| Wigan (12) 34 |
| Tries: Field 3, Powell 2, Farrell goals: Hardaker 3, Field 2 |
| London (6) 12 |
| Tries: Austin, Prior goals: sezer 2 |
Wigan full-back Jai Field had a night to remember at the DW Stadium as he ran in a superb hat-trick to beat Leeds.
From Blake Austin’s early converted try Field turned it round almost single-handed by the break with a stunning try-saving tackle on Liam Tindall, followed by two tries of his own.
From 12-6 up at the break, Sam Powell touched down twice either side of Field running 90 meters for his third.
Matt Prior’s try gave Leeds hope on the hour but Liam Farrell closed it out.
His converted try was a third success out of four for Leeds old boy Zak Hardaker, who took over kicking duties after Field had improved both his own first two tries.
Aidan Sezer landed two goals for Leeds, but it was his fellow Australian Field who stole the show as new boss Matt Peet made it two wins out of two for Wigan – and two defeats out of two for Richard Agar’s Rhinos.
Running in six tries and at one point scoring 28 unanswered points was a great response from Wigan, who failed to score a single point in their previous two meetings with Leeds, both on home soil.
their 14-0 loss in August was the first time they had failed to register a single point in a home game in Super League history – and that was then followed by a repeat when they lost 8-0 in the play-off eliminator defeat that ended their season in September.
field of dreams
Field’s arrival in England from Parramatta Eels a year ago quickly turned into a nightmare when he sustained a bad hamstring injury just 19 minutes into his debutwhich pretty much wrecked his season.
But Field has more than made up for it this season with a dream start to the new campaign.
Deputizing at full-back for Bevan French, he scored one of Wigan’s five tries in last Friday’s opening-weekend win at Hull KR – and he simply carried on where he left off at Craven Park.
Wigan had not even threatened and were trailing 6-0 when he produced his key contribution of the night.
After young Leeds flier Tindall raced round Liam Marshall close to his own line, he pinned his ears back and set off for the Wigan line, only to be halted by the covering Field, who picked his moment and timed his tackle perfectly as he pounced on Tindall and took him into touch.
He was congratulated by his team-mates like he had scored a try – but that acclaim was quickly repeated when Wigan got away with a lucky deflection from a misplaced pass, as Field ghosted in through a sleeping Rhinos defence.
Having been wrongfooted by that, Leeds were then lead-footed when Field powered through a gap for his second – but his hat-trick try was a stunner as he went from close to his own line in the manner of any of the Wigan long- range try-scoring greats of the past – Billy Boston, Joe Lydon, Martin Offiah, Jason Robinson – take your pick.
who’s next?
Wigan are next in action when they host Huddersfield on Thursday, when Leeds, who made six changes from last weekend’s mentally and physically bruising opener against Warringtonare also in action at home to Catalans Dragons.
Wigan coach Matt Peet:
“It was pleasing to get the win against a strong Leeds side. The performance was a positive one. We showed improvements from last week. We had to do it tough defensively at times.
“There is still loads of improvement in us. We would have taken a one-point win at the start of the evening. It was nice to post some points.
“I am not getting carried away. I know there are tough times ahead. I am well aware that it’s not going to be plain sailing. I or the group will not be getting ahead of ourselves. We will just continue to work hard during the pleasant evenings like tonight and the tough ones.
Leeds manager Richard Agar:
“I thought after 25 minutes we were going to have a real contest. We started pretty well. We looked quite threatening with the ball. We weren’t too bad.
“Then when Matt Prior and Kane Tetevano ended their first spell, we lost the tightness in the middle.
“I felt when we came out of the changing room at half time, I didn’t really feel much reaction from them to say it was a 12-6 ballgame. We had some really, really poor individual performances.”
Wigan: field; Hardaker, Pearce-Paul, Bibby, Marshall; Cust, Leuluai; Singleton, Powell, Ellis, Farrell, Bateman, Isa.
Exchanges: Wizard, Smithies, Byrne, Partington.
Leeds: Walker; Handley, Sutcliffe, Briscoe, Tindall; Seezer, Austin; Tetevano, Leeming, Prior, Mellor, Gannon, Smith.
Exchanges: Oledzki, Thompson, Donaldson, Johnson.
Referee: Liam Moore.
Reference-www.bbc.co.uk