| Wigan Warriors (12) 28 |
| Tries: Farrell, French 2, Manfredi, Bibby Goals: Hardaker 4 |
| Leeds Rhinos (4) 10 |
| Tries: Briscoe, Sutcliffe Goal: Martin |
Liam Farrell scored his 100th club try to help Wigan Warriors move to the top of Super League with victory over Leeds Rhinos.
Farrell put Wigan ahead when he forced himself over and after Leeds replied with Tom Briscoe’s foot-in-touch score, Bevan French’s try made it 12-4.
Dom Manfredi finished off a slick Warriors move to extend the lead.
The Rhinos fought back through Liam Sutcliffe but scores by Jake Bibby and French gave Wigan a comfortable buffer.
Wigan’s win meant host club St Helens were overtaken at the top after their win over Castleford earlier on Sunday had temporarily sent them to the summit.
It was therefore an especially satisfying victory for Adrian Lam’s side, given they went top of the table by beating one of their traditional foes at the home of their fiercest rivals.
There was no love lost between these two giants of Super League and they delivered a full-pelt, physical game of rugby league peppered with touches of class.
Referee Robert Hicks was given cause to blow on his whistle at regular intervals because of the ferocity and intensity of both sides, as evidenced by one coming together between Leeds’ Cameron Smith and Wigan’s Morgan Smithies.
Lam’s Warriors had to work hard to overcome Leeds’ threat, notably containing the runaway Konrad Hurrell train with numbers and at the other end had French and Jackson Hastings posing questions of the opposition line with success.
Richard Agar’s side were left scoreless by Saints last time out but muscled up for large periods to make this a contest, albeit one they again came up empty handed in.
Briscoe’s controversial finish was a bright note, his first since returning after numerous knee injuries last weekend, as was a fine line by Sutcliffe in the second period.
Wigan: Hardaker, Marshall, French, Powell, Isa, Farrell, Bullock, Byrne, Manfredi, Bibby, Smith, Havard, Hastings.
Substitutes: Greenwood, Smithies, Clark, Shorrocks.
Leeds: T Briscoe, Newman, Hurrell, Handley, Gale, Leeming, Prior, Martin, Cuthbertson, Thompson, McLelland, L Briscoe, Holroyd.
Substitutes: Dwyer, Sutcliffe, Oledzki, Smith.
