When your luck is out, your luck is out - just ask Wakefield’s Mason Lino.
The Samoa scrum-half takes his side to Castleford on Friday looking to end a 17-match losing streak against their derby rivals. Sat bottom of Super League with just seven fixtures remaining, they are in dire need of a result. But Trinity fans will fear they are doomed to relegation if last weekend’s gut-wrenching loss is anything to go by.
They were 12-0 up against champions St Helens having put in one of their best displays this term. But the Super League leaders hit back to draw level late on and force golden point extra-time when Jack Welsby’s drop-goal delivered Saints glory. Trinity players were heartbroken, not least Lino who had agonisingly seen both his touchline conversion attempts hit a post.
And then, from a far simpler angle, the 28-year-old badly scuffed his drop-goal effort just moments before England star Welsby struck the killer blow. But how does a player recover in such circumstances? Lino admitted: “It is tough. It’s tough not winning some footy games that I think we should be winning.
“But footy’s all about moments and if you don’t take them, you just have to swallow it. It’s my job to get them and unfortunately I didn’t on Sunday. You just have to look at the positives and move on. You have to show the way and focus on your next job. That’s what I do.
“It happens. There’s this week to go back on it all. And we’ll see what happens now. But it was a tough one to swallow. The boys really stood up. Saints were just too good at the end of it.”
Ordinarily, Castleford would be the last side Wakefield would want to face next. They haven’t defeated them since 2015. But ex-New Zealand Warriors No7 Lino insisted: “If ever there’s a year to beat Cas, it’s this one.
“The boys will be stepping up. We’ve recovered and we’ll see how we go. We were really solid against Saints. The majority of that game we were pretty good. The boys really showed spirit and if we bring that sort of energy in the rest of the games, we give ourselves a great chance. I’m 100 per cent (confident of staying up).”
Wakefield are only behind 11th-placed Toulouse due to an inferior points difference. But they are on a five-match losing run and need to spark soon to avoid being relegated for the first time in Super League history.
