Wakefield dedicate win to tragic Watene
Super League outsiders Wakefield stunned Wigan 12-6 on Sunday, a victory made more special by the Wildcats' decision to dedicate the 2009 campaign to prop forward Adam Watene who died of a heart attack in October.
Wakefield, who have started the 2009 season as 100-1 title outsiders, were shocked by the death of the 32-year-old Cook Islands player who collapsed while training.
They led 10-0 at half-time thanks to a brace of tries from debutant winger Dave Halley. Joel Tomkins scored Wigan's only try but Warriors, who had Australians Mark Riddell and Amos Roberts making their debuts, never got out of first gear.
Wakefield skipper Jason Demetriou wore the number eight shirt of Watene.
"In Jason's last words before we went out onto the pitch, he said Adam would have wanted us to play for 80 minutes with passion and purpose and perhaps that summed up the performance," said Wakefield coach John Kear.
Wigan coach Brian Noble understood why his team had been booed off their JJB Stadium pitch.
"We didn't help ourselves," said Noble. "We wouldn't have beaten Dewsbury Celtic with a 40-percent completion rate."
Sunday's other match between Harlequins and Bradford Bulls was postponed due to a frozen pitch while, on Friday, defending champions Leeds enjoyed a 28-6 win over newboys Celtic Crusaders.
The Crusaders, packed with Australian imports, overcame the shock of shipping four, quickfire tries which helped put them 22-0 down at the interval.
"We played for 80 minutes," said Crusaders' Australian coach John Dixon. "The scoreline had the potential to skip away from us but it didn't and that's credit to the players."
Leeds were without seven players, including four internationals, while the Crusaders gave debuts to Matty Smith, Ryan O'Hara, Mark Bryant, Peek and Peter Lupton.
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