WIGAN WARRIORS 22 HULL FC 18
DAVID KUZIO, The Brick Community Stadium, Sunday

TWO MOMENTS of magic from Jai Field made it a memorable afternoon for Wigan as Liam Marshall celebrated his testimonial game with a victory.

Marshall opened the scoring on his big day before Lewis Martin levelled matters for Hull FC with his first of three tries. 

Wigan, who gave the majority of their big-name players at least 60 minutes, took control in the second half with Junior Nsemba, Field and Jack Farrimond all crossing for tries. Hull made a game of it with two late tries, but the day belonged to Marshall and the Warriors. 

Both sides felt each other out in the opening stages as they went set for set. Wigan created the first scoring opportunity when Zach Eckersley went close in the corner, but he was pushed into touch.

Marshall then went close to an interception inside his own half, but he failed to keep hold.

Wigan were growing into the game, with Field combining with Jake Wardle as the centre went close, while on the back of a penalty Luke Thompson dropped the ball close to Hull’s line.

Oliver Partington was introduced after 20 minutes for his second debut, with Thompson going off. Moments later he watched his side take the lead, with man of the moment Marshall marking his big day with the opening try following a sublime cutout pass from Field. Keighran converted for a 6-0 advantage.

It did not take long for Hull to respond with an almost identical score, with Pryce firing a cutout ball for Martin to stroll in at the corner. Pryce converted to make it 6-6.

French and Field combined well on the right with the latter sending a kick to the corner for Eckersley, but Pryce was on hand to clear up for a dropout. From the restart, Liam Farrell went close before Tom Forber dropped the ball over the line. 

It was a hard-fought opening 40 minutes with not a lot of try-scoring opportunities. Ligi Sao ran hard for Hull in his first game in over 12 months, while Wardle impressed in attack and defence for the Warriors.

Hull made changes at the break with Cade Cust, Will Kirby, Connor Bailey and Elliot Middlemas coming on, while Field, French, Junior Nsemba and Wardle remained on the field for Wigan for the time being.

A moment of magic from Field got the home fans off their feet when he collected a kick, spotted a gap and raced away before offloading for Nsemba to evade the clutches of Lloyd Kemp to score.

A trademark Wigan gang tackle from Eckersley, Keighran, French and Field bundled Middlemas into touch when he looked certain to score and moments later the Warriors extended their lead with another piece of magic from Field.

Farrimond took on the line before offloading and the Australian found some space on the left and accelerated past the Hull defence to score. That was his last involvement, as he was replaced along with Wardle and Keighran, with Dayon Sambou, George O’Loughlin and Noah Hodkinson all coming on.

Hull refused to go away, and they threw a lot at Wigan on their own line, before a long ball from Callum Kemp sent Martin over for his second try.

Wigan put the game to bed with Farrimond picking up an Nsemba knock back from a French kick to score their fourth try as Matt Peet made more changes to rest his star players.

Hull had the final say as Martin took a long ball to complete his hat-trick, while Davy Litten scored in the dying moments.

It was a decent run out for both teams with Peet and John Cartwright getting valuable minutes from their experienced players as well as youth as they both prepare for third round Challenge Cup games against Rochdale Hornets and Salford respectively.

GAMESTAR: Jai Field was on the field for 57 minutes and two moments of magic from the fullback turned the game in Wigan’s favour as he assisted and scored a try in the second half.

GAMEBREAKER: Field’s individual effort put the Warriors ten points in front, and they never looked like losing after that.

MATCHFACTS

WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
2 Zach Eckersley
3 Adam Keighran
4 Jake Wardle
5 Liam Marshall
6 Bevan French
19 Jack Farrimond
10 Luke Thompson
22 Tom Forber
14 Sam Walters
11 Junior Nsemba
12 Liam Farrell
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs (all used)
8 Ethan Havard
15 Patrick Mago
17 Oliver Partington
23 Kian McDermott
25 Taylor Kerr
26 Nathan Lowe
27 Lukas Mason
28 Noah Hodkinson
29 Tiaki Chan
31 Jonny Vaughan
32 Dayon Sambou
33 George O’Loughlin
36 George Marsden

Tries: Marshall (23), Nsemba (47), Field (57), Farrimond (66)
Goals: Keighran 2/3, Farrimond 1/1

HULL FC
1 Will Pryce
5 Lewis Martin
3 Davy Litten
4 Zak Hardaker
2 Harvey Barron
27 Callum Kemp
6 Jake Arthur
10 Harvie Hill
9 Amir Bourouh
18 Ligi Sao
11 Joe Batchelor
12 Jed Cartwright
20 Yusuf Aydin
Subs (all used)
14 Cade Cust
16 Sam Lisone
19 Tom Briscoe
21 Arthur Romano
22 Connor Bailey
23 Brad Fash
26 Hugo Salabio
29 Will Hutchinson
30 Will Kirby
32 Lloyd Kemp
37 Elliot Middlemas

Tries: Martin (27, 62, 75), Litten (79)
Goals: Pryce 1/1, C Kemp 0/1, L Kemp 0/2

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-6; 10-6, 16-6, 16-10, 22-10, 22-14, 22-18

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Warriors: Jai Field; Hull FC: Ligi Sao

Penalty count: 7-3
Half-time: 6-6
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 4,511