8:57pm Sunday 23rd September 2007
By Blake Richardson
‘Gut-wrenching’ was Andy Lynch’s reaction to losing Friday’s elimination play-off to that team from across the Pennines.
I could think of a few more, like ‘shell-shocked’ and ‘breathtaking’, but no words can truly capture the emotion of that night. You had to be there to really appreciate the
magnitude of disappointment felt by players and fans alike.
My heart goes out to the lads, who looked dead on their feet in the last 25 minutes.
The tide turned in an instant. Wigan just seemed to catch a wave and leave their rivals trailing in their wake.
I still believe the Bulls lost the match rather than Wigan won it. And the capitulation was painful to watch.
How do you go from a ruthless mean-machine to a spent force in the blink of an eye? The players were treading water, unable to stem the flow of Wigan tries and hoping the final hooter rescued them
before they went under.
Sadly, Pat Richards’ swinging boot provided the final nail in the coffin, and so began the inquest.
Steve McNamara fell on his sword in the after-match press conference.
His actual words were: “There was a lack of composure at the end but throw it back at me. I’m the coach. It’s my fault not theirs.”
Some Bulls fans on the T&A website were even more scathing of McNamara, one writing: “Noble the tactical master, McNamara the tactical turnip.”
But I don’t level any blame on McNamara.
It was Marcus St Hilaire who dropped a high bomb that led to Harrison Hansen scoring and Wigan reducing the deficit to 30-24.
It was Shontayne Hape who went for a suicidal blind pass and popped the ball into the hands of Mark Calderwood, who proceeded to race the length of the field for a converted try to level the scores
at 30-30.
It was Nathan McAvoy who crucially knocked-on to gift Wigan the decisive one-pointer at the death.
And it was the Bulls as a unit who opted against a drop goal attempt in the dying seconds when well-placed in front of the Wigan posts.
There is absolutely nothing the coach could have done about those costly errors.
McNamara has also come in for some stick for taking off some of his big guns like Lynch, Terry Newton and David Solomona with the game all but won.
Had the Bulls prevailed, this would have been lauded as a fine move, with McNamara showing an astute tactical mind.
As the saying goes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and nobody could have foreseen that the greatest comeback in play-off history was about to materialise.
No, it is the players who must take the criticism on the chin, not the gaffer.
And yet I can’t help but feel sorry for them. Over the duration of the season they have been magnificent, punching well above their weight if the bookies’ pre-season predictions are
anything to go by.
For seven months they have been the equal of Leeds and hot on the heels of St Helens, only to blow it spectacularly in 25 minutes of madness.
It is further proof, if any were needed, of the fine line that exists in sport between success and failure.
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