Warriors defeat Red Devils

• Match Report as Wigan Warriors win away at Salford Red Devils.
• Wigan scored four tries to defeat the Red Devils at the Salford Community Stadium.
• FT | Salford Red Devils 6-26 Wigan Warriors.

Match Report as Wigan Warriors win away at Salford Red Devils in Round 12.

Wigan built up a three-try lead in the first half with three tries in a fifteen minute spell. Adam Keighran opened the scoring after racing half the length of the field as Junior Nsemba and Brad O’Neill also added to the scoring, with Adam Keighran converting all three.

A closely contested second half saw Salford respond through Oliver Partington but a sole penalty goal from the Warriors paired with a late try from Bevan French saw the Warriors to a 26-6 victory on the road.

Report

The sets were shared in an even opening five minutes at the Salford Community Stadium with both teams trying to fain a foothold in the game.

The Warriors did break the deadlock in the 9th minute however as Abbas Miski stormed through the Salford defensive line to get a pass away to Adam Keighran on halfway, with the Centre racing away to score under the sticks. Keighran converted his own score for 6-0.

Wigan crossed for their second of the afternoon on 16 minutes. Harry Smith got a ball away to Junior Nsemba who brushed off the tackle from Marc Sneyd before racing towards the line to score for a second consecutive game. Adam Keighran nailed the extras from out wide and it was 12-0.

Just after the first quarter Marc Sneyd was shown a green card after a stoppage in play for injury. Wigan continued to ask the questions and Brad O’Neill shot over from dummy half to extend Wigan’s lead under the sticks. Adam Keighran made it three-from-three as Wigan were out to 18-0.

Salford thought they had their breakthrough on 30 minutes as Kallum Watkins flew onto a pass but Wigan scrambled well to hold him up over the line and the kick on the last was collected well by Marshall to see Wigan back in possession.

The home side had another food opportunity shortly afterwards as Lafai streamed forward to get the Red Devils into Wigan’s half. With men over on the right edge it came to Watkins once more but this time he lost the ball one-on-one with Liam Marshall as Wigan kept Salford out.

Wigan were soaking up some late pressure and again Salford were denied. Tom Grant sent an effort to the video referee as no try from Nene Macdonald and the assistant agreed, with Wigan getting the ball back for a knock-on and going in at the break with a three-try lead.

The Warriors were penalised back-to-back as Salford got over for their first of the game in the 46th minute. A penalty for a high shot on Partington saw the hosts with a full set 10m out, which they took full advantage of as former Warrior Partington crashed over. Sneyd converted the effort to make it 18-6.

A drastic change in the weather saw both sides having to contend with a heavy downpour as the game continued to flow set-for-set up to the hour mark.

Jai Field was caught high 30m out and the Warriors called for the tee. Adam Keighran continued his form from the tee as Wigan made it 20-6 heading into the final 15 minutes.

Harry Smith lined up a drop goal attempt with 3 minutes to go but the effort came back off the uprights before Salford came up with an error to give Wigan a scrum. From the penalty Wigan fired the ball out to the right for Bevan French to glide over to complete the victory. Adam Keighran made it a perfect day from the kicking tee as the Warriors registered a 26-6 win.

Gallery:

Salford Red Devils: Ryan Brierley, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Tim Lafai, Deon Cross, Chris Atkin, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Shorrocks, Shane Wright, Sam Stone, Kallum Watkins, Oliver Partington.

Interchanges: Matty Foster, Chris Hankinson, Joe Mellor, Gil Dudson.

18th Player: King Vuniyayawa.

Tries: Partington (46′)

Goals: Sneyd 1/1

Green Card: Sneyd (24′)

Wigan Warriors: Jai Field, Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall, Bevan French, Harry Smith, Mike Cooper, Brad O’Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Ethan Havard.

Interchanges: Kruise Leeming, Patrick Mago, Tyler Dupree, Harvie Hill.

18th Player: Zach Eckersley.

Tries: Keighran (9′), Nsemba (16′), O’Neill (25′), French (77′)

Goals: Keighran 5/5

Attendance: 4,087

Referee: Tom Grant Video Referee: Aaron Moore.