Jukes: We can’t perform for just 40 minutes

Leigh head coach Neil Jukes criticised his team for switching off after the break.

The Centurions were two converted tries ahead at the interval but surrendered the lead, suffering a 24-28 defeat against Wakefield at the Beaumont Legal Stadium.

“We have to get those 80-minute performances together,” he said.

“You’ll not win any game playing for just 40 minutes, certainly not in Super League.

“We’ve had some big wins and coming here which we thought was a winnable game but we haven’t put two halves together. Fair play to Wakefield, they come out second half and stuck to it and we didn’t go with it.”

The loss of half-back Josh Drinkwater was a real hammer blow, according to Jukes.

“We lost [Josh] Drinkwater in the second half so had to reshuffle our pack a little bit,” he added.

“The people that came in didn’t get us around enough and we kind of just wanted to cling on to a 12-point lead for 40 minutes and you can’t do that against Wakefield.”

Jukes was also disappointed with some of the decisions in the match, particularly the one to allow Ben Jones Bishop’s match-winning try.

“I’m four flights up and I could see it clear as day,” he said.

“I thought there were some tough ones in there as well. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t.”