AS crazy as it sounds a game in round two had a play-offs feel.

A thrilling encounter with neither side perfect but both perfectly committed.

With more than 20,000 in the stadium to watch Wigan play Wire, hopefully this year when the play-offs come around the crowds will be that high.

Wigan played as if they had a point to prove, with chips on both shoulders.

People have been saying that they aren’t the same force as last season, with young players replacing experienced top class players.

After this showing it’s clear that none of us should dare to say ‘you can’t win anything with kids.’ It was impressive to see how much of the Wigan side have come through their youth system.

Despite starting well again, Wire found themselves up against it for most of the first half.

Wigan dominated possession, but two familiar abilities kept Warrington in the game – being able to defend for long periods and being efficient at taking their chances.

Wire’s first try came when a brilliantly clever and unorthodox piece of play by Lee Briers, combined with classic wing play from Joel Monaghan, was good enough to even outfox the vastly experienced Pat Richards.

The second try must have been highly satisfying for all players and coaches, this time completely orthodox, the sort of play they must practice time and again in training and relies on close to perfect timing.

If anything, the intensity increased in the second half.

Myler produced a classic example of ‘playing with your eyes’, spotting a gap that so few others would have seen, let alone have the acceleration and agility to expose it.

Both teams have so many players in motion around the ball in attack that they are so difficult to defend against – it says a lot about both defences that only six tries were scored.

With the scores tied the aggression somehow increased and threatened to boil over, but never quite did.

As the minutes ticked away a drop goal shootout looked probable. Like a German football team, Wire must always be confident entering a shootout, with a specialist like Briers in the team.

The drop goal from Briers was far from a rarity, the assist coming from Morley was quite possibly a first.

My book based on last season comes out this week and will be available to buy in the club shop before the Catalan game, simply called Spirit of ’55.

Spirit of '55