February 2009 Wigan Warriors season

wigan s season began on 8 february home defeat depleted wakefield trinity wildcats side had seventeen players fill squad due injuries, , death of adam watene during off-season. head coach brian noble blamed result on poor completion rate of 40%. wakefield took lead after dave halley crossed line in first minute, before scoring again via same player in fourteenth minute make 0–12 initiative, following 2 successful conversions tony martin. joel tomkins introduced game in second half scored try converted pat richards, wigan failed score again. richard mathers, sent-off twice in 2008, put sin-bin referee, richard silverwood, deliberate obstruction of halley, , match ended in first defeat wigan in 2009 campaign.

prior next match, warriors announced partnership university of central lancashire, part of effort promote rugby league in preston area, in exchange student team @ university displaying wigan warriors logo. news announced in same day mathers learned miss next 2 matches tripping halley, including club s next match against hull f.c. lost @ kc stadium. hull fc started strongly, wigan scored first off tim smith kick goulding , phelps resulted in try bailey. richard horne scored hull level scores @ 6–6 before last resort intervention kirk yeaman denied goulding try. scores therefore level @ half-time, , kick smith resulted in try richards bettered opposite winger, mark calderwood in air. 4 key players missing—riddell, phelps, bailey , richards—due injury, wigan tired in final quarter allowing chris thorman , peter cusack score late in game put tie beyond visiting team.

with mathers suspended , cameron phelps injured hamstring injury , 2 other injury concerns, karl pryce , shaun ainscough given places in initial 19-man squad take on castleford tigers. third defeat out of 3 matches came castleford won ten try game 22–28, result meant wigan s worst start season in twenty-four years. richards still missing due injury, conversions proved difference both teams scored 5 tries apiece, kickers roberts , riddell manage 1 successful kick whilst tigers kicker kirk dixon managed four. 2 disallowed castleford tries in first ten minutes followed 2 penalty goals dixon give castleford 0–4 lead. thomas leuluai s effort gave wigan try before joe westerman put tigers ahead again after 34 minutes. castleford scored again through brett ferres, dixon converting give castleford 6–16 lead @ half-time. wigan scored first after break try karl pryce, unconverted , castleford replied 2 more of own dixon , ferres scoring second try. wigan started fight back, through goulding try, , again through joel tomkins. ainscough marked debut fifty-yard try reduce deficit 2 points, michael shenton s try sealed victory castleford. michael mcilorum cited , suspended rugby football league after game dangerous throw on mitchell sargent. after failing gain point first 3 matches in season, noble s position head coach strengthened when ian lenagan publicly supported him, stating, brian experienced coach , m sure ll right. has had bad starts season before, , has starts.

wigan recorded first win of season 18–24 victory on harlequins rl @ twickenham stoop in london. ainscough scored first of 2 tries after break roberts down wing, , converted richards playing @ fullback replacement mathers omitted squad. chad randall punished joel tomkins handling error harlequins first try before matt gafa scored try home side make half-time score 10–6. on super league debut, sam tomkins—joel s younger brother—was involved in build-up carmont s try after second half had begun, , bailey scored try put wigan 10–14 ahead following 2 missed conversion attempts. disallowed try knock-on sharp followed knock-on carmont, before 40-20 gave louis mccarthy-scarsbrook chance score try in 64th minute. chris melling restored four-point lead home side ten minutes left in game after harrison hansen knocked-on. in 75th minute, randall s pass intercepted roberts easy intercept try richards converted give two-point lead, increased 6 ainscough scored final try of game.