Lam: Outstanding defence

  • Adrian Lam reacts to Wigan’s Round 13 victory over Wakefield in the Betfred Super League.
  • Lam: “We showed some signs there that when it gets tough, we can get out of it together, and that’s hard to train.”
  • Full time: Wigan Warriors 28-16 Wakefield Trinity.

Head Coach Adrian Lam praised the resilience of Wigan’s defensive efforts in the second half following their 28-16 win over Wakefield on Friday night.

After heading in at the break level at 12-12, the Cherry and Whites put on three tries and a robust defensive display in the second half to take home the victory.

Speaking in his post-match press conference via Zoom, the Papua New Guinean explained just how difficult Wakefield were to face.

He said: “I thought that was as hard of a game as we’ve played all year. 

The Warriors Head Coach speaking to the media via Zoom.

“They played great and we didn’t do too much wrong to be 12 points behind early on. I still felt that we weren’t far off and we fixed it during the game.”

As well as putting on five tries, it was the Warriors’ ability to keep out the threat of Wakefield that particularly impressed the boss.

“I thought our defence was outstanding in the second half. We did some really good stuff and it was exactly the game we needed going into a Semi Final (Coral Challenge Cup).

“We showed some signs there that when it gets tough, we can get out of it together, and that’s hard to train.”

With two important fixtures on the horizon for Wigan in the next eight days, the boss admitted that there was a concern of distraction for his players heading into Friday’s game.

“When you’ve got big games coming up it can sometimes derail you, so we’ve tried really hard to make sure that didn’t happen this week.”

Liam Farrell provided an assist for Jackson Hastings in the first half.

Of the many impressive performances on display, Lam took the time to praise second-row Liam Farrell, who narrowly missed out on a try of his own late in the second half.

“I thought he was our best player tonight to be honest.”

“I think the boys will be having a go at him for it (failing to score the try) in the changing rooms,” he joked.

Friday 25 September 2020