Wigan Warriors v Hull FC: A game which had it all!

Top-quality tries, late tackles, sin-binning and massive controversy. It definitely wasn’t a quiet night for referee James Child.

As two unbeaten sides in Wigan and Hull met at the DW Stadium last night something had to give. Adrian Lam’s side got off to the perfect start taking the lead through a bit of individual brilliance from the 2019 Man of Steel Jackson Hastings.

The half-back sold the dummy before diving over to open the scoring. Hull levelled the scores minutes later thanks to a diving finish from Adam Swift.

The meeting between the two sides was hyped up all week with two of England’s most talented full-backs in Zak Hardaker and Jake Connor facing off and face off they did.

A neat kick through on the last from Harry Smith was chased by Hardaker who was first to the ball and took a high shot from Connor.

After a pause in play, Hardaker and Connor exchanged heated words with the Warriors full-back pointing at the Hull man whilst being restrained by his teammate from approaching. Connor received 10 minutes in the sin bin for his part.

In the later stages of the first-half, the referee called both captains together to inform them he was putting a report in for “allegation of a racist remark”. Hull’s Andre Savelio was heard on TV naming Wigan’s Tony Clubb.

Post-match Savelio himself released a statement on Twitter which included the “alleged racist remark” against him. It will now be down to the RFL match review panel to look into the matter on Monday.

On the field, Brett Hodgson’s side returned fired up for the second-half as the game increased in intensity. Big tackles and high shots allowed Hull to ease downfield and they took full advantage, Mahe Fonua rose above Bevan French to claim the cross-field kick to put his side back in the lead after a late Liam Farrell try sent Wigan ahead at the break.

As they have done in games previously, back came the Warriors. They managed to absorb continued pressure on their own line before making a break themselves.

Willie Isa fed Jake Bibby on his outside who managed to step back inside the onrushing defence to touch down in the corner. A Hardaker penalty with 15 minutes remaining proved to be enough to give Wigan a 16-14 victory.

It is now five wins from five in the Betfred Super League for Adrian Lam’s side who sit top of the table with other sides yet to play. It wasn’t the perfect performance but the coach doesn’t mind ugly wins.

“It was an ugly win but I love ugly wins. There is a place time for them during the season and it’s exactly what we needed. I was proud of the boys for how courageous we were”.

The two sides will now face each other next week at Headingley Stadium in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup.

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