World Club Challenge
Wigan Warriors 16 Penrith Panthers 12
DW Stadium, 24th February
THE hooter sounded and the result still wasn’t clear as one of the greatest club games of recent years was sent upstairs to be decided by a video referee.
Taylan May scrambled into the corner with the final play of the game, but had Jai Field and Abbas Miski done enough to prevent him from scoring?
On-field official Liam Moore thought so, and Chris Kendall studied the incident seven times, at four different angles, over two minutes, without finding a grounded ball.
Cue delirium as a sold-out crowd celebrated a history-making success, with Wigan champions of the world for the fifth time.
The winning try proved to be Jake Wardle’s in the 53rd minute, another controversial incident in which, like the last, the on-field call proved crucial in a score being awarded.
That followed Miski and Kruise Leeming tries being cancelled out by efforts from Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards in a first half that the Panthers shaved 10-12.
But there were so many other moments that live in the memory from this game, from one of the tackles of the season by Field, racing across to tackle May when a try seemed certain, to one of the greatest tries never scored when Bevan French was fractionally offside chasing an audacious Harry Smith punt out of a scrum.
From the pre-game build-up to the post-game celebrations, plus everything that happened in between, this was an epic night.
Challenge Cup
Warrington Wolves 8 Wigan Warriors 18
Wembley, 8th June
IF all of Wigan’s previous trophies under Matt Peet up to this point had been won in nail-biting circumstances, this one could be considered somewhat comfortable.
The score might not have been a blowout but a Warrington side lacking in big-game experience was simply no match for an opposition packed with know-how.
Bevan French gave a vintage performance, scooping up the Lance Todd Trophy after setting up their first try for young centre Zach Eckersley – playing only his fifth game for the club – with a perfectly-weighted grubber kick and then scoring the second himself.
French showed dazzling footwork to step past Matty Nicholson after charging beyond Toby King running a clever line against the grain from a scrum play, and so Wigan led 2-12 at half-time.
Wigan’s third and final try-scorer, in the 57th minute, was Liam Farrell, the humble but hugely influential captain and a fitting player to cap this triumph.
Matt Dufty scored a try in response with 16 minutes remaining to cut the deficit, but in truth the Wolves never looked remotely like getting back into the contest against a Warriors side that otherwise defended tough and gave the opposition little room to breathe.
Dufty was one of two players, alongside Wigan’s Mike Cooper, shown the yellow card in a chaotic opening four minutes of the match, but as so often it was the team in cherry and white who emerged strongest.
League Leaders’ Shield
Wigan Warriors 64 Salford Red Devils 0
The Brick Community Stadium, 19th September
IT’S no fault of Wigan’s that winning the League Leaders’ Shield proved to be an almighty anti-climax.
But as soon as Salford submitted their 21-man squad, two days before this fixture, it was clear the trophy was as good as won.
Wigan needed victory to be certain and against a full-strength Red Devils side that would have required a very good performance.
In the event, they faced a side showing a full 17 changes from the previous week, with Salford having already secured their own play-off spot and so happy to rest up ready for an eliminator.
There were eight debutants in the visiting side and while they showed plenty of courage, they really had no hope of stopping the Wigan juggernaut.
Wigan scored eleven tries in a 64-0 victory, three scored by Jai Field, two by each of Liam Marshall, Bevan French and Kruise Leeming, plus one from Zach Eckersley and Jake Wardle.
Wigan still celebrated in front of a crowd of over 15,000 but in reality the game which won them the Shield came on the same turf 13 days earlier.
That was when Hull KR travelled west, top of the table thanks to a superior points difference and enjoying an eight-match winning run.
Wigan trailed 14-20 with a quarter of the brilliant match remaining but, with Jai Whitbread in the bin for the Robins, they turned it around via two Liam Marshall tries.
Super League
Wigan Warriors 9 Hull KR 2
Old Trafford, 12th October
WIGAN completed the first quadruple of the summer era by retaining the Super League trophy and, in doing so, strengthened their case as one of the great sides of all time.
Hull KR offered a great challenge all season and did so in the Grand Final too, but when Wigan are at their best they seem unstoppable and here they were indeed at their best.
Their forwards were unyielding, their kicking game on point, and their defence simply impregnable.
Indeed, after no side achieved a clean sheet for tries in the first 25 years of Grand Final history, the Warriors managed it for a second year running.
That meant they required only one try themselves to win the game, and it came from who else but Bevan French?
His magnificent solo effort in the 22nd minute, dummying to beat Mikey Lewis and then stepping past fullback Niall Evalds, was quite possibly the best Grand Final try since Rob Burrow’s in 2011, making it only more appropriate that French claimed the first Rob Burrow Award as man of the match.
That opened the game up after a grinding opening quarter in which Lewis had a try ruled out, with Liam Marshall also denied by the officials before Harry Smith added a field-goal on the stroke of half-time.
Adam Keighran added a second-half penalty to his earlier conversion, after one from Lewis but Hull KR on the board, and Wigan’s supreme defence did the rest.
