Wakefield Trinity v Wigan Warriors: Willie Poching targets Cup final

Other than Toulouse Olympique, who did not enter this year’s competition, Trinity are the only current Betfred Super League club not to have reached a Cup final in the summer era, which began in 1996.

Their most recent appearance in the final came in 1979 and they have been semi-finalists only twice since then, in 2008 and 2016.

“The club hasn’t been to the big occasions too often of late,” coach Willie Poching admitted.

“Anything the club get to celebrate of that magnitude would be fantastic for everybody at the club, from the board to the supporters.

“We’d like to give them that opportunity and also experience some of that within the group, but we understand the obstacle that’s in the way.

“The opposition will be as hungry as we are.”

Wigan are second in Super League, four places above Wakefield, but Trinity will go into tomorrow’s tie as one of the form teams, on the back of four successive wins.

Two of those were at Warrington Wolves, in the Cup and league, and Poching said: “We’ve taken a bit of confidence out of the last couple of games, although we weren’t happy with our second-half performance [against Salford] last week.

“We took our foot off the pedal and we have to learn to be a bit more ruthless.

“We achieved one objective last week, which was to start the game better than in the previous two against Warrington, but we have got to do that again.

“It is nice to be back home, but Wigan will be confident as well, from their history in this competition and their standing in the game.

“They have done really well under their new coach and they’ve got some people coming back – Tommy Leuluai will be a big addition to their squad.

“We have got to focus on giving ourselves the best opportunity we can to put in the best possible performance on Sunday. They are a quality side and they can defend, but they can also attack.”

Dealing with the danger posed by Wigan full-back Jai Field will be crucial to Trinity’s chances.

Field, who signed a new two-year contract this week, was Super League’s February player of the month and is top of the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel leaderboard.

He has scored nine tries and has made more clean breaks and metres than any other player in the top division, as well as being named man of the match in four of Wigan’s eight games so far.

“He is probably the most potent attacking weapon in Super League at the moment,” Poching warned.

“We have got to be aware of him, we have tried to do our due diligence on him this week, but he is just one of 16 we will have to take care of. If we focus too much on him, there’s plenty of others who can hurt you as well.”

Pre-season signing Lee Gaskell has been named in Trinity’s initial squad after returning from injury and Dave Fifita could return following a back problem.

Yusuf Aydin drops out, but Harry Bowes, Sadiq Adebiyi and Lewis Murphy are all vying for a call-up.

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Johnstone, Lyne, Miller, Lino, Battye, Hood, Arona, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Pitts, Crowther, Whitbread, Batchelor, Gaskell, Kay, Adebiyi, Bowes, Murphy, Hall, Fifita.

Wigan Warriors: from French, Bibby, Hardaker, Thornley, Cust, Leuluai, Singleton, Powell, Mago, Isa, Farrell, Bateman, Smithies, Smith, Partington, Havard, Byrne, Shorrocks, Field, Halsall, O’Neill.