No panic from Noble - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

No panic from Noble

Wigan coach Brian Noble is refusing to panic, despite watching his side make their worst start to a season since 1986.

Friday night's 28-22 home defeat by Castleford increased the pressure on Noble, who will take his under-performing side to Harlequins next Saturday hoping to stem a run of three defeats at the start of Super League XIV.

"The reality of this competition is that it's won in October and not February," said Noble. "We need some urgency in relation to getting a couple of points and getting our season under way. But I've no doubt we've got a team in there and when we get everybody on deck, we'll be fine."

In the absence of four regulars through injury and suspension, Noble was forced to give debuts to wingers Karl Pryce and Shaun Ainscough - who both scored tries in a second-half fightback.

Trailing 24-10 after 50 minutes, the Warriors struck back with three tries to close the gap to just two points. But Castleford clinched a famous win with Michael Shenton's injury-time try.

"When we got within two points, I thought we might have got over - but we couldn't find that final pass," said Noble.

"The reality is we gave ourselves too much to do. But you've got to give credit to the players for digging in to keep finding a way.

"We got caught with some elementary things defensively, which cost us dearly in the end; some individual one-on-one opportunities defensively really burnt us, and we've got to improve in that department."

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