WIGAN WARRIORS 46 HULL KR 0
DAVID KUZIO, The Brick Community Stadium, Thursday

LIAM MARSHALL honoured the late Sir Billy Boston in the best way possible with a hat-trick of tries on an emotional night to send Wigan back to the top of the table for the time being.

The build-up to the game was dedicated to the memory of the first rugby league player to be knighted, following Boston’s death at the age of 92 earlier this week.

Playing an understrength Hull KR, this game was never really a contest from the moment Wigan scored in the ninth minute. They crossed for five tries in the first half – with Marshall scoring twice – and three more in the second where the winger completed his hat-trick.

Marshall outjumped Harvey Horne to a Harry Smith kick to score that opener, and Keighran added the first of seven conversions from eight.

Wigan extended their lead five minutes later with a moment of brilliance from Smith. The scrum-half took the ball to the left before sending a chip over back inside for the racing Field to collect and score under the posts.

Smith was running the show for Wigan and a sublime 40/20 put the Warriors back on the front foot. They made sure that bit of skill meant something as Smith and French combined with the latter throwing out a superb pass that missed out two defenders for Zach Eckersley to cross over.

They were denied two further scores as Smith knocked on when collecting for an intercept try, then Field’s pass to Marshall was ruled forward.

But the home side did grab a couple more tries before the break, with the first all down to the determination of Smith to grab a loose ball and feed French, who sent a long pass for Eckersley to grab his second.

Both wingers were doing Sir Billy proud as Marshall acrobatically grabbed his second, and Wigan were out of sight at 28-0 with heavy rain pouring.

As such, the second half was akin to rugby in a swimming pool with plenty of handling errors and splash backs from the turf. Yet Field was still a thorn in Hull KR’s side, and he showed some neat footwork to pick up the ball behind his own line and tiptoe his way down the touchline to safety.

Wigan posted the first points of the second half in the 53rd minute with Eckersley expertly tapping French’s kick back into the arms of Keighran.

Hull KR enjoyed a period of pressure with three consecutive drop-outs and a penalty, and debutant Frankie Dearlove appeared to have got them on the board when he slid over in the corner, but it was ruled out by the video referee as French produced an amazing tackle to stop him grounding the ball before sliding into touch.

Wigan ended the game with two more tries. Marshall completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute as Smith and Field combined perfectly to send the winger over, before Field took on the line and turned the ball back for Jake Wardle to crash over.

Wigan almost reached 50 points, but Eckersley was denied his hat-trick as he dropped the ball in the act of trying to score.

GAMESTAR: Outstanding Jai Field was dangerous every time he got the ball and had a hand in a few tries, as well as scoring one himself.

GAMEBREAKER: Once Jai Field made it 12-0 after just 14 minutes, there was never any way back for the understrength Hull KR.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Wigan scored some great tries, but the way Bevan French used the wet conditions to prevent Frankie Dearlove from getting the ball down and force him into touch was brilliant.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Jai Field (Wigan)
2 pts Harry Smith (Wigan)
1 pt Liam Marshall (Wigan)

MATCHFACTS

WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
2 Zach Eckersley
3 Adam Keighran
4 Jake Wardle
5 Liam Marshall
6 Bevan French
7 Harry Smith
8 Ethan Havard
9 Brad O’Neill
10 Luke Thompson
23 Kian McDermott
17 Oliver Partington
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs (all used)
14 Sam Walters
15 Patrick Mago
25 Taylor Kerr
41 Shea O’Connor
18th man (not used)
33 George O’Loughlin
Also in 21-man squad
20 Sam Eseh
38 Austin Daniel
37 Josh Cartwright

Tries: Marshall (9, 33, 67), Field (14), Eckersley (18, 28), Keighran (53), Wardle (71)
Goals: Keighran 7/8

HULL KR
14 Jack Broadbent
26 Harvey Horne
25 Louix Gorman
21 Noah Booth
23 Lee Kershaw
1 Arthur Mourgue
24 Jack Charles
8 Sauaso Sue
22 Bill Leyland
15 Sam Luckley
17 Rhyse Martin
33 Frankie Dearlove (D)
19 Karl Lawton
Subs (all used)
10 Tom Amone
28 Zach Fishwick
31 Declan Murphy (D)
36 Alfie Woods (D)
18th man (not used)
30 Cobie Wainhouse
Also in 21-man squad
4 Oliver Gildart
36 Ryan Westerman
– Flynn Holden

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 24-0, 28-0; 34-0, 40-0, 46-0

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Warriors: Jai Field; Hull KR: Frankie Dearlove

Penalty count: 7-3
Half-time: 28-0
Referee: Aaron Moore
Attendance: 16,847