Duffy: Showed some good stuff

• Academy Head Coach, John Duffy reflects on Sunday’s 22-14 win against Whitehaven.
• Duffy: “It startled us a little bit but once we got into the game I thought we showed some really good stuff with some classy touches.”
• See Wigan Warriors in action this weekend as they travel to Barrow Raiders on Sunday 29th January.

Academy Head Coach, John Duffy, has reflected on Sunday’s pre-season victory at Whitehaven.

Assessing the game, he said: “It was a real stiff test on Sunday, travelling to Cumbria as well. Some of the younger lads haven’t done that kind of travel so it was good for them to experience that.

“I think there were a lot of nerves before the match, and you could feel that a bit in the first half but once the game went on and especially the second half, I thought they were superb.”

He added: “It’s always difficult to judge in Whitehaven, it was about adjusting as the game went on. It was windy, heavy underfoot as you will have seen and we adjusted our game plan at half time which really shone in the final forty. We stuck to it and scored some very good tries.”

Duffy admitted that the Warriors were ‘startled’ as Whitehaven started strong: “They rolled us a bit at the start of the game and I think our lads were quite startled, some of them hadn’t played against men before – there was some 16-year olds on the bench for us. It startled us a little bit but once we got into the game I thought we showed some really good stuff with some classy touches.”

The Head Coach was full of praise for full-back Reagan Sumner, as well a number of other players on the day: “I thought Reagan was outstanding, he carried tough and they really pinned us in the bottom corner early on so he had to take some tough carries in with Zach [Eckersley] and Dougie [Jacob Douglas].

“I think we forget sometimes how young they still are, they stood up and were superb, as was everyone else but I think you can see by looking at them [Junior Nsemba and Harvie Hill] that they’ve sized up in the off-season, they’ve been working hard and thickened up.”

The Warriors are back in action this weekend with another youthful side set to take on Barrow Raiders at Craven Park. All the information including ticket pricing and how to buy can be found HERE.