 Celtic Crusaders celebrate beating Wigan 22-16 at the Brewery Field |
Celtic Crusaders boss John Dixon says his side's dramatic 22-16 win over Wigan has huge significance for the sport and not only in Wales. Dixon said: "This win is huge, not just for this club but for rugby league. That's what this win does." Rival boss Brian Noble congratulated Crusaders, but said Wigan's display was embarrassing and defeat to Super League's basement club hard to take. Noble said: "Two points were thrown away by us because of our attitude." Dixon added: "I'm elated for the players and the club. We talked during the week about Wigan coming down and, to play as well as they did was terrific. "This is what you play footy for. It is a special place to be with the team at the moment.  | 606: DEBATE |
"It was about effort and execution. That is what it was about today. We hung in. "Our ball control in the first-half was nothing short of outstanding." Scrum-half Jace Van Dijk, who set-up two tries, was hammered to the ground in a crunching tackle with two minutes to go and got up only for his legs to look like rubber. But, said Dixon, he would not have come off. "He's the captain and captains have got to play. "Captains have to stand up and, even though he took a hell of a knock towards the end of the game, there is no way he is going to come off. "We tried to simplify things this week and maybe that has raised their execution and we got the result at the end. "I talked to the players afterwards and said they have to understand what they have done today. "To win against such a high-profile club will do wonders for the game in Wales, there is no doubt about that." | Two points were thrown away by us because of our attitude and that is taking nothing away from Celtic [Crusaders] |
Noble was critical of his side, who have lost three of their last four matches. Noble said: "I think we gifted the Crusaders the two points with the amount of errors and ball control we made. It was embarrassing at times. "It was a reflection of our attitude, which I thought was poor today at times. With all the strides we have made in the last five or six weeks, today was a poor effort. "You think you can show up and win so I suppose it is complacency. We have just disrespected the ball and we didn't do the things we have practised to do. "It showed in the result. Two points were thrown away by us because of our attitude and that is taking nothing away from Celtic who were manful, dogged, they kept in the game and found some decent kicks. "But the quality of our skill in relation to where it has been was poor. "I think the three times we got down to their line, we scored. "We scored two more perfectly good tries which were chalked off. If you are going to give teams a lift over the wall, things will not go your way. "It's a difficult one to take. It's not a big step back and the boys are very disappointed - I'm disappointed because I'm part of this team - but it does stick in the throat."
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