Super League: Wigan 54-10 Wakefield - French double helps Warriors crush Trinity
- Published
Bevan French had not scored for Wigan since the Warriors won at Leigh 11 months ago
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Wigan (24) 54 |
Tries: French 2, Field 2, Singleton 2, Miski, Smith, Cust Goals: Smith 9 |
Wakefield (4) 10 |
Tries: Minns, Miller Goals: Lino |
Wigan put their Good Friday derby defeat at Premiership leaders St Helens behind them as they ran in nine tries to thrash Wakefield Trinity.
Australian backs Bevan French and Jai Field, and former Leeds forward Brad Singleton all scored two tries each.
Winger Abbas Miski and half-backs Harry Smith, who kicked all nine conversions, and Cade Cust crossed as well.
Wakefield managed just a try in each half from winger Thomas Minns and half-back Jacob Miller.
In fit-again French's first home start since his return from last term's season-ending hamstring injury, Wigan topped 50 points for the first time since beating Leigh last August.
It was also Wigan's second big win over Wakefield in nine days after winning 36-6 in the Challenge Cup at Belle Vue.
Wakefield actually took the lead through Minns' early try but, by the 28th minute, the contest was all but over.
After French's first try in 11 months, three more followed in the space of just nine minutes from Singleton, French again and Miski, all converted by Smith.
The Wigan half-back continued to shine with the boot in the second half with five more successful conversions - a rarity for any Wigan kicker since thee days of the great Pat Richards a decade ago.
Allied to a try of his own, that totted up into a personal 22-point haul, Smith was joined on the second-half scorers' list by a double from full-back Field and a second for Singleton.
Smith's half-back partner Cust, the third of Wigan's Aussies, also crossed for what was only his second try for the club.
Wigan head coach Matt Peet:
"It's always a challenging game on Easter Monday after playing on Good Friday and the way we went about it was very professional.
"We went about it the right way. We were direct and committed in our defence. We were willing to do the tough stuff and in the end it paid off.
"The big thing was the commitment and the energy. Wakefield put us under quite a bit of pressure early on, but our resilience during that period bode well for the rest of the game."
Wakefield coach Willie Poching:
"Defensively, we were way off. We tried to address some of that at half-time, but we didn't quite get a stronghold on what we wanted to do at the start of that second half.
"They were doing quick offloads, and by play three they were on halfway. They had the ascendency for a while.
"Difficult as it was, it was more difficult with 12 men. To lose Kelepi Tanginoa before half-time was tough. They were 24 points already when we had 13 men. But full credit to Wigan. They were fantastic."
Wigan: Field; Miski, Halsall, Bibby, French; Cust, Smith; Byrne, Powell, Singleton, Farrell, Bateman, Smithies.
Interchanges: Mago, Ellis, Havard, Shorrocks.
Wakefield: Gaskell; Murphy, Lyne, Hall, Minns; Miller, Lino; Battye, Kay, Aydin, Tanginoa, Adebiyi, Batchelor.
Interchanges: Ashurst, Pitts, Walker, Shaw.
Sin-bin:
Referee: Jack Smith.