Field and Miski give Wigan derby win over Saints

Betfred Super League

Wigan (12) 24

Field 2 Miski 2 Goals Smith 4

St. Helens (2) 14

Despite a strong St. Helens comeback in the second half, Jai Field and Abbas Miski each scored two tries to win the Wigan Warriors’ Good Friday game.

The reigning champions took an 18-2 lead early in the second half thanks to Field, the Super League’s top try scorer, who scored either side of a Miski score.

Both teams made errors in a tense encounter, but Lewis Murphy’s brilliant finish in the corner and Agnatius Paasi’s outstanding try brought them back within four points.

The reigning champions have now won three straight games to move two points clear of the Robins, and they made a strong statement by outperforming their former foes from Billinge Hill when they faced their old foes from the other side of Billinge Hill.

The two teams traded penalties in a tense opening fought at the Brick Community Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 25, 000 spectators. Video referee Liam Rush scored a try after noticing that Tyler Dupree had blocked George Delaney’s attempted tackle.

Field nailed a try that did, timing his run so perfectly that Bevan French’s exquisite lobbed kick and score were perfect.

When the powerful Harry Smith unleashed a warning kick, Wigan flipped the screw, and Miski had a telling edge that went backwards and extended their lead.

By attempting a silly offload deep within his own territory, Paasi gave Wigan what appeared to be the winning try. Smith sent Field racing through for his second try because The Warriors were brutal.

Saints appeared finished, but they rallied well to put on a grand ending with Joe Batchelor limping off with an apparent hamstring injury and Jon Bennison needing a head injury assessment.

When one from Liam Byrne gave them a chance, Murphy made an uncharacteristic error that he made when he made a spectacular leap in the corner.

When Jake Wardle also spilled the ball in front of his own posts, Paasi made up for his earlier error by powering over despite being decorated by three tacklers. Saints went surge forwards.

Matty Peet, the head coach for Wigan, told BBC Radio Manchester:

When you consider the time when we had to ride out the pressure, it’s great learning for us. The lads resisted the fact that the stadium was up, and eventually it swung back our way thanks to their selfless deeds.

You look back on it as two points at the end of the season, but we are aware that it is inspirational for our supporters, for the people of these two towns, on Easter weekend, and that it means a lot to the players.

Paul Wellens, the coach of St. Helens, told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“The way we started the game for the first 40 minutes is a little frustrating,” I said. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure by making fundamental unforced errors, and if you do it against a Wigan team with players like Bevan French and Jai Field who can cause you harm, you put yourself under unnecessary stress.

The team’s perseverance kept the task at hand, and I was very proud of that. Although it’s difficult to get 18-2 down at Wigan, we went to the game at that point, and I left feeling confident that we had a chance in the end, which it wasn’t.

It boils down to individual lapses in concentration, and they handled the wet conditions better than we did.

O’Neill, Forber, Dupree, and Hill are the exchanges.

St. Helens: Sailor, Bennison, Whitley, Percival, Murphy, Welsby, Whitby, Walmsley, Mbye, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Knowles,

Clark, Paasi, Delaney, and Sambou exchange