Wigan Warriors took on St Helens tonight at the DW Stadium in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Saints were the first on the board through a Jonny Lomax penalty, but Bevan French crossed the whitewash in the tenth minute to send Wigan into the lead.
The Warriors were in the mood not to mess around tonight and they had another just after the midway point in the first-half with Jai Field crossing off a brilliant Harry Smith break.
Konrad Hurrell thought he had replied for the visitors from dummy-half, but superb defence from Liam Marshall ensured the Tongan enforcer was kept out.
With Saints tiring, the Warriors hit again through Liam Farrell as Smith added the extras to make it 18-2 after 35 minutes.
Half-time came at the right time for Saints and it was clear that Kristian Woolf had had a few words at the break as the visitors registered a try through Joey Lussick on the hour.
However, a runaway try from Marshall sent the Warriors home and hosed just before Joe Batchelor registered a consolation effort as Ben Davies missed two conversions as Wigan notched up a 24-10 lead.
And, French had just enough time to notch up his second as the hooter sounded after being fed by Field once more. Smith rounded off a perfect night with the boot to make it 30-10 and maintain Wigan’s 100% home record.
Highlights
Jai Field’s try involved a brilliant Brad O’Neill offload to Harry Smith who then fed Field under the posts.
Liam Farrell cutting Saints apart through the middle for a brilliant individual score.
Liam Marshall’s runaway try was a brilliant effort.
Talking points
1. Harry Smith’s improvement
There were times in 2021 when Harry Smith was criticised for some of his performances. Remember, however, this was a young man with the weight of his team on his shoulders. Now, after being taken under the wing of Lee Briers, Smith is thriving and produced yet another masterclass against St Helens.
2. Wigan got in Welsby’s head
Jack Welsby is one of the most talented players in Super League, but Wigan got into the fullback’s head completely tonight. Welsby made a number of errors with the Warriors players rubbing it in whenever something went wrong. The frustration on his face was evident throughout and half-time couldn’t have come soon enough for him.
3. Wigan phenomenal
23 Jai Field – 9
1 Bevan French – 9
21 Kai Pearce-Paul – 8
11 Willie Isa – 7
5 Liam Marshall – 9
6 Cade Cust – 8
16 Harry Smith – 9
8 Brad Singleton – 8
28 Brad O’Neill – 8
20 Liam Byrne – 7
12 Liam Farrell – 8
13 John Bateman – 7
14 Morgan Smithies – 7
Substitutes
10 Patrick Mago – 6
15 Kaide Ellis – 6
22 Joe Shorrocks – 6
36 Mike Cooper – 7
St Helens
1 Jack Welsby – 5
20 Josh Simm – 6
23 Konrad Hurrell – 7
12 Joe Batchelor – 7
27 Jon Bennison – 6
22 Ben Davies – 6
6 Jonny Lomax – 6
8 Alex Walmsley – 6
9 James Roby – 7
10 Matty Lees – 6
21 James Bell – 7
16 Curtis Sironen – 7
13 Morgan Knowles – 6
Substitutes
14 Joey Lussick – 8
15 LMS – 5
17 Agnatius Paasi – 7
19 Jake Wingfield – 6
