Wakefield boss Willie Poching apologises to fans following 74-10 defeat

Wakefield head coach Willie Poching has apologised to travelling fans following their 74-10 defeat to Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The visiting side conceded 13 tries to fall to their heaviest ever Super League defeat to the Red Devils.

The game proved sobering viewing for Poching, a former Salford assistant coach, and he apologised to his side’s fans.

Trinity actually took an early lead through James Batchelor’s converted try but they only struck once after that, through Lewis Murphy’s second-half try, as Salford dominated.

Poching said: “I want to apologise to our travelling fans for that performance. They stuck by us and stuck with us even though we were churning out what we did. We owe them more than what we gave them today.

“I thought we were poor. We have got to be workmanlike and we are a squad which needs a high percentage of people on the field to be performing well.

“We started the game well and got out of the blocks well. Once Salford got a penalty after we’d started well, that was the beginning of the floodgates opening.”

Willie Poching surprised by defeat

Poching admitted the result came to a surprise, believing his side had a quality week of training ahead of the Super League Round 16 clash.  

He said: “It wasn’t due to one particular reason. Salford threw the ball around they are a well-coached team to be able to play football that way.

“We didn’t have the bit between our teeth. I thought we had trained well and I’ll have a look back and look at the prep to see if there were any indicators that was coming. I think there was a period of something like 20 minutes where we didn’t touch the ball. Our attitude after we went behind wasn’t strong enough.

“They are a strong group and through conversations and analysis we’ll have to assess things. I have seen enough over the course of the season to know we have got the right attitude. If it wasn’t we look at that and it starts with me.”

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