Wigan Warriors clash records stunning TV audience

In a history making game, Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers met in the first ever clash shown live on BBC Two.

It was a game that turned on a dime when Liam Watts was sent back to the changing rooms after picking up a red card for a high shot, Adam Keighran then slotted the two points over to level the scores.

With six minutes left of the half a little kick from dummy half fell out of Luke Hooley’s hands and Patrick Mago was there to dive on the loose ball.

Wigan added to their tally through Bevan French as the half back cleverly found space and dived over for his first try of 2024.

With the conversion by Smith going over, the half time hooter sounded with Wigan in the lead, 16-4.

Wigan had the first chance of the half after Tom Grant gave another penalty against the Tigers, but great defence on their own line kept Wigan out.

10 minutes into the half Wigan went over for another, the extra man definitely helped as Liam Marshall crashed over in the corner.

Near enough straight after, Wigan shifted right and an intelligent kick inside found Leeming who dived over to put Wigan even further in front. The try was converted by Smith.

A short side play gave Cas an opportunity on the left edge but Sam Wood spills the ball short of the line, the story of the second half for the Tigers.

Danny Richardson kicked into a dangerous position to give Cas a chance with 13 minutes to go but Jai Field was there to clean up the mess. Cas managed to create an overlap soon after but Luke Hooley out the back spilled the ball.

Jacob Miller showed some promise with 7 minutes remain as he danced through the line but a high shot stopped the half back in his travels, no card given.

Wigan added more points to their tally through Liam Marshall who found space down the edge and managed to dot down under the posts.

A scrappy affair for both sides saw Wigan come out on top in Round 1 of the Betfred Super League.

Wigan Warriors clash records amazing TV figures

The game recorded an average viewership of a huge 357,000 according to RugbyLeagueonTV.com. This was an impressive 2.8% audience share and the viewership peaked at 487,000.

This is an increase of 54,000 on the Channel 4 season opener between Hull KR and Wigan Warriors which was exclusive to Channel 4 unlike this game.

It was also a massive increase on the 104,000 viewers for the semi-final between the same two teams.