Wigan Warriors deny Sam Tomkins of fairytale ending with Grand Final victory over Catalans

It was the start and an end of an era for Warriors, with Matt Peet claiming his first title and departing chairman Ian Lenagan his last.

The Dragons had both Adam Keighran and Tom Davies sent to the sin-bin on either side of the break by official Liam Moore, with only one player having been shown a yellow card previously on the big stage - Tommy Makinson in 2021.

Winger Liam Marshall with the important – and only – try of the evening with a crowd of 58,137 as Harry Smith converted three from three.

Wigan also restricted Catalans to the lowest tally in a Grand Final, with Keighran’s kick their only points in Manchester.

Highly-rated forward Ethan Havard was named for his return for the first time since July, but the risk was too much in the end as the youngster limped from the field after just 10 minutes from the interchange bench in the first half.

The 80 minutes marked a last for rugby league icons Tomkins and Mitchell Pearce, alongside last games in cherry and white colours for pair Kai Pearce-Paul and Toby King.

Catalans showed early signs of danger after stand-off Tyrone May produced the first line-break, only for his kick for Tom Johnstone to go over the dead ball line.

Bevan French then denied England international winger Johnstone a crack at a potential 90-metre break, having caught a kick from Smith with open space in front of him, only to be knocked down by an ankle tap.

Incoming Wigan signing Keighran then etched his name into the history books with his sin-bin for a tip tackle on NRL-bound and Warriors back-rower Pearce-Paul on 19 minutes.

Captain Liam Farrell looked destined to score on the next play if not for a superb last-ditch tackle from Catalans’ pair Tom Davies and half-back Pearce.

After maintaining a 100% record in the 42-12 semi-final win over Hull KR, 23-year-old Smith broke the deadlock with his left boot on 24 minutes for a high tackle on Marshall from back-rower Manu Ma’u for a 2-0 lead.

That was the only damage done during Australian Keighran’s period on the sidelines, before returning forward Havard limped off after some heavy collision, limiting Wigan to three on the bench.

Kicker Keighran then levelled the scores against his future employers with a penalty for offside from the scrum for a 2-2 score at the break after a hard-fought battle in the first 40.

The Warriors started the second half brightly, with centre King and Wardle making breaks respectively - with former Wigan winger Davies sent to the sin-bin during the second occasion for holding back Marshall in support.

But the in-form winger got his chance to shine just moments later. The 27-year-old, who missed the 2018 and 2020 showdowns due to injury, crossed for his 24th try of the season after some great build-up play on the left edge by centre Wardle and back-rower Farrell.

The final points of the evening came from Smith, with Keighran giving away another penalty in a night to forget for a high shot on Tyler Dupree, with Wardle winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy.