Betfred Super League Magic Weekend
Wigan (6) 16
Tries: Keighran, Field, Eckersley Goals: Keighran 2
St Helens (8) 14
Tries: Davies, Welsby Goals: Hastings 2, Sailor
Wigan Warriors emerged victorious in a chaotic, stormy and thrilling derby with St Helens as Super League’s Magic Weekend ended with a bang at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Saints held a narrow half-time lead after a penalty goal from Jackson Hastings was followed by an exchange of tries, with Adam Keighran going over for Wigan and Jake Davies responding for Paul Rowley’s team.
Wigan scored second-half tries through Jai Field and Zach Eckersley to take command, but Jack Welsby reduced the deficit late on.
And in extraordinary scenes as the hooter went, a tackle off the ball following a successful captain’s challenge presented Hastings with a chance to send the game to golden-point extra time, but he sliced his kick wide.
Wigan moved up to second, four points behind leaders Leeds, with Saints in sixth spot.
An epic contest, albeit one also riddled with handling errors, began with a bang when – just seconds after pyrotechnics had marked the kick-off – the two great rivals clashed in the first of several melees, this one prompted by a collision off the ball between St Helens’ David Klemmer and Wigan’s Brad O’Neill on the kick-chase.
Saints then spent the first 15 minutes camped in Wigan territory but a combination of poor decision-making and strong Warriors defending meant they had only a Hastings penalty to show for it.
And two more St Helens forays actually led to key turning points in Wigan’s favour. First, Jack Welsby tossed an in-goal ball into the crowd to delay the restart and was sin-binned, and then a misplaced pass led to a sweeping Wigan counter through a short-staffed Saints side, from which Keighran touched down, and also converted.
St Helens hit back almost immediately, however, with Hastings feeding a clever inside pass to Davies for his sixth try in 11 appearances this season. Tristan Sailor added the extra two to regain the lead for his side.
A literal blood-and-thunder battle would have, by the end of the match, a number of head injury assessments and players needing bandages and tusks up the nose as both sides had to make use of their entire benches.
But of more serious concern was the moment in the first half when Wigan rookie Nathan Lowe had to be stretchered off after falling awkwardly when group tackled on the touchline, with reports suggesting he had ruptured his hamstring.
Shortly afterwards, Saints’ Owen Dagnall was the recipient of huge double hit from a combination of Oliver Partington and Junior Nsemba, with referee Chris Kendall putting it on report. Nsemba, himself, later joined the ranks of those who went off injured.
The second half started with two more melees. After the first, busy referee Chris Kendall warned both captains that he would sin-bin future miscreants – and he was true to his word a few minutes later, when Brad O’Neill and, for a second time, Welsby were carded.
Amid the chaos, there was also time for some rugby to be played, and Wigan regained the lead with another dynamic break sparked by Keighran, with Eckersley feeding Field to score.
After having a try ruled out, Eckersley went over after good work out of a scrum, extending the Warriors’ lead to eight points, although it was not converted.
St Helens cut the gap to two points with Welsby awarded a try by the video referee, who overruled the on-field decision of a knock-on.
And more drama was to follow when, with Wigan celebrating victory, St Helens put in a successful captain’s challenge on Partington’s late tackle on Harry Robertson, only for Hastings to miss his kick from out wide.
