PERPIGNAN // The Wigan coach Brian Noble felt his side's amazing defensive effort in the opening 15 minutes laid the platform for their 50-26 victory over Catalans Dragons in the Super League sudden-death play-off. The Warriors were seriously under the cosh early on as the fired-up French side swarmed forward, but they only conceded one try in the first quarter. Wigan even managed to go into the interval 14-10 ahead and though they were soon pegged back to 20-20, they pulled clear in a dominant last 30 minutes to run in nine tries overall.
Noble hailed his side's clinical edge in that second half, but admitted it could have been a different story had their defence not held up early on. "The start of the game was really hard in relation to our defence and that desire set us up when the score was 20-20," he said. "They looked to be out of steam then but they pushed us all the way. To come here and score 50 points is a special effort, and some of the tries we scored were quite fluent.
"This team is better with a boot at their throat. It was important that they showed up, stand up and be counted. They did. "At the end of the day, it was the effort in the first 15 minutes that kept us in the picture." They now have a Grand Final eliminator against Leeds on Friday to look forward to. * PA Sport
