Wigan Warriors’ teenage star Junior Nsemba is still going strong. On Thursday night, the team defeated Catalans Dragons, and manager Matt Peet was full of praise for the young player after the game.
Except for three games last month against Castleford Tigers in the Challenge Cup, Nsemba has only made bench appearances for Wigan prior to Willie Isa suffering an ankle fracture and dislocation.
Nevertheless, the 19-year-old has been thrown into Matt Peet’s starting 13 and hasn’t let him down, even after veteran Isa was out for several months.
Junior Nsemba is praised by Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet, who points out the teenager’s Kaizen approach.
The teenage second-rower’s 92-meter total in their forward pack was only surpassed in their Round 10 match against the Catalans by skipper Liam Farrell, who scored his 150th career try and earned a couple of his 103 meters on the night. The Warriors had led 8-6 at the half.
Furthermore, Nsemba’s five tackle busts were only surpassed by winger Abbas Miski, whose 31 tackle total was higher than that of any other Catalans player except hooker Alrix Da Costa.
It follows that Cherry & Whites CEO Peet is happy with what he’s seeing from Nsemba and praises his drive for constant improvement and adoption of a Kaizen mindset.
Peet stated: “I believe that was the perfect game for him because we had to play a lot of defense and he put in a lot of work.”
He’ll want to work on and get better in a few areas, but he will grow better every week. Throughout the week, he puts in a lot of work and is incredibly eager to learn.
“A lot of it is about the combinations, getting to know one another and creating some chemistry between the men on the inside as well as the four of them on that edge when a player like Willie is set in stone there (in the position).
All we have to do is put in the necessary work on the training field to get Junior to the point where he is improving every week, and that is exactly what we will do.