Sam Burgess paid tribute to George Williams after the fly-half led from the front as Warrington secured a place in the Betfred Challenge Cup final with a 46-10 win over Huddersfield.
Williams scored a lung-bursting solo try and was instrumental in Wolves’ eight-try surge as they close out their match against former club Wigan at Wembley next month.
“George has always been a great player for us and the group is responding to him,” said Burgess, who has been impressive in wins in his first season as head coach.
“There are few players who carry a lot of energy between them, and George is one of them. He’s the most experienced player there and the players all listen to him.”
Warrington never looked back after completing his hat-trick of crosses in the opening 20 minutes, heading home with full-back Matt Dufty’s double and Josh Thewlis adding 14 points with his boot.
Coach Burgess dedicated his team’s victory to the supporters, who made up the bulk of the disappointing four-figure crowd, but insisted the team still had plenty to improve on in the coming weeks.
“I think we owe them [the fans] That final game,” Burgess said. “It’s been five years since they got a taste of it, but the job isn’t done, so there’s one more game left.
“I thought we were a little prickly at times in some areas, but we were able to get some great tries. We talked about trying to be consistent and we handled the big moments well. Ta.
“I wasn’t surprised about the first half, but there were things we could have improved on. We left some things up, but I’m glad we were able to take advantage of the chances we created.”
Huddersfield head coach Ian Watson has announced that full-back Jake Connor and We promised to talk.
An unnecessary tangle late in the game with Connor and Thewlis resulted in an absolutely disastrous afternoon for the team, who are currently on a four-game losing streak.
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And while Watson seems upset about Conor’s recent antics, he added: “Before I talk about this in the media, I’m going to talk to Jake first. He deserves it, but we need to get over it.” be.”
Watson admitted he was “hurt” by his team’s performance. Three early tries disrupted the team’s game plan and ultimately cost them any realistic hopes of making it to Wembley for the second time in the past three years.
“We had a plan to come here and execute, but it just didn’t happen at the start of the game,” Watson said. “It’s pretty tough for them to get back to a 12-0 lead. They tried to keep it that way and it looked good in parts, but when you’re behind, you don’t want to overdo it. There is always the possibility that you will force something on someone.
“We thought we could get back into the game but George’s try completely ruined us. Momentum is important in the game and when you lose that momentum it’s difficult to turn things around.”
