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 local competitors Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their outstanding 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 2nd 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 objectives from Keighran on a best night with the boot - made sure a 3rd league win from 3 for Warriors.


Leigh failed to reveal up throughout an extremely one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a frustrating night for the visitors cluttered with managing errors and a lack of discipline.


Wigan proceeded after 10 minutes - French fired in a short pass for Keighran to cross over from close variety on the last take on after Leigh's Lachlan Lam conceded a set of six in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors not long after however the events were interrupted as referee Liam Moore identified a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a streaming group .


French then discovered a small space in the Leigh backline on the ideal edge to roll difficulties from Lam and Tesi Niu to grab Wigan's 2nd 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 remarkable Warriors' 3rd try.


Field turned from scorer to service provider moments later on, finding space in midfield before setting up Smith to dot down underneath the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a fourth successful kick, the game was successfully over as a contest by the half-hour mark.


Moments into the 2nd period, Leigh's Matt Davis was forced 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 allowed the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to complete another free-flowing relocation for his second of the night.


At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibition rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out 3 Leigh defenders and found Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan's 6th try.


Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on the end of a fragile grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a wonderful break and discovered the supporting Smith to dive over next to the sticks.


Hooker Forber got 50-up for Warriors, barging over for his side's ninth shot in between the sticks before Keighran added the bonus once more to seal a perfect night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a further blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson needed to be assisted off the field with a serious looking knee injury.


'Important not to get brought away' - Peet


Wigan head coach Matt Peet informed BBC Radio Manchester:


"It's tough to know what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing out on a few [gamers] last week, Leigh were missing out on a few [players], so it's important we do not get brought away at this phase of the season.


"The young boys have actually got themselves in impressive physical shape, credit to our performance staff - we were prepared for this season physically.


"We've got capability - the video game has accelerated up a bit so we can reveal it."


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


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


"We provided away a deal with six penalty when ball game was 0-0 and that certainly turned the video game completely on its head.


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


"You just can't give away those simple mistakes and penalties early on. We got beaten up a little 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.