SUNDAY'S brilliant win over Halifax was built on a grid-tight defence.

Afterwards coach Darryl Van de Velde said it was the best defensive effort since he had taken over as coach two years ago.

He added: "Our defence won us the game to be fair. It was particularly superb in the first 20 minutes.

"In attack we pushed the ball too much in the first half and I said to the players at half-time to be a little more patient.

"The second half try from Jon Roper was the big turning point.

"I decided earlier in the week that I would play him at loose forward but he did not settle in too well in the first half and I asked him to step it up in the second half.

"And he came up with a try from nothing. It was good vision. He saw the Halifax players were arguing from a penalty decision and went for it. It was a great option and it's the sort of thing he's capable of doing."

Roper said: "I looked up and saw space in front of me. The Halifax players were too busy arguing with the referee and I just went for it.

"It was a very satisfying result for us all. We have to tie up a few things with our attacking game but our defence was superb."

Roper also talked about a great spirit and atmosphere within the camp this year.

He said: "The last time we had this type of atmosphere at Wilderspool was when Jonathan Davies was here and we finished third in the league."

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