That's exactly what they said about the final SL matches before last year's Challenge Cup Final - Hudds an easy one with nowt to play for, Wire still desperate for points at the bottom. Hudds rested half the team for their league game, Wire played the full side. Fast forward one week and I can't quite remember what happened in the final..............................................

Catalans were not exactly at full strength last night either and lets not forget they had a few "tries" chalked off.

As for it showing Wire what to expect in the semi then I think you may be being a little disrespectful to Kevin Walters as i'm sure what you saw last night will not totally be replicated in the Semi.

And before anyone starts saying i'm anti-wolves, i'm not. You have some great players and good staff and I'm looking forward to a cracking semi now.

EVERY week this season we have had between 6 and 10 players missing. That's the reason we're bottom. When we beat Saints we had nine players missing that day. Yesterday was good but if we have a full squad for the semi who knows what will happen.

Just a quick question, did Sherwin play for cas in their cup game this year and is he therefore cup-tied for the semi?

No Sherwin didn't play for Cas, that's why he played against Batley in the Cup.

Remember it's Catalans not Hull FC.

are you all putting your wembley trips on hold now

what you doing this year meast ?

Are you?

P.S How did you get on last year in the final? Who beat you this year in the cup? They must have been a good side. Was the game close? And Goodnight...

think they may off matched half of our pack paul wood and louis anderson add a great deal of power to the forwards

Lets think back to when we played Catalans at home earlier this season. We destroyed them and the game was won easily in the first half. Granted they had players out but we will be ok against them in Widnes. We had to put up with the heat over in France this week end but at Widnes they will have to put up with the smell

And hopefully we will get a couple of the five team regulars back who didn't feature in Perpignan.

I'm sure Catalans are thinking the same Wire_74, they were also missing 5 regulars.

IF Wire win the Semi at home in two weeks time then I hope they go on and win the cup. IF they get turned over by Catalans in the Semi then I hope they make the Grand Final.

Neither will be easy but Wire have been consistent this year, although they have been the least affected by injuries which helps. If Catalans had stayed relatively injury free then I think they would be in the 8, not as high as Wire but definitely in there.

Least affected by injuires?

Clarke, Carvell, Myler, Higham, Bridge all out for chunks of the season.

Now

Wood, King and Louis.

We (and Wigan) HAVE been less affected by injuries than others. However, several key players have not been missing at the same time (cf Greenshields, Bosc, Pelo or Burrow, Sinfield, Webb). You missed Briers off your list - remember how well we coped without him for several weeks.

Oh yes, round four against Huddersfield that was the first game he missed then he wasn't back tilla fter Saints which was about round 11 I think.

Just goes to show what a decent conditioner and medical team coupled with good luck can do. I don't begrudge you your luck with injuries as I hate to see any player out injured.

As TS has said you are one of the only (if not the only) team to have 2 physios. I think it is this investment which has maybe helped you the most this year and if everyone else doesn't like it then maybe other clubs should think equally hard about their backroom staff as you have clearly done.

I know for a fact it was Jimmy who first brought up the idea of an enlarged staff to keep more bodies on the field, he doesn't really get the credit he deserves for his work in your emergence as a real challenger.

The previous years of bad injuries also gave Ben Harrison, and to a lesser degree, Chris Riley, lots of experience which is now paying off. The balance of the squad helps too - if everyone was fit, you'd be seeing players like Vinnie, Clarke, Grix wondering if they'd play.

im going to perpignan otherwise i'd be at wembley to enjoy a great day of rugby league.

how old are you? 8?

Are people forgetting our woeful record in Perpignan?

I think this result is a blessing in disguise, if im 100% honest with myself i dont think we would have got top spot anyway, i couldnt see wigan losing two more and us remaining unbeaten.

This result gives us the kick up the a*se that should see us crack on, hopefully turn Stains over on saturday, giving us confidence for the semi, final (hopefully) and play offs.

COME ON YOU WIRE!!

As I keep saying, keep the faith.

Wigan have two weeks off between now and the playoffs given their non-existance in the Challenge Cup, this will allow them two one week windows to freshen up, go light on training and then go again in terms of intensity. Our calender is congested, congested because we're competing on two fronts, and competing to win on two fronts not just making up numbers so with this in mind, Smith has to look to find windows whereby we can reduce the intensity and it looks like Catalans was one of these that he identified, and in the long term will give us the best opportunity of achieving our goals, which are clear for all to see.

The big plus for me is that unless i'm missing something, we've come out injury free, which when you add back in Wood, Louis & King, means we're heading towards two big fixtures for us (for different reasons) in good health.

I never think any game will be a walkover, i aint blaming the heat for the loss either of us could of won that game but catalans played a bit better and made our indiciplin count. On a thread a few weeks back we discussed the run in and where we could win and lose and i said that catalan is a potential loss due to only winning once in france. If i thought catalan would be easy i would be booking my travel and hotel for wembley.

Interesting that according to Mathers twitter Smith cancelled the day off and had them running at the Zoo this morning.