Wakefield Trinity’s Craig Kopczak says efforts were not rewarded at St Helens

VIDEO: Fresh injury concerns for Wakefield Trinity following defeat to St Helens

The Trinity forward feels there is plenty for Wakefield to build on as they turn their attentions to a clash with Hull FC on Sunday afternoon. Wakefield were beaten 26-6 by Challenge Cup finalists St Helens, but Kopczak felt that scoreline wasn’t a fair reflection of Trinity’s efforts.

“It was a massive improvement from the last time we played,” said Kopczak.

“You could tell that there was a lot of fresh bodies out there, the break has done us good.

“We have galvanised and come together and I don’t think the scoreline reflected how hard the game actually was.

“We invested a lot but we came up short.”

Wakefield held Saints for the first 27 minutes of the contest but a three-try burst took the game away from the visitors. In the second half, it took the league leaders 31 minutes to break the Trinity resistance again.

Kopczak added: “We just didn’t turn over the ball in the right areas of the field and they capitalised. The bounce of the ball went their way and they scored and things like that aren’t going our way at the moment.

“But we if we keep playing the way we did in those first 20 to 30 minutes then we will start picking up more wins than losses.”

Kopczak says the display on Friday night has given Trinity a renewed sense of confidence going into their final five games.

Wakefield begin their final run-in at home to Hull FC on Sunday afternoon.

The Black and Whites have endured a frustrating few weeks as they lost to Warrington Wolves in the Challenge Cup semi-final before losing to Wigan Warriors by a single point on Thursday night.

“We have gone away and had time to reflect and we had nine days of some really good training,” said Kopczak.

“And that reflected in the game. Now we just need to recover and go again against Hull.

“They [Hull] have been up and down, they got pipped by a point against Wigan.

“They are going to be hurting as well, after getting beat in the semi-final and they are going to try and get a bit of form going into the play-offs.”