Wigan Warriors boss backs rising star to step up in absence of Willie Isa

The 35-year-old back-rower suffered a serious lower leg injury as Wigan booked their place in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup following a comfortable 60-6 triumph at the Mend–A-Hose Jungle.

Nsemba featured early from the interchange bench against Craig Lingard’s Tigers and impressed again following his player of the match performance against Leigh Leopards in Super League.

“The fact is now, with what has happened to Willie, Junior is going to get more of an opportunity and I look forward to seeing him out there more,” coach Peet said.

“I feel like you could see elements of how devastating he can be with the ball, he’s a strong ball carrier who is learning all the time.

“And one thing I do know about Willie, he helps Junior a lot and he’ll continue to do that, even when he’s out injured.”

The 20-time cup winners ran in 12 tries against a depleted Castleford outfit, who only managed to name a 19-man squad ahead of the quarter-final tie.

And Peet admits he was impressed by his side’s strong start, having raced to a 28-0 lead inside 25 minutes.

“I thought it was a decent performance from us, particularly the start of the game,” he continued.

“They may look easy at the end, but you’ve got to get the start right and I thought we were impressive in the early exchanges.

"I was confident that if we got the start right, that we would progress in the competition.”

The two sides meet again in Round 8 of Super League at the DW Stadium, with Peet previewing: “We won’t drill too deep into this game I wouldn’t think.

“It’s more about us and trying to replicate certain areas, particularly our attitude to the start of the game.

“These games at the end, it was similar at Leigh where people say it was quite straightforward after it, but you’re only ever a couple of errors or penalties away from making that game much more difficult.”