In beating Hull KR a couple of weeks ago, Wigan knew that the league leader’s trophy was theirs to lose and that they were masters of their own destinies, but tonight was the day that they would be crowned as their opponents, the Salford Red Devils, had raised the white flag.
Salford have already cemented their place in the play-off’s and the only issue to settle is whether they will be at home, or away, to St Helens in the opening week so Paul Rowley elected to make wholesale changes to his seventeen to rest his key squad members ahead of that clash next weekend.
Salford were such outsiders for the win, with no less than eight debutants named, that they were given a forty-point start on the coupon as the Wigan fans licked their lips at the likelihood of a cricket score for their boys with a trophy lifting at the end of it.
The Salford youngsters held Wigan out for five minutes before the prolific Liam Marshall found an acre of space wide left to take a pass and scamper in on the overlap. Adam Keighran added the touchline conversion, the landslide had started.
There was just four minutes between the opening two tries, this time Jai Field taking the pass and walking through an enormous gap in the defence to dive over in the right corner. Keighran hit the target from the other touchline for 12-0. It was already looking like a matter of how many points Wigan would score.
Wigan were scoring for fun on seventeen when Zach Eckersley took the pass, went down the wing and passed inside to the supporting Bevan French to dot down under the stick to give Keighran a simple conversion for 18-0.
On twenty-one Eckersley was the fourth Cherry and White over the line as he took a looping pass from Harry Smith to sprint five metres and slide over the line to score in the corner. Keighran missed his first conversion of the night.
A long-range Jake Wardle try on twenty-seven, picking a poor Salford pass on his own forty and sprinting downfield to score by the right upright and allow Keighran to bag another conversion for a 28-0 lead.
Salford managed to maintain their line for the remaining thirteen minutes of the half, Wigan going into the sheds with a healthy lead.
Just over a minute after the restart Field found himself another massive gap to run the angle and dive over from fifteen metres out. Keighran added the extras for 34-0, Matt Peet’s words still ringing in the Wigan players ears.
Another long range Wigan try, this one a second of the game from Marshall, took Wigan to a 38-0 lead as he sprinted for ninety metres after picking up a wayward Salford pass. Keighran added the conversion for 40-0.
Two tries in a minute, Kruise Leeming being on hand to take the pass form Keighran who had collected an Eckersley kick over the top and walk in for the simplest of tries. Keighran found the target again, just one miss so far.
Leeming got his second of the half on sixty-eight to bring up the fifty for the Warriors as he took a French pass after the Wigan half back had taken two tacklers out of the game to create the gap. Keighran banged over his eighth goal of the night for 52-0.
Field got his hat-trick on seventy-one, a try made by an excellent run down the centre of the field by Junior Nsemba. Keighran made it nine from ten attempts on the night.
Ninety seconds from time Wigan rounded off the scoring, French taking a pass on the halfway line and sprinting down the right wing to dot down in the corner. Keighran added another conversion for a personal haul of twenty points in a comprehensive 64-0 victory.
It should have been a bigger score in Wigan’s favour, they bombed several chances throughout the eighty minutes which gave the scoreline some respectability for the young Salford side.
After Rowley named his squad for tonight’s game, we didn’t really need to witness eighty minutes of men against boys to know that Wigan would be presented with the League Leaders Trophy at the end of the game. While there is no doubt that the Salford side gave their all, they were never going to be a match for the defending champions, and it was always just a matter of how many points they would concede. It’s back-to-back league leaders’ trophies for the Warriors and who would argue against the picking up the trophy at Old Trafford in three weeks’ time.
Wigan Warriors: Field (3T), Eckersley (T), Keighran (10/11 G), Wardle (T), Marshall (2T), French (2T), Smith, Havard, Leeming (2T), Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis. Subs: Byrne, Mago, Dupree, Forber. 18th Man: Walters.
Salford Red Devils: Atkin, Fitzgerald, Glover B, Wagstaff, Connell, Cust, Morgan, Ormondroyd, Bourouh, Sidlow, Hellewell, McCurrie, Wilson. Subs: Pye, Glover C, Barydel-Wells, Gatcliffe. 18th Man: Bullock.
Half-Time: 28-0.
Full-Time: 64-0.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 18-0, 22-0, 26-0, 28-0 : HT: 32-0, 34-0, 38-0, 40-0, 44-0, 46-0, 50-0, 52-0, 56-0, 58-0, 62-0, 64-0 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Wigan.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
