Dudson blow for Wigan
An injury to Gil Dudson took the shine off the satisfaction Wigan coach Shaun Wane was feeling after the win over Catalan Dragons.
Last Updated: 09/06/12 6:10pm
An injury to Gil Dudson took the shine off the satisfaction Wigan coach Shaun Wane was feeling after the win over Catalan Dragons on Saturday.
Wane was delighted with his team's effort in the 36-14 Stobart Super League win - but revealed the injury to the 21-year-old prop could sidelined him for up to six months.
He said: "Gil (Dudson) has done something to his ankle ligaments, he's maybe snapped them.
"If he has then he will be out for maybe five or six months which is a shame as he's played well and stood up and I never expected him to play so many games."
On the game itself, Wane said: "I'm very happy. We've come through a block of six games playing Leeds and St Helens twice and we identified this game in pre-season as a tough one - and to come through winning every game is fantastic.
"We scored some great tries today and I'm a happy man, looking forward to a glass of wine tonight.
"I'm happy with the performance, with the ball in hand we had a lot of composure, our completions were about 94%.
"In a game like that against a team as good as Catalan I think that is massive for our team."
Wane reserved special praise for Michael McIlorum and said: "If there is a better hooker in the competition then I need to see him because he is consistently been fantastic for me.
"The subtle part of his game, the technical part of his game of being a dummy half is nearly there, his speed and vision are both superb and he is tough, he belts people and as far as I am concerned, he is the perfect hooker."
Catalan Dragons boss Trent Robinson added: "That was an improved performance on what we have been playing over the last month, but it was hard to climb in terms of performance from where we have been to where we needed to be to win that game today.
Opportunities
"The small points or small plays whether it was in attack, finishing off a break or executing a play... some of the opportunities we created today probably would have been tries earlier in the year.
"We just needed that extra person in support, or a change of direction or extra bit of speed that would have got us over the line.
"But they (Wigan) turned up today and that is their strength and that is why they are where they are.
Robinson was left frustrated that his side conceded two tries while Wigan were down to 12 men.
He said: "Obviously its not ideal that we concede those tries, two quick tries like that is unacceptable, but you don't need 13 men to score a try, we needed to defend the small plays that they had and we didn't do that.
"In terms of possession, we had 20 plays less than they had in the first half and I'll have to have a look at the penalties they got in the second half.
"They got some relieving penalties that helped them when we were on top."