Willie Poching admits Wakefield have got themselves “in a pickle” but can get out of the relegation mire.
They fell bottom after Toulouse beat Leeds on Saturday. And that was compounded when his error-ridden side slipped to a woeful loss at Hull KR today. Seven of Wakefield's remaining eight games are against top-six opponents starting with a visit from champions St Helens.
And after this horror show, Trinity fans fear they could drop out of Super League for the first time. But Poching insisted: “I believe in the boys. We have to change things, obviously. We have to make alterations and it was disappointing today.
“But I’ve told them I’m up for the fight. We’ve got ourselves in a pickle but we have to roll our sleeves up and punch our way out of it. I’m sure we can.”
Wakefield led 4-0 at half-time with a rare moment of class courtesy of Max Jowitt’s 22nd minute try. But Lachlan Coote did brilliantly to help set up Jimmy Keinhorst four minutes after the restart to level things up. Danny McGuire’s side took the lead when Mikey Lewis lofted a chip and Ethan Ryan got above Jorge Taufua to claim his 99th career try.
Coote - who crucially missed four goals in the Magic Weekend loss against Hull - couldn’t convert either. But he did after scoring his own try in the 61st minute, stepping through some woeful defence. That came after debutant Taufua - Trinity’s big NRL signing from Manly - was penalised for a late hit on Sam Wood. When Will Dagger added a 70th minute drop goal, KR looked home and hosed at 15-4.
But Trinity won a short restart and Jacob Miller’s long pass sent Lewis Murphy over at the corner. Mason Lino converted and Miller almost got over himself only to be held up by desperate KR defence, although Poching says his captain insisted he had the ball down.
But Rovers, who shot from tenth up to seventh to ease their own lingering drop fears, held on to deliver caretaker coach McGuire’s first win. They did it against the odds, too, given they lost two players to first half injuries. Captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall was taken to hospital after struggling to breath following an elbow in the throat. And Dean Hadley needed oxygen on the field after dislocating his problematic shoulder again.
McGuire, who played alongside Poching in Leeds’ 2004 Grand Final win, said: “We were way off in the first half. I let them know at half-time and it’s probably the most aggressive I've been for some time. I went for the throat. But they responded really well to that. It was a bit stressful at the end but I’m buzzing and delighted they could sing the victory song today. Now we're going to look up the table."
