Maguire refuses to panic

Michael Maguire
12 April 2012

Wigan must do it the hard way once more if they are to win back-to-back Grand Finals following today's 26-18 opening Super League play-off defeat by St Helens at the DW Stadium.

Twelve months ago the Warriors recovered from a home defeat by Leeds to go on to triumph at Old Trafford and coach Michael Maguire is hoping they can follow suit.

While Saints earned a weekend off and a home tie in the last four, Wigan will be back at the DW Stadium on Sunday for a sudden-death preliminary semi-final and Maguire said: "We learned the hard way last year, when we had to play through, so it's another opportunity for us."

He added: "We need to make sure we get everything right this week, there's a chance for us."

St Helens, who failed to win any of their previous five derby clashes, raced into a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from Paul Wellens and Jonny Lomax but the Warriors cut the deficit to just two points with tries either side of half-time from Pat Richards and Sean O'Loughlin.

However, Saints pulled clear once more and clinched a notable victory with further tries from Wellens and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

"We made too many errors and gave away penalties at crucial times," Maguire said. "We obviously made things a lot harder for ourselves. Saints showed a lot of hunger. They jumped on us early and got a start.

"There was always an opportunity there for us. The boys executed some good plays at times but unfortunately we didn't consistently do that. I did see some really good signs in areas of our game but there are areas where we need to make sure we're really sharp this week."

St Helens coach Royce Simmons paid tribute to his young half-backs Lee Gaskell and Lomax as he savoured a first derby triumph.

"Although we hadn't beaten them we could have had at least two wins so we came here pretty confident we could do a job," he said. "Our combinations are starting to get a bit of a roll. The young halves were really good. They played really square on and went to the line and I thought they kicked well."

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