I'm just waiting for him to start discussing putting humpty dumpty back together!

We didn't cover oourselves in glory, although I did cross for a try against Serbia (and had a perfectly fine one chalked off against France

)

But how does anyone get back in on merit when there are no reserve games for them to play in?

Good work! I trust the video will be on Wigan TV shortly?



Just watched the highlights of the kids playing Cats' youngsters. Did very well against what looked like a talented side. Gabe Fell scored a couple of good tries...

The stats from the game are shocking.

Only 1 player ran for more than 100m - Sarginson, who also missed 5 tackles and made 2 errors.
We conceded 9 penalties to Catalan's 3... sure.
Sam Powell made 0 METRES... what? I know he didn't play massive minutes but that is either wrong or he was a complete waste of a shirt.
Larne Patrick, 4 carries for 21 metres and 3 missed tackles.
O'Loughlin, 4 missed tackles, an error and 3 penalties.
Charnley and Joel didn't run once from dummy half.
Matty Smith kicked 3 times all game.

Just an absolute horror show.

On the Skysports site he does say they were well and truly beaten by a better side. However he does manage to somehow also throw in ''the game is refereed differently over here, there is no doubt about that''.

I just love him for this little throw ins. Even if in the event they were beaten comprehensively out of site, he will always make sure there is a little reference somewhere towards the officiating.

That's not the point. The point was players are only re-selected when a player performs badly, hence why I highlighted it was a big ask of Bowen to put in a strong performance in one of our toughest fixtures after not playing for 9 weeks or so.

Hampshire doesn't have to improve, just wait for Bowen to make a mess and he'll be back in.

Sure, but the option would seem to be dropping players who are not playing badly, based on reputation. Charnley was quite rightly being kept out by the youngsters, for example...would you have advised dropping either of them when they were doing well?

No I don't know what you're getting at. I never even implied we shouldn't drop players on reputation, or bring players back when someone else is playing well in the same position.

I'd just like to say how well Catalan played. They were crash hot and almost everything that they did came off. Yes, Wigan were poor but that shouldn't detract from the Catalan performance. Sometimes you get games like that and have to take it on the chin. What will be interesting is how the players (and coaching staff) react come Saturday.

If I was Wane I would call the senior players (O'Loughlin, Smith, Tomkins, McIlorum etc) into a meeting and just say to them, I'll give you a couple of hours with the rest of the team, then come back and tell me what you thought went wrong, and how you think it can be fixed.

Wane will have watched the video and no doubt have his own ideas, including his own team selection.

Once that's out of the way and they've all had their say, they can start planning for Leeds.

A large part of the fault lies with the senior players, in my view. On the whole they're an uninspiring bunch. Yes, they can all run white-hot on their day, but in potentially very tough fixtures where there isn't the kind of fanfare you get against Saints, Leeds etc - Cas away and Cats away are classic examples - there isn't even a hint of the lead-from-the-front heroics we used to see from the likes of Ellery Hanley, Andy Farrell, etc. I know that's comparing average-to-okay players with world class stars, so it may not be a fair analysis, but it seems to me that the likes of Joel, Mickey Mac, Matty Smith and now even Lockers, who is surely ready to retire, can be as underwhelming as everyone else when the chips are down. It's little wonder the junior players are intimidated in these fixtures when their so-called leaders offer so little.

As for Shaun Wane. He isn't the guy missing tackles and giving stupid penalties away, but the buck still stops with him and he now faces a big test, with three fixtures looming that will either make or break our season. I can't see the man upstairs acting to sack him quickly - realistically, who he does he replace him with at such short notice? But if we find ourselves out of the running for a trophy before the season even ends, I reckon action will be taken sooner rather than later.

And if I read one more post about Sarginson wanting to go to Rugby Union or Hampshire refusing to sign a contract, I'll blow my top. Sarge can go now for all the use he is in the defensive line, and Hampshire - who's shown no more than glimmers of the talent that had folk raving about him at junior level - has so much more to do to prove that he's even worthy of a Wigan shirt. I don't blame him totally - he's young and confidence will be a big issue for him. I wouldn't want to lose Hampshire, but the club can't be held to ransom by a kid whose ego is maybe larger than his ability.

hello wigan fans .now you know how I often feel.the Top and bottom of it was th truly outstanding passing of Carney and Dureau playing together for ,I think only the 4th time this season.This created the space for our centes and wingers to score lots of tries.