Magic Weekend: Wigan Warriors narrowly defeated by St Helens at St James' Park

Matty Peet’s side were reduced to 12-men for the final quarter of the game, following a Brad Singleton red card.

Bevan French was among the scorers for the Warriors as he claimed a brace in the loss.

St Helens took the lead after six minutes, with Jonathan Bennison successfully kicking a penalty to make it 2-0.

Wigan needed to be resilient defensively during the early periods, with their opponents threatening their line on a number of times.

Just before the half hour mark, the Warriors began to create some chances of their own.

This soon resulted in the first try of the game, with the ball being well worked to the right-hand side, for Bevan French to sprint to the corner and ground the ball.

Harry Smith nearly added another just before the break but couldn’t keep hold of the ball after a superb weaving run.

Three minutes into the second half, John Bateman got on the end of a great kick through by French to claim the Warriors’ second try of the afternoon.

Smith was once again on hand to add the extras to make it 12-2.

Saints were able to pull one back, as Joe Batchelor produced a great kick through for himself on the right side to go over in the corner.

Bennison was unable to close the gap further as he missed the conversion.

Just before the hour mark, Jack Welsby closed the gap to 12-10, as he scored a great try on the left wing, shrugging off the best defensive efforts of French.

Wigan’s afternoon became more difficult with 15 minutes remaining, as Brad Singleton was shown a red card for a high hit.

Bennison levelled the scores with a subsequent penalty.

Despite being a man down, it was the Warriors scored the next try.

Field did superbly to break through the Saints line, before providing a kick through for French.

There was still work to do for the winger, who did well to calmly collect the bouncing ball and go over on the right side.

Kristian Woolf’s side weren’t done there, as they pulled another try back through Regan Grace.

They remained behind with Bennison unable to kick the conversion.

Then in the final moments of the game, Jonny Lomax went over for the winning moment, to give Saints a narrow 20-18 win.

Wigan Warriors: Jai Field, Bevan French, Willie Isa, Jake Bibby, Liam Marshall, Cade Cust, Harry Smith, Brad Singleton, Sam Powell, Liam Byrne, Liam Farrell, John Bateman, Joe Shorrocks.Interchanges: Morgan Smithies, Patrick Mago, Oliver Partington, Ethan Havard.

Tries: French (31,’ 71’), Bateman (43’)

Conversions: Smith (3/3)

St Helens: Will Hopgate, Jonathan Bennison, Konrad Hurrell, Sione Mata’utia, Regan Grace, Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax, Agnatius Paasi, Matty Lees, Curtis Sironen, Joe Batchelor, Morgan Knowles. Interchanges: Joey Lussick, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Jake Wingfield, Daniel Norman.

Tries: Batchelor (52’), Welsby (59’), Grace (74’), Lomax (78’)

Conversions: Bennison (1/4)

Penalties: Bennison (1/1)