Super League: Wigan Warriors 30-42 Wakefield Trinity

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Wakefield scrum-half Liam FinnImage source, Chris Mangnall (SWpix.com)
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Wakefield scrum-half Liam Finn scored a try, six conversions and a penalty

Betfred Super League

Wigan (20) 30

Tries: Worthington 2, Marshall 2, Tierney, Leuluai Goals: Williams 2, Marshall

Wakefield (22) 42

Tries: Tupou 3, Caton-Brown, Kirmond, Finn, Miller Goals: Finn 7

Wakefield Trinity produced a stunning comeback to win at injury-hit reigning Super League champions Wigan.

Wigan made a great start as, triggered by young debutant James Worthington's early try, the hosts went 20-0 up in 20 minutes, Lewis Tierney, Liam Marshall and Tommy Leuluai all crossing too.

But Bill Tupou's 11-minute hat-trick saw Trinity go 22-20 up at half-time.

Danny Kirmond, Liam Finn, who kicked six goals, and Jacob Miller all added to Mason Caton-Brown's first-half try.

The transformation came when Wakefield responded to the concession of Wigan's fourth try by bringing on Anthony England and David Fifita to give more power to the visitors' pack.

But they could not have envisaged quite such a turnaround as, from Tupou's first touchdown in the 25th minute, followed by Caton-Brown, the big winger bagged two more to double his try tally for the season to six by the 36th minute.

Finn, whose conversion of Tupou's hat-trick try gave Trinity the lead for the first time, missed just once, although allowed the luxury of a rare re-taken conversion to Miller's late try.

Centre Worthington and winger Marshall, who took his tally to 16 for the season, both added a second try after the break.

But George Williams landed only two of his conversion attempts, prompting a late change of kicker to Marshall, to exacerbate Wigan's woes as they suffered a fourth home defeat of the season.

They remain a distant eight points off top spot, while Wakefield, up into fourth, remain six points behind leaders Castleford, who won comfortably at Leigh.

Wakefield had lost on all their previous eight visits to Wigan, but it is only 13 months since they ran in 11 tries on home soil at Belle Vue to win 62-0, their record win against Wigan.

Wigan boss Shaun Wane revealed that Joe Burgess and Joel Tomkins have a chance of playing at Hull on Saturday, while Liam Forsyth will be in contention after missing the game with a head knock. But the only real positive he took was the two tries for 20-year-old former Wigan St Judes junior Worthington, who scored with his first touch on his first start for his home-town club.

Wigan coach Shaun Wane:

"Wigan teams should never be giving up a 20-0 lead, no matter what. But no excuses from us. We were beaten by the better team.

"We were a bit out of juice. They are a big team. We came into it a bit lethargic and you just have to try and manage their big bodies.

"We gave a few penalties away and just didn't make those one-on-one tackles. We fell apart and missed too many one-on-ones. We made some poor defensive errors and put ourselves under pressure.

"James Worthington is a Wigan kid. I only told him he was playing on Sunday and he was very nervous. To score with his first touch was fantastic. He made a couple of defensive errors but took his tries really well."

Wakefield coach Chris Chester:

"For the first 20 minutes, we couldn't control the ball. We were completing at 50 per cent. Then, from 20 minutes we went 11 sets from 11.

"We were worthy winners. It was a top performance. That Wakefield team 12 months ago would have been done by a cricket score, so I'm really pleased we came back in the game and got a massive result for this club.

"It's a hard place to come. We have been on the end of some big scores when we've played Wigan over the last few years. To come here and show that character really shows how far we've come.

"We are not too bothered about the table at the moment. We just want to make sure that we are competing and entertaining every week."

Wigan: Tierney; Davies, Isa, Worthington, Marshall; Williams, Leuluai; Nuuausala, McIlorum, Sutton, Wells, Farrell, O'Loughlin.

Replacements: Powell, Tautai, Navarrete, Field.

Wakefield: Grix; B Tupou, Lyne, Gibson, Caton-Brown; Miller, Finn; A Walker, Wood, Huby, Ashurst, Kirmond, Sio.

Replacements: Williams, England, Arona, Fifita.

Referee: Chris Campbell (RFL).

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