Wakefield pull off shock win against in-form Wigan

Betfred Super League

Wakefield Trinity (10) 16

Goals: Jowitt 2

Wigan Warriors (0) 10

At Belle Vue, the Wigan Warriors were deposed by an impressive Wakefield Trinity, which put them one step ahead of Super League leaders Hull KR.

Caius Faatili and Josh Griffin scored tries to give Trinity a 10-point lead at half-time after a brief period of pressure.

The sluggish Warriors struggled to find their rhythm, so Trinity stayed ahead with another score from Tom Johnstone despite Adam Keighran’s four-point lead at the start of the second half.

Through Jai Field, Wigan eventually rallied for a late try, but it was insufficient to prevent a third defeat of the campaign.

The outcome put an end to Wigan’s nine-match winning run and put Daryl Powell’s side in the lead.

The champions immediately put pressure on Trinity, who had come into the game after several defeats, and they spent the majority of the first 15 minutes writing their way back near their goal line.

With Mason Lino’s skillful kicking helping to elicit a number of defensive errors from the Warriors, Johnstone was denied at the last by Liam Farrell, who had already contributed to that score, which gave the Wakefield ranks more confidence.

Prior to the interval, Lino’s kick split the Wigan line, and Griffin eagerly seized the chance, with Max Jowitt adding the extras to make it 10-0.

Before Bevan French set up Keighran to gallop through to the right and dive across, Wigan immediately responded with a successful conversion and won two early penalties before Wigan won the victory.

However, Nsemba made a mistake shortly after, and Jake Trueman’s looping pass to winger Johnstone gave Trinity another set of tackles, giving him the 10-point lead.

After Wigan were fined for obstruction, Jowitt missed a routine conversion earlier in the match and was hit again with a penalty kick.

The Warriors, who had won at Huddersfield last weekend and overturned a half-time deficit to win, were unable to influence the outcome because of how they found themselves in a recovery position.

Scott, Hood, Vagana, and Croft are the exchanges.

Field, Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Wardle, Marshall, Marshall, French, Smith, Byrne, O’Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, and Ellis are the Wigan Warriors.

Havard, Mago, Leeming, and Dupree are the exchanges.