BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Saturday’s Challenge Cup final saw some tremendous displays from several individuals.
Looking at the stats, provided by Opta, they show an insight into Wigan’s tight win over Huddersfield in north London.
Morgan Smithies had a fantastic match, making a game-high 61 tackles and 102 metres, as well as a try assist. Wigan’s back-row were influential, with Liam Farrell completing 39 tackles and 112 metres, and John Bateman finishing with 34 tackles and 186 metres (the most of any Wigan player).
Danny Levi made the most tackles for Huddersfield, with 40, while Luke Yates finished with 37, Joe Greenwood 36 and Lance Todd winner Chris McQueen 35.
The Giants’ right edge of Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGilvary, along with Ricky Leutele, all had big performances. Leutele had 19 runs, a game-high 224 metres, a try and 11 tackles, Cudjoe 19 runs, 210 metres, a try assist and nine tackles, and McGilvary 17 runs, 172 metres, a try and amazingly zero tackles.
Huddersfield’s set completion was better than Wigan’s, 87% compared with 76%, and the west Yorkshire side enjoyed slightly more possession and territory. But they missed more tackles, 32 to 20, their average play the ball was ever so slightly slower and they made one less line break.
The Warriors made 10 errors compared to the Giants’ eight, and not a single offside Six Again was called by the referee.
Jai Field made seven tackle breaks, more than anyone else, but he also topped the Warriors’ error count with two, the same as Liam Marshall and Cade Cust. Cudjoe made the most errors for Huddersfield with two.
Wigan gave away a lot more penalties, eight to three, but crucially their defence was better – eight ineffective tackles compared to Huddersfield’s 17, with an effective tackle rate of 93.27% to 86.5%.
But the most vital stat came in the scoreboard – 16 to 14 – with Wigan going home with the Cup.
