Wigan Warriors return to winning ways with thumping victory in Battle of the Borough against Leigh Leopards

Matt Peet’s side ran in eight tries altogether – four in each half – for a comfortable victory in front of a sold-out Leigh Sports Village.

Rising Harvie Hill was promoted to a starting spot in the front-row in place of the suspended Liam Byrne, who this week was handed a four-match ban.

France international Tiaki Chan featured from the interchange bench for Tyler Dupree following his one-match suspension.

The Leopards themselves were without key players Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Tom Amone, Tom Briscoe and captain John Asiata due to injuries for the Round 7 fixture.

After early pressure from the Leopards, it was Wigan who opened the scoring with their first chance inside the opposition’s 20 after a mistake from full-back Gareth O’Brien followed by a penalty from Lachlan Lam for a tip tackle on Bevan French.

On his 34th consecutive appearance, having been given his shot in last year’s same fixture, Abbas Miski crossed on eight minutes with a slick finish in the corner, with Jai Field providing the cut-out assist.

Matt Moylan soon after became the 45th player of the season to be shown a card – a yellow – for head contact on full-back Field, who was slipping after returning a kick in the wet conditions.

The Warriors only managed one score during their man advantage, with veteran back-rower Willie Isa collecting a grubber kick from French to cross for his first try of the season for a 10-0 lead.

But more tries followed, first for French who celebrated his new four-year contract with a four-pointer before Harry Smith crossed for his own opening try of the campaign, supporting a break from interchange hooker Kruise Leeming.

Centre Ricky Leutele opened Leigh’s account just before the break, grounding a kick from ex-Warrior Josh Charnley for a 20-6 score at the break, with Moylan missing a penalty conversion attempt on the hooter.

The points continued into the second half, first with Field racing away 90 metres to score his first try of the campaign before centre Adam Keighran slid over to extend the lead to 30-6, while French was denied a second in between with a superb tackle from opposition hooker Brad Dwyer over his try-line.

It was a game of firsts and Junior Nsemba continued that trend, crossing for his debut Super League try as a huge gap presented itself close to the line.

Winger Charnley then scored against his former club before Liam Marshall rounded off the points scoring for a comfortable 40-12 victory that lifted Wigan back to the top of the Super League table.