s goal-line defence repelled waves of Catalans pressure and Jones-Bishop reckons that’s a good sign ahead of Friday’s derby at new-look Rhinos who are beginning to find their feet under coach Dave Furner.

He said: “The hunger and willingness to work for each other is there, we just need to be more clinical and a bit smarter at times. As long as we can keep improving, hopefully we can kick on.

“We will get more clinical as the conditions get a bit better.

“We have got a different spine now with Rocky Hampshire and Danny Brough and that takes some time, but the way our forwards played against Catalans we got some good ball and were able to make some good metres on the edge.”

Jones-Bishop described his own form as “okay”.

“It’s still early days, there’s a long way to go,” he said.

“We had a wake-up call in round one and we know each week we need to be bringing our best performance and keep improving.”

Jones-Bishop began his career with Leeds, scoring 46 tries in 72 Super League appearances from 2008-2014.

Friday will be a big occasion for Leeds who have yet to play at home this season and the new South Stand will be fully open for the first time at a Super League game.

Of returning to his home-city club, Jones-Bishop said: “It’s good.

“It’s nice to see some familiar faces and it’s always a great atmosphere there, especially with the new stand.

“It’ll be good to go there and we’ll look to kick on and pick up another two points.”