Wigan go top after surviving Huddersfield scare

Jake Wardle has scored six Super League tries for Wigan Warriors this season

Betfred Super League

Wigan (0) 28

Tries: Wardle, Hampshire, Field, Eckersley Goals: Keighran 6

Huddersfield (8) 14

Tries: Bibby, Halsall Goals: Connor 3

Wigan Warriors fought back after failing to score in the first half to beat Huddersfield Giants and return to the top of Super League.

Jake Bibby put the visitors ahead at the interval as Wigan struggled to get going in a wayward first period.

But Wigan hit back in style with an audacious try spanning the length of the field from Jake Wardle, with Ryan Hampshire crashing down for the hosts' second.

Jai Field stepped past two Huddersfield players to score and put Wigan in control as Zach Eckersley sent in another to wrap up the win, but not before Sam Halsall's late consolation.

Wigan's victory means they leapfrog Hull KR and Warrington Wolves into top spot while Huddersfield remain ninth.

That Huddersfield edged out Wigan at the break was made all the more impressive given they were swiftly depleted in a bruising opening quarter.

Matty English was forced off for a head injury assessment (HIA) having suffered a cut to the head and was eventually cleared to return to the field, while Chris Hill also came off worse in a later tackle and departed for a HIA of his own.

Wigan's season has hit the brakes in recent games with Matt Peet's side coming into Thursday's fixture off the back of their defeat by Hull FC and last week's chastening thrashing at home by Warrington.

Boos rang around the Brick Community Stadium as Bibby went in following a well-worked move from Halsall in the build-up, with Jake Connor's kicking giving them an eight-point lead at the break.

Wardle's try, his sixth in Super League this term, came as he caught a wayward Olly Russell kick towards goal and he ducked and weaved his way into space and beat the chase to run in in impressive fashion.

Hampshire's try came as Wigan made their pervasive second-half pressure count once more, this time as he worked onto a kick on the last tackle to catch and ground the ball and send the hosts ahead.

Wigan left it late once more this time as Field showed great agility to crash in with Eckersley making sure of victory with five minutes remaining, leaving Halsall's try a mere second-half consolation for the visitors.

Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:

"I thought we were poor with the ball in the first half, played with tension and made some basic errors, so at half-time it was about getting back to basics.

"We competed a bit higher, backed our defence and we felt we found more fluency after we looked after the ball.

"We had to strip our game back a bit. With Jai Field at full-back we were looking to move the ball early in sets whereas some quick play-the-balls would have suited us. The second half was a step in the right direction."

Huddersfield Giants interim coach Luke Robinson told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I thought we were like a broken record. We tried really hard, we worked really hard for each other but there was a momentum shift in the second half.

"Jake Wardle infuriates me that he's playing against us because I think he's the best English centre in the competition at the moment.

"We never really seemed to recover and gain field position back. I thought we were on top of them in the first half so if we'd have carried on, we could have done something, but unfortunately for us that breakaway try was a bit of a killer."

Wigan: Field; Miski, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall; Hampshire, Smith; Havard, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis.

Interchanges: Mago, Dupree, Walters, Eckersley.

Huddersfield: Connor; McGowan, Bibby, Naiqama, Halsall; Lolohea, Russell; Hill, Milner, English, Hewitt, Rushton, Cudjoe.

Interchanges: Deakin, Ikahihifo, Savelio, Rogers.

Referee: Aaron Moore.