Nine-try Wigan Hammer Leigh To Maintain Strong Start

26 February 2026


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Wigan (24) 54


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


Leigh (0) 0


Wigan Warriors ran in nine tries to hammer regional competitors Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their excellent 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 shots from Field and Smith plus one each from Zach Eckersley, Junior Nsemba and Tom Forber after the break - as well as 9 goals from Keighran on a perfect night with the boot - guaranteed a 3rd league win from 3 for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to appear throughout an extremely one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a disappointing night for the visitors cluttered with dealing with mistakes and a lack of discipline.


Wigan went ahead after 10 minutes - French fired in a brief pass for Keighran to cross over from close quarters on the last deal with after Leigh's Lachlan Lam yielded a set of 6 in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors not long after however the celebrations were cut brief as referee Liam Moore found a from French in the build-up of a flowing team move.


French then discovered a small gap in the Leigh backline on the ideal edge to roll difficulties 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 revealed a dummy before darting over for the impressive Warriors' third try.


Field turned from scorer to company moments later on, finding room in midfield before setting up Smith to dot down beneath the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a fourth effective kick, the video game was efficiently over as a contest by the half-hour mark.


Moments into the second period, Leigh's Matt Davis was required off with a head injury having actually taken the full blast of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors extended their legs right after when a stunning line break from Patrick Mago permitted the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to finish another free-flowing move for his second of the night.


At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibit rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out three Leigh protectors and found Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan's 6th try.


Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on completion of a delicate grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a fantastic 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 included the bonus once more to seal a perfect night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a more blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson had actually to be assisted off the field with a severe looking knee injury.


'Important not to get carried away' - Peet


Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:


"It's difficult to understand what level the other teams are at. Hull were missing out on a couple of [gamers] recently, Leigh were missing out on a couple of [gamers], so it is very important we don't get carried away at this phase of the season.


"The boys have got themselves in impressive physical shape, credit to our efficiency staff - we were ready for this season physically.


"We have actually got capability - the game has quickened up a bit so we can reveal it."


'As bad as we've played in my time here' - Lam


"Obviously dreadful. That is most likely as bad as we've played in my time here and I think we were our own worst opponents.


"We distributed a deal with 6 charge when ball game was 0-0 which definitely turned the video game totally on its head.


"You've got to come here and win belongings and refrain from doing those things [mistakes] so it put us under pressure and it just intensified from there.


"You just can't hand out those basic mistakes and charges early on. We got battered a bit - no doubt about it."


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.