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2 weeks ago
4
Wigan Warriors emphatically underlined why their pursuit of a third successive Super League title has huge potential with a wonderful derby display to inflict more misery on St Helens and take the reigning champions one step closer to a top two finish ahead of the playoffs.
The Saints knew victory here would move them to within one victory of the second-placed Warriors with two rounds remaining but in reality, despite a bright start, they were unable to come close to the superiority of the Warriors when it mattered most.
Wigan, led by an imperious display from Bevan French, were worthy winners and victory in their final two games will secure second going into the playoffs, meaning a bye through the opening weekend. The Saints, in contrast, are now likely to finish fifth: meaning they will need to win consecutive away games just to reach Old Trafford. That does not seem likely on current form.
The Saints were absolutely magnificent inside the opening quarter despite somewhat of a mismatch in the two packs.
And they took a deserved lead inside the opening ten minutes in an early sign their gamble to put full-back Jack Welsby at loose forward would pay off, as the England international’s wonderful pass sent Deon Cross over for the opening try.
St Helens continued to dominate most of that opening 25 minutes but as Wigan began to wrestle back momentum, you feared the hosts had not taken full advantage of the territory and possession they had enjoyed to that point. By half-time, it had been made abundantly clear that was the case as the champions responded with a devastating show of ruthlessness.
With their first real attacking opportunity they drew level. Liam Farrell’s magnificent break through the middle – past the trailing Welsby – was eventually halted but the Warriors held their nerve, worked the ball left and Jake Wardle finished well to tie up the scores. Then six minutes later, they went ahead.
An error from Tristan Sailor handed Wigan possession in prime attacking territory and they would take it once again, as a magnificent cross-field kick was claimed by Junior Nsemba, who audaciously hurled the ball over his head into the path of Liam Marshall, giving him a clear run to the line.
Harry Smith converted and a minute from the interval, he would add on a penalty to open up a eight-point lead for the visitors. For almost half an hour Saints had dominated proceedings but in the blink of an eye, as all champion teams do, Wigan had taken their chances to seize control of the contest.
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And six minutes after the restart, they moved further ahead thanks to some brilliance from their two most influential players. A poor St Helens kick was collected by French, who instinctively offloaded to Jai Field on his own line. Field did the rest, racing the length of the field unchallenged to give Smith a simple conversion and make it 18-4.
A 14-point difference was not necessarily decisive with over half an hour to go but the balance of power was now firmly with the Warriors. With a bigger interchange bench and fresher forwards, Wigan completely dominated the next 15 minutes without much of a stir from the Saints. Their bright start had evaporated entirely.
There were fleeting opportunities to set up a grandstand finish late on but the Saints’ attack, as it has done against the better teams this year, failed them. That meant Wigan could really close the derby out with their opponents at arm’s length, and not even a late disallowed try for the Warriors’ Kaide Ellis mattered in the grand scheme of things.
