I dont think any superleague side could of matched the rooster today.

Proud of the effort but like lockers said we just didnt play well enough, thought our 5th tackle kicks were shocking. I was more dissappointed with the amout of errors that we made.

Mostly worried that we don't have a goal kicker.

He's 19!! He'll play plenty of games this season then likely become first choice next. Ridiculous comments to say bringing in Bowen will hinder his development! Throwing him in at 19 would be more likely to do that. I'm far from impressed with Bowen atm, though I don't think he's as bad as people are making out, but his experience can only be beneficial to Hampshire IMO.

This, and hampshire will probably be first choice when we play in the WCC next year..

Just an opinion mate, I don't think there's anything ridiculous about it.

I'd agree with you if we'd have signed Bowen on a 3 or 4 year deal, but we've clearly brought him in to ease the transition for (likely) Hampshire or Tierney to take over next year. We've got a very young and inexperienced squad, particularly in the backline, SW has backed Burgess (19) to replace Richards, Sarginson's only 20, Charnley's 22, Thornley's 22, bringing in someone with Bowen's experience can only help guys like that to develop. If Wane had just asked Hampshire to replace Tomkins and he'd had a couple of shaky games, particularly in big matches like this morning, it could have had more of an effect on his development than bringing Bowen in for a season will.

Possibly. But I do think having Bowen could get in the way of Hampshire this year.

Agree with this. Seems sensible. And actually there really is no-one in England right now who we could have signed other than Lomax and Hardaker, who we wouldn't be allowed to sign by their respective clubs. It had to be an Aussie. Super League isn't the enticing prospect it once was so we are stuck with a guy who is clearly finished but might be able to help the kids progress.

We'll see at the end of the year won't we. But I fully expect Hampshire to play 10-15 games this season, starting with the next 2 at home to Wakey and away at Cas.

I don't like watching Wigan lose. It's not the Wigan way. But being realistic the game in the UK is on its knees... and yet at the time I posted a young Wigan side led by a clearly unfit SOL was fighting its way back into a game when any other side in Britain and most in the NRL would have given up. We went in at half time 18-0 down against the best side in the world on their own turf. But this young Wigan side and its great captain didn't give up.

That's what I was proud of and I wish I'd been there to cheer them on and I stand by that.

Fans of lesser clubs (ie every other club in England) should think long and hard before criticising Wigan fans' attitude. We've done everything in RL (including beating the great Brisbane side of 94 at their own ground) and yet when the chips were down we turned out in record numbers to help save the club from relegation. It's not our fault the game seems bent on self-destruction, that many clubs struggle to attract 10,000 fans to matches and that most parts of the so-called heartland don't bother to produce quality players in any numbers, whereas Wigan remains an unrivalled world rugby hotbed.

Bilko makes a great point in his match summary that Wigan lost 5 of the top 8 lads with the most club appearances from last years squad.

If that happened to Leeds you'd be talking 5 lads like Sinfield, Hall, Peacock, Burrow and McGuire walking through the door. At Saints it would be lads like Roby, Wilkin, Lomax, Wellens (don't laugh) and Laffranchi (at a guess) and at Wire it would probably have been the lads that did leave (Morley, Hodgson, Briers and Carvell) plus somebody like Ben Westwood. Now if that was the case what do we think the outcomes would be? I'd be stunned if any if them fared better then we did today with the sort if replacements that are currently available to superleague clubs.

It's never nice to lose a game and it's even worse that it feels like we've done that without showing the real us but everyone can certainly feel proud of the way the team stuck in.

Ok. I made the mistake of assuming you wouldn't come back with a "my dad is bigger than your dad" comment. Silly me.

You have completely ignored my valid points and gone off on a tangent to try and prove how big Wigan are.

Your points weren't valid and I didn't ignore them and I don't have to prove how big Wigan are.

There's nothing wrong with the attitude of Wigan fans to the WCC game.

OK. Nice talking to you.