Vella…ffs! (A few beers might be needed to get through it)

We can definitely afford to rest 2 or 3. We won’t be losing this one, even if we rest half the team. I would never normally say that but it was pathetic on Sunday that Cas effort and they won’t be turning that round in 5 days. I said earlier the main priority for me is to get Douglas a game. He’s been patiently waiting for a chance and there is no reason not to play him. I’d also like to see us get Eckersley a game at centre. I might leave it at that in terms of younger players, with guys like Hill and Nsemba already in the team. Havard isn’t ready yet according to Peet last week and I’d probably rest Thompson.

I’d be happy with something like-

Field
Douglas Keighran Eckersley Marshall
French Smith
Hill O’Neill Dupree
Nsemba Farrell Ellis

Subs
Cooper Mago Chan Leeming

Honestly, i am a season ticket holder and i am still skipping this one. Absolutely 0 motivation to witness another game vs. Cas after standing through that one this past weekend. Particularly one at home which makes it even less interesting. Then you realise we still have to play them away AGAIN in june

Might not even watch it live on tv, Leeds vs Huds sounds a more interesting game and will watch Wigan vs Cas when i have spare time.

Is Havard not fit?

Peets pre game interview on Wigan TV for the Cas cup game confirmed he’d had some test results that weren’t as good as they’d hoped and that his return would be put back as a result. He didn’t put any timescales on it, just saying that they wouldn’t rush him. He said he was training, so it didn’t sound a major setback.

I'd like to see something similar although I don't think we lose too much with Hampshire, both in terms of pace or experience, so I'd be happy to see him in the mix too.

Agree. It's difficult to make these calls week-by week when you're actively choosing to not put your best team out. But I think it's very unlikely that we'll be as fortunate with injuries in the backs as we were for the second half of last year. So it's not just a case of giving the first teamers the break they need, it's also giving Hampshire, and certainly Eckersley and Douglas game time so we don't need to throw them into a potentially season-defining game without them having played ay first team rugby.


I actually thought last week might've been the best opportunity for that even in a knockout game, but personally I'd be making at least one or two changes.

Horrible fixture written all over it, must be extremely difficult to get the players motivated for this.
Without making wholesale changes I think we should give a few squad players a game for the enthusiasm they'll bring to playing first team football and hope we come through without any injuries/disciplinary issues.

Thank you, I hadn't seen/heard that.

Cas squad https://castlefordtigers.com/article.php?id=8942

Cas squad https://castlefordtigers.com/article.php?id=8942

Wigan squad https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/04/ ... leford-r8/

Wigan squad https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/04/ ... leford-r8/