We were physically and mentally not at the races last night.
A look at Wigans trys showed it was basically a case of high kick, mistake from Saints, try to Wigan.
Gaskell was putting long kicks in that Tomkins was fielding on the 10 metre line then returning to the 30 metre line. The Wigans pack then took over.
It was noticable during the match that the Wigan forwards were rarely put on their back. This was because Saints defence was very slow at coming forward. As a result the Wigan forwards were able to gain ground quickly, and then when they came into contact with the passive Saints defence they merely dove at their feet, and got a quick play the ball. This further exacerbated Saints inability to defend as we were then on the back foot as Wigan got a quick play the ball.
One thing to note is that the first quick play the ball in Wigans set of six invariably comes from when Tomkins gets tackled.
His great agility allows him to side step while his back is virtually parallel with the ground. This means when he is tackled he is able to get a quick play the ball. The odd times he gets turtled is when he starts to use his sneaky arm and leg locks to milk penalties.
When things were on the other foot however, Wigan knew the importance of getting in Saints faces. They therefore rushed our forwards and stopped them in an upright position. This allowed them to slow our PTB down by first stopping the forward in an upright position, then slowly maneuvering him onto his back, then slowly one by one pealing away from the tackle.
As a result Wigan were making 50-60 metres in a set of 6 and were were making 30 metres
For me the fundamental difference between the teams at the moment is the quality of defensive coaching.
Overall i would regard Wigan as a well drilled efficient team, that grinds out results. They IMO lack the stars to be regarded as a great side, instead they have a great team ethic that sticks closely to a successful gameplan.
They are therefore very similar to Huddersfield in that regard, but somewhat distant from Warrington who IMO have more class in their side, but are less well structured.