Warriors beat Saints to go top
- Wigan Warriors beat rivals St Helens to go top of the Betfred Super League.
- Tries from Jake Bibby, Tommy Leuluai, Bevan French and Jackson Hastings.
- FT | St Helens 6-18 Wigan Warriors.
Wigan Warriors overcame rivals St Helens to go top of the Betfred Super League at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night.
In one of the games of the season, Adrian Lam’s side recorded their first win over Saints in over two years with tries from Jake Bibby, Tommy Leuluai, Bevan French and Jackson Hastings.
The first half began as a real exhibition Rugby League, with both sides hitting hard, completing high and dealing with any attacking skirmishes beyond halfway.
It took until the half-hour mark for the first score of the game, going to the home side. Jonny Lomax was able to break the Wigan line and find Lachlan Coote to score.
Lam’s men struck back just four minutes later through Jake Bibby. A fantastic grubber from Zak Hardaker down the right touchline eluded the whitewash and found the onrushing Bibby to score in the corner.
The second-half began much the same as the first, with scintillating action from both teams, until Wigan added another try through Tommy Leuluai in the 54th.
The half-back stepped inside his marker, skipped past a couple more defenders and ran the ball home from 15 metres.
Wigan extended the lead in the 62nd through leading try scorer Bevan French. A wonderful short ball from Willie Isa released the full-back to run clear from 30 plus metres out to make the score.
The Cherry and Whites put firther daylight between the scores in the 70th minute through Jackson Hastings. Wigan gained field position after Isa charged down a Saints kick. The resulting set found Hastings, who crossed the whitewash in the right corner.
St Helens: Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Jack Welsby, Regan Grace, Jonny Lomax, Theo Fages, James Graham, James Roby, Matty Lees, Zeb Taia, James Bentley, Morgan Knowles
Interchanges: Dom Peyroux, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Kyle Amor, Joseph Paulo
Tries: Coote (30’)
Conversions: Coote (1/1)
Wigan Warriors: Bevan French, Jake Bibby, Zak Hardaker, Oliver Gildart, Joe Burgess, Jackson Hastings, Tommy Leuluai, Joe Bullock, Sam Powell, Brad Singleton, Willie Isa, Liam Farrell, Oliver Partington
Interchanges: Tony Clubb, Ben Flower, Joe Greenwood, Morgan Smithies.
Tries: Bibby (34’), Leuluai (54’), French (62’), Hastings (70’)
Conversions: Hardaker (1/4)
Yellow Cards: Joe Greenwood (79′)
Referee: Chris Kendall
Video Ref: Ben Thaler
