Wakefield Trinity 0 Wigan Warriors 26: Kear acknowledges Tomkins class despite Wildcats being nilled

Wakefield Trinity coach John Kear saw his reshuffled side nilled by Wigan Warriors – and heaped praise on both teams.

Kear had been forced to re-arrange his line-up from the side that beat Castleford, with Josh Griffin, Julien Rinaldi, Liam Higgins and Frankie Mariano all failing fitness tests, but he was pleased with the performance of his team.

“I thought Wigan’s defence was magnificent and Sam Tomkins was sensational,” said Kear. “It was as if he had a force field around him. But I was really pleased from my team’s point of view.

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“It was tough to back up and we were probably playing the most mentally tough team in the competition. I thought we asked some questions and half opened them up.”

Wigan were lethargic in the warm sunshine but still managed to outclass Wakefield, who repeatedly made the mistake of kicking to England full-back Sam Tomkins who needed no invitation to attack the Wildcats’ line and was a constant thorn in their side.

Pat Richards scored the easiest of tries after two minutes as the Warriors dominated the first half but a combination of gritty defence and casual attacking play kept the home side in contention, although they did not create a single try-scoring opportunity.

Sam Tomkins scored the second before combining with older brother Joel to get winger Josh Charnley over.

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Wakefield were stronger in the second half but Joel Tomkins and Sean O’Loughlin added further tries.

Wakefield: Blaymire, Morton, Dean, Murphy, G. Johnson, Hyde, Lee, Amor, Wildie, King, Morrison, Henderson, Howarth. Substitutes: McCarthy, Korkidas, Davey, P. Johnson.

Wigan: S. Tomkins, Charnley, J. Tomkins, Carmont, Richards, Finch, Leuluai, Mossop, McIlorum, Coley, Hansen, Hoffman, O’Loughlin. Substitutes: Prescott, Deacon, Lima, Farrell.

Referee: R Hicks (RFL).

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown has made a number of changes for tonight’s visit of Salford in response to their shock loss at Crusaders.

Luke O’Donnell, Dale Ferguson, David Hodgson and Andy Raleigh are all recalled while Lee Gilmour, Graeme Horne, Larne Patrick and Jamie Simpson are left out. Luke Robinson (ribs) is injured.