Poching hailed Wakefield's approach as they claimed a 28-22 win at home to Warrington Wolves in Sunday's Betfred Super League clash; "I wanted them to take the shackles off because in games we've won this year we played a style we're capable of," he said
Sunday 15 August 2021 18:31, UK
Willie Poching was delighted Wakefield Trinity's players heeded his plea to remove the shackles as they ended their five-match losing run with a thrilling 28-22 Super League win over Warrington Wolves in his first game in charge.
Wingers Tom Johnstone and Lee Kershaw scored long-range opportunist tries and scrum-half Mason Lino added 16 points on his return from injury as Trinity secured the points that finally banish any fear of relegation.
Poching was handed the role of interim head coach in the week following Chris Chester's sacking, and praised Trinity's squad for taking the work done in training into the game.
"There's a bit of relief on the back of the week we've had and I'm really happy for the lads that they got the reward for their efforts today," Poching said.
"We showed some resilience defensively and some real spirit, which is the most pleasing thing. I wanted them to play happy and play relaxed. I wanted to take some of the pressure that's been on them.
"I wanted them to take the shackles off because in games we've won this year we played a style we're capable of. I'm really pleased we took some of that from the training pitch."
Poching's men led 20-0 after 51 minutes and were comfortably placed at 26-6 until the slow-starting Wolves came alive with three tries in five minutes from Blake Austin, Jake Mamo and Josh Charnley to set up a tense finish.
I wanted them to take the shackles off because in games we've won this year we played a style we're capable of. I'm really pleased we took some of that from the training pitch.
Wakefield were clearly rocking, but Lino eased their growing anxiety with a late penalty - his sixth goal from six attempts.
"Going out to 20-0, there was always the danger the mindset was going to change," Poching said. "I need to have some conversations to see whether that's right or not.
"We didn't really have a lot of good ball in the second half and they were always a threat with the quality of player they have. Thankfully we had enough about us to finish the job."
Former Wigan Warriors and Canberra Raiders half-back George Williams scored his first try for Warrington, who had a chance to go second in Super League, but they paid the price for a dismal first half.
"We showed a lot of character in the second half to get back into the game," Wolves coach Steve Price said. "I was really proud of the way they kept believing to give ourselves a chance towards the end.
"We played some really good footy for 35 minutes, but the first half was totally unacceptable. Our effort areas were down from the start. We pride ourselves on starting strong, but we were way off today. We've got to look at that."
Warrington were boosted by the return from injury of scrum-half Gareth Widdop but were without a host of regulars through a combination of injury, suspension and Covid protocols.
"We had a number of players missing and others playing out of position but there's no excuse," Price said. "We had a good team out there today.
"I'm not taking anything away from Wakefield, I thought they were good today."
Price also announced prop Rob Mulhern underwent an eye operation in the week but could be back for the visit of leaders Catalans Dragons on Thursday.
