Liam Marshall scored yet another hat-trick as Wigan regained Super League top spot with a ruthless destruction of humiliated Huddersfield.
Bevan French (2), Abbas Miski and Kruise Leeming all also crossed for Matt Peet’s silky side. It was perfect preparation for next Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull KR - even if they had Liam Byrne sin-binned after just TEN seconds. Huddersfield were in the contest trailing just 12-6 at the break.
But they capitulated miserably, shipping 36 unanswered second points, and have still yet to win a home league game this season. On the back of a third straight defeat, they’re in dire straits ahead of their own Cup semi against Warrington next Sunday. Marshall also scored a treble in the win against them in March, as well as four in the Cup success against Castleford, and the winger now has 18 tries for the campaign.
Peet said: “I was pleased with that. It was a war of attrition first half but the second half was a job well-done. It was only two weeks ago we got a smack so I’m happy.”
Ireland prop Byrne was yellow carded for clobbering Matty English high from the kick-off. It brought back memories of Adrian Morley’s infamous red card just 12 seconds into Great Britain’s first Test against Australia in 2003. Byrne only saw yellow but he only came back from a four-game ban in the previous week’s win over Catalans. He will be sweating now about what the match review panel decides on Monday with any suspension ruling him out of their bid for Wembley.
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But Peet said: “I’m confident he will [be OK]. If he misses out for today, I don’t think he will be the only one. Because there were similar contacts [unpunished]. It's a strange situation. I’m not saying it was the wrong decision. But I can’t see consistency from one high tackle to the next.”
Wigan's Bevan French fends off Leroy Cudjoe for his first try (PA)While Huddersfield wilted in the searing heat, wonderful Wigan were left having fun in the sun. Man of Steel French was able to do what he wanted, picking their hapless opponents apart. As well as his two solo tries, the pacey stand-off produced an exquisite flick pass for Leeming’s score.
Esan Marsters resulted in needlessly tripping the Aussie ace after his latest run in the 72nd minute. He was sin-binned and Miski ran in two tries to round off a woeful afternoon for Ian Watson’s side. Centre Marsters, one of Super League’s top performers this year, will be furious with himself if he ends up getting banned for their crucial last-four clash.
But Wigan didn’t mind being down to 12 men surging into an 8-0 lead in Byrne's absence. Marshall sprinted 95m for a third minute try after Sam Halsall claimed Tui Lolohea’s crossfield kick but only offloaded to the lightening-quick wideman. Harry Smith slotted the first of his seven conversions and added a penalty soon after.
Wigan Warriors' Kruise Leeming burst through his former club (PA)The hosts responded when Elliot Wallis scored a fine long-distance solo try of his own, Jake Connor improving. But Leroy Cudjoe was easily swatted aside by French as he sprinted in from 20m for another soft try on 19 minutes. And his side never looked back.
Watson admitted: “The first half there was nothing in it. But that second half. Wow. I didn’t see that one coming. We just capitulated. You can talk about individual brilliance with Jai [Field] and Bevan [French].
"But we just made errors and didn’t have resilience to defend our tryline. It makes you rethink everything and want to go back to the drawing board and think about whether you're picking the right team or not.
"We've had three losses on the bounce going into a semi-final. A lot of it is due to our own downfall. It's a massive wake-up call."
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