29 February 2024 , 17:00
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He's taken Wigan to the top of the world but Jai Field has no intention of letting Huddersfield crash them back to earth.
The Aussie full-back features in Friday’s Super League clash fresh from playing a starring role in Warriors’ epic World Club Challenge triumph. Field set up Jake Wardle’s match-winning score and then produced two crucial try-saving tackles on Taylan May to leave NRL premiers Penrith gutted. But he feels all of that will mean little if they tumble on their return to DW Stadium just six days later.
Field fired: “You don’t want to be a one-game wonder. You want to turn around and back up that result and performance. That’s the goal. There’s no greater task than against a team like Huddersfield who will try and give it to us.
“We have to be up for it and it will be a good contest. We’ll expect what we always expect from Huddersfield. They’re a very gritty team but have some very classy players as well. They’ll be trying to turn us over. They will come with plenty of conviction to try and get a result.”
Ian Watson’s visitors have the unusual task of facing World Club champions twice inside a week. They were thrashed 28-0 at home to reigning kings St Helens on Saturday - just hours before Wigan took the crown by becoming the second successive English side to down Penrith. And they will have to be far sharper if they are to inflict Wigan’s first defeat in 13 games tonight - especially with Field being so dominant.
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He’s known for his attacking prowess but it was the 26 year-old’s defensive quality that came to the fore last week. Field showed elusive centre May the outside before chasing down the Samoa star and sliding him into touch with a perfect tackle to protect Wigan’s 16-12 lead. Asked what he was thinking at that moment, he recalled: “I don’t know.
Wigan's Jai Field scores his side's second in the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup Final win over Huddersfield Giants (Getty Images)“It’s your role as full-back in the team; to put yourself in the best position possible to make that tackle. I showed him the sideline and was lucky enough to make the tackle. It’s the position I love; give them the early option and it’s up to them to try and take me on along the sideline.”
And then came the desperate bid to stop May again in the final second. The ex-St George-Illawarra player said: “It’s one of those moments where it’s the 80th minute and you just scramble. It’s just your job to be covering that ground as full-backs to be there and stop that one. Once it went up as a ‘no try’ I was just very relieved that we didn’t have to go to Golden Point as they were finishing pretty strong."
Does Field feel like he has 'completed' rugby league given he’s won the Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield, Grand Final and now a World Club Challenge in barely three years since joining from Parramatta? He laughed: “I’ve not really thought about it like that. I’ve probably not given it as much reflection as I should have; obviously we’re straight into the game now and it’s not like a Grand Final where you can reflect on it. It’s not fully sunk in yet.”