Sam Burgess pressure piled on as Warrington lose war of the wounded at Wigan

Wigan Warriors overcame their mass of injury problems to come from behind and beat Warrington Wolves 30-18 on home soil on Friday night.

With both sides depleted, a gutsy Warriors showing was enough to down Wire, who they have now pulled two competition points clear of, sitting second on the Super League ladder.

Live from the press box at The Brick Community Stadium, our five key takeaways…

Write Wigan off at your peril

The bookmakers still had Wigan as favourites on gameday, but we’re not sure many would have backed them when the team news was released 90 minutes prior to kick-off and it was revealed they’d lost Jai Field.

Add his name to the already ridiculously extensive list of absentees, and while you never doubted the side put out would have the Warriors spirit, it was hard to foresee them dominating as they did for such large periods here.

It’s never say die, and if you didn’t know it before, never back against Matt Peet’s men. Whatever the circumstances, they often find a way.

Wire under BIG pressure

Before they were beaten by Leigh at Magic Weekend, some had questioned whether Wire would become embroiled in a battle to stay in the top six.

Now, that looks almost a certainty, especially if they continue to perform in the manner they’ve shown over the last fortnight.

Come the end of this weekend, they’ll expect now to be looking over their shoulders ahead of another tough test next weekend at home against high-flying Hull KR.

Wolves’ senior men fail to deliver

Much of the talk in the build-up to this clash between the two local foes was around the youngsters we’d see on show, and the reality is there’s only really positive things to say about them.

Warrington lost this game through their senior figures falling short of what was needed, with so many sloppy errors and missed tackles.

Some of what was served up was dire, and we’re sure Sam Burgess will pull no punches in his review, at least in-house.

The one positive of the injury crises…

is without doubt the fact that the two clubs’ youth systems had the chance to shine.

Wigan had no fewer than 12 homegrown lads in their 18-man squad, while Wire had ten including unused 18th man Adam Holroyd.

In addition, Wire also had Warriors youth products Liam Byrne and Max Wood in their pack. So in total, 24 of the 36 named on the team sheet were homegrown by one of the pair. That in itself is some going, with the full lists below.

Wigan’s homegrown players: Josh Cartwright, Zach Eckersley, George O’Loughlin, Austin Daniel, Harry Smith, Ethan Havard, Brad O’Neill, Kian McDermott, Lukas Mason, Oliver Partington, Taylor Kerr, Shea O’Connor, Liam Byrne (playing for Warrington), Max Wood (playing for Warrington)

Warrington’s homegrown players: Lachlan Webster, Toby King, Matty Ashton, Ewan Irwin, Leon Hayes, Luke Thomas, Danny Walker, Ben Currie, Ben Hartill, Adam Holroyd

Josh Cartwright and Ewan Irwin, take a bow lads

If there’s one youngster from each side we had to single out, it’d be these two, both absolutely superb.

We already knew what talent Irwin possessed as he’s had a prolonged run in the Warrington side, and he was exceptional again tonight. Head and shoulders the visitors’ best in show.

The night though for us belonged to Cartwright, who produced a stunning gallop through the Wolves defence to score Wigan’s first of the night and kickstart their comeback before delivering a defensive masterclass.

His try-saver on Irwin with ten minutes left on the clock was absolutely pivotal. Superb.