While the game of round sixteen was undoubtedly the trip of the Leigh Leopards to the Catalans Dragons last night, the Sunday afternoon fixture between the Salford Red Devils and Wigan Warriors ran it a close second on paper as the sixth placed side looked to overtake their hosts while the home side had one eye on the second spot which a big win would deliver.
Wigan were the slight favourites with the bookies with the Red Devils having been given a four-point start on the coupon, the margin of Warriors victory when the two sides met at the DW Stadium in March. Both sides came into the game hungry for the points to assist in their quests for top six finishes.
The early exchanges were stalemate as the two sides tested each other out with neither side having a real chance to cross the whitewash. Ten minutes into the game the rain started to fall, changing the conditions for both sides.
Wigan forced the first goal-line drop out of the game on eighteen minutes, but Salford defended well, but on twenty-two minutes Joe Shorrocks was first to react to take a Harry Smith kick to the corner and drop to the ground to score. Smith hit the upright into the driving rain, the ball bouncing back into the field of play.
Salford levelled the scores on thirty-two, Ben Hellewell taking a short pass from Ryan Brierley to go over without a Wigan hand on him. Marc Sneyd added the conversion to put his side into the lead.
A moment of Jai Field genius provided Wigan with a crucial score just before the interval as he broke downfield and passed to Liam Farrell to score from ten metres out. Smith was unable to add the conversion, Wigan with an 8-6 half time lead.
A great try from Abbas Miski extended the Wigan lead on forty-seven when he wriggled free of his tacklers and got the ball to ground as Wigan executed a planned move from the back of the scrum. Smith added the conversion from wide, his most difficult opportunity of the afternoon, converted.
The game looked all over on fifty-eight as Liam Farrell got his second of the game after Joe Burgess gave away a penalty. Farrell took an inside pass from Jake Wardle to coast over and when Smith kicked the extras it was a fourteen-point lead with twenty minutes remaining.
Ken Sio went close on seventy-two but on the next tackle the ball was offloaded to no-one and collected by Liam Marshall who sprinted eighty metres to score the killer try under the sticks. Smith added the conversion for 26-6, the two points in the bag, Wigan up above the Red Devils in the table.
It was a record crowd at Salford at the AJ Bell but they went away disappointed that their side couldn´t overcome the Warriors and slipped below them to fifth in the table. Field and Smith bossed the game and after the Red Devils went behind, they never really looked like getting back in the game, especially once they lost Ryan Brierley with a head injury just before the interval. Wigan are still not firing on all cylinders for coach Peet but today they were heading in the right direction.
Salford Red Devils: Brierley, Sio, Cross, Lafai, Burgess, Atkin, Sneyd (G), Vuniyayawa, Bourouh, Sidlow, Watkins, Stone, Partington. Subs: Addy, Costello, Dupree, Hellewell (T). 18th Man: Ormondroyd.
Wigan Warriors: Field, Miski (T), King, Wardle, Marshall (T), French, Smith (3G), Havard, O’Neill, Byrne, Shorrocks (T), Farrell (2T), Smithies. Subs: Singleton, Hill, Mago, Cust. 18th Man: Nsemba.
Half-Time: 6-8.
Full-Time: 6-26.
Score Progression: 0-4, 4-4, 6-4, 6-8 : HT: 6-12, 6-14, 6-18, 6-20, 6-24, 6-26 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Wigan – Square – Salford - Wigan.
Referee: Aaron Moore.
