Nine-try Wigan hammer Leigh to keep up strong start

Betfred Super League

Wigan (24) 54

Tries: Keighran, French, Field 2, Smith 2, Eckersley, Nsemba, Forber Goals: Keighran 9

Wigan Warriors ran in nine tries to hammer local rivals Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their impressive start to the 2026 Super League season.

Tries from Adam Keighran, Bevan French, Jai Field and Harry Smith put Wigan into a dominant 24-point lead at half-time for the second match in a row.

Further tries from Field and Smith plus one each from Zach Eckersley, Junior Nsemba and Tom Forber after the break – as well as nine goals from Keighran on a perfect night with the boot – ensured a third league win from three for Warriors.

Wigan went ahead after 10 minutes – French fired in a short pass for Keighran to cross over from close range on the last tackle after Leigh’s Lachlan Lam conceded a set of six in his own half for a late shot.

Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors soon after but the celebrations were cut short as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the build-up of a flowing team move.

French then found a small gap in the Leigh backline on the right edge to roll challenges from Lam and Tesi Niu to grab Wigan’s second in a dominant opening 20 minutes from the hosts.

A well-measured kick from Smith was batted back one-handed by Nsemba to full-back Field who showed a dummy before darting over for the impressive Warriors’ third try.

Moments into the second period, Leigh’s Matt Davis was forced off with a head injury having taken the full force of a kick to the corner by Smith.

And Warriors stretched their legs soon after when a beautiful line break from Patrick Mago allowed the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly found Field to finish another free-flowing move for his second of the night.

At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibition rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out three Leigh defenders and found Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan’s sixth try.

Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on the end of a delicate grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a wonderful break and found the supporting Smith to dive over next to the sticks.

Hooker Forber got 50-up for Warriors, barging over for his side’s ninth try between the sticks before Keighran added the extras once more to seal a perfect night for Wigan.

Wigan boss Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:

“It’s hard to know what level the other teams are at. Hull were missing a few [players] last week, Leigh were missing a few [players], so it’s important we don’t get carried away at this stage of the season.

“The boys have got themselves in outstanding physical shape, credit to our performance staff – we were ready for this season physically.

Leigh boss Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:

“Obviously terrible. That is probably as bad as we’ve played in my time here and I think we were our own worst enemies.

“We gave away a tackle six penalty when the score was 0-0 and that certainly turned the game completely on its head.

“You’ve got to come here and win possession and not do those things [mistakes] so it put us under pressure and it just escalated from there.

Wigan: Field; Eckersley, Keighran, Farrell, Marshall; French, Smith; Havard, O’Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Walters, Ellis.

Replacements: Mago, Partington, Eseh, Forber.

Leigh: Hodgson; Senior, Niu, Brand, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Ofahengaue, Horne, Mulhern, Halton, Trout, Liu.

Replacements: Hughes, Davis, Alick-Wiencke, O’Brien.