Huddersfield Giants coach Luke Robinson believes the better team lost on the day in their defeat to Wigan Warriors, but credited Matt Peet’s side for never giving in as the reigning champions produced a stunning comeback to take the spoils in Dewsbury.
The Giants led the Warriors 18-10 with 10 minutes to play, but the Warriors played until the last whistle, with Jack Farrimond scoring two tries in the final seven minutes to secure a 22-18 triumph at FLAIR Stadium. “I think the word I used and the players used is probably heartbreaking more than anything else because we worked so, so hard,” Robinson said at the post-game press conference.
I have to give some credit to Wigan, who are a title team. They may have been dissatisfied with the way they played or how we forced them to play, but they still won, and that is what champion teams do. “But for the long part of the game, I honestly believed we had the run of them. I thought we were the dominating side for the vast majority of the game, and we should have won, but, sadly, it’s becoming a little bit regular for us right now. I didn’t think we could lose it in the final five minutes, but we did.
We didn’t start the game well, and we gave them a lot of ball, but I knew we were on. We gave them a lot of ball, but we defended our own try-line over and over again, and they couldn’t break us, and that’s when I knew we were going to put on a terrific performance, which we did. “I discussed with the playing group how we could use that defeat as a springboard. Look, Wigan are a champions, and I don’t think it was an issue of them not playing well; I believe we forced them to play the way they did.
“Zac Woolford was amazing, playing 80 minutes in the middle. I had middles who just kept going. Even though the pitch is little smaller, (Jai) Field, (Jack) Farrimond, and (Jake) Wardle have incredible footwork and continue to push the middles, and our middles keep tying in to withstand them. There will be many positives to take away, but for now, it is devastating.”
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