Wigan Warriors hold on to edge St Helens in Good Friday nail-biter

WIGAN WARRIORS 24 ST HELENS 14
DAVID KUZIO, The Brick Community Stadium, Friday

WIGAN claimed Good Friday bragging rights in a nail-biter as new signing Christian Wade got a front-row view of what he’ll soon be a part of.

The Warriors announced to a sold-out The Brick Community Stadium that the 33-year-old Gloucester winger and former England international will join the club.

He witnessed his new team-mates earn a thrilling win with two tries apiece by Jai Field and Abbas Miski, surviving a late fightback from greatest rivals St Helens.

While Wigan’s only change came as Patrick Mago withdrew late due to a hamstring injury, Saints coach Paul Wellens made the decision to keep George Whitby in the halves alongside Jack Welsby with Jonny Lomax not selected at all. Injured James Bell and Harry Robertson were replaced by Daryl Clark and Mark Percival.

The Warriors took the lead in the eighth minute with Harry Smith slotting over the first penalty of the game following a ball steal.

Tempers flared up at a scrum with Tyler Dupree and George Delaney having a pushing match after Smith had knocked-on at the base of the scrum. Saints again had a crack at Wigan’s line and then opted to level the score through a Whitby penalty.

Wigan thought they had scored the first try as Smith stepped his way over, but the video referee ruled that Tyler Dupree had prevented Delaney from tackling Smith so the effort was chalked off.

The Warriors finally got over with Bevan French and Field combining, the former going down the blindside and sending a kick back infield for his fullback to collect and score, converted by Smith for an 8-2 advantage.

They then seemed to move up the gears and after Jake Wardle went close with a strong run, they extended their lead further with Miski having a walkover try as Smith’s crossfield kick was expertly flicked on by French.

Smith was unable to convert but the champions led 12-2 into the break – and also went in with a numerical advantage with Moses Mbye sin-binned for a shoulder charge to the head on Zach Eckersley.

However, Wigan did suffer the setback of Dupree being taken off for a head-injury assessment, from which he did not return, while it was their turn to have a man sat down after four minutes of the second half as Sam Walters was shown a yellow card for a swinging arm on Jon Bennison.

But Miski – who was clearly struggling with his knee injury – picked up a loose ball to set them on the way for their third try.

The ball went wide and Smith sent a sublime short pass for Field to race through a gap and score. Smith converted and Wigan looked out of sight at 18-2.

Saints thought they had reduced that deficit as Whitby went through a gap, but his pass to Clark was ruled forward.

The comeback did soon come, however. First, after Liam Byrne spilled the ball in his own half, St Helens worked the ball to the left, Lewis Murphy was able to acrobatically ground the ball in the corner and Whitby converted.

That score spurred the Saints on and they took the game to the Warriors, who looked like they were tiring. Agnatius Paasi barged his way over to score and Whitby converted again to make it 18-12 and set up a tense final seven minutes.

Saints continued to pile the pressure on but an error from Tristan Sailor saw Eckersley pick up the loose ball and send Miski over for his second try, converted by Smith to secure the win.

GAMESTAR: Jake Wardle is a menace in attack, but his defensive effort set the platform for this Wigan victory.

GAMEBREAKER: Abbas Miski’s second try after Tristan Sailor’s effort put the game behind St Helens’ reach late on.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: The way Bevan French ran down the blindside and sent a kick back over for Jai Field to score the opening try.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Jake Wardle (Wigan)
2 pts Abbas Miski (Wigan)
1 pt Zach Eckersley (Wigan)

MATCHFACTS
WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
2 Abbas Miski
22 Zach Eckersley
4 Jake Wardle
5 Liam Marshall
6 Bevan French
7 Harry Smith
16 Liam Byrne
17 Kruise Leeming
21 Sam Walters
11 Junior Nsemba
12 Liam Farrell
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs
9 Brad O’Neill
19 Tyler Dupree
20 Harvie Hill
23 Tom Forber (not used)
18th man (not used)
24 Jack Farrimond
Also in 21-man squad
15 Patrick Mago
26 Jacob Douglas
29 Taylor Kerr

Tries: Field (29, 48), Miski (35, 78)
Goals: Smith 4/5
Sin bin: Walters (44) – high tackle

SAINTS
6 Tristan Sailor
5 Jon Bennison
16 Matt Whitley
4 Mark Percival
20 Lewis Murphy
1 Jack Welsby
27 George Whitby
8 Alex Walmsley
14 Moses Mbye
10 Matty Lees
11 Curtis Sironen
12 Joe Batchelor
13 Morgan Knowles
Subs (all used)
9 Daryl Clark
17 Agnatius Paasi
19 George Delaney
29 Dayon Sambou
18th man (not used)
21 Noah Stephens
Also in 21-man squad
7 Jonny Lomax
22 Ben Davies
23 Jake Burns