Wigan Warriors show second-half class to sink troubled Warrington Wolves

Wigan Warriors came from behind to continue their unbeaten home run in 2022 with a twelfth straight home win at the D.W. Stadium thanks to a second-half hat-trick from Liam Marshall who’s now scored three tries in back-to-back matches.

Tries from Jake Bibby, Sam Halsall and Jai Field also made up the scoring for Wigan who despite being the second-best side in the first forty minutes, showed their class in the second period to beat an inconsistent Warrington side who have still only won twice on the road this campaign.

It was a cagey start from both sides as neither team really showed any consistent quality throughout the first period.

But Wire did eventually get the breakthrough after Ben Currie got the ball down and was awarded the try by the video ref after an agonisingly long wait for a decision.

Warrington continued with the pressure as the Warriors failed to provide any sort of worries for Daryl Powell’s men, Matty Ashton having a couple of opportunities to extend the visitors’ lead.

Ashton’s first chance was from a high kick which he mis-controlled and inadvertently knocked on before he won a race with Bevan French to a loose ball but misjudged the ball of the bounce as he chased clean through but again knocked-on.

Former Wigan man George Williams almost created a second try for his Warrington side as he broke the line but his pass was just out of reach of his on-rushing teammate.

But with a minute of the half to go, Wigan finally had an opportunity. Jai Field broke the line brilliantly before the ball found its way out to Liam Marshall on the left.

To the home fans vocal frustrations, he came back inside which looked to kill the move but as the Warriors shifted the ball from left to right, French found Sam Halsall on his outside who piled over in the corner.

With the late try, Wigan had put themselves back into the contest, one in which it felt they had hardly started before the final minute of the half, with an interval score-line of 4-6 to the visitors who had won two away games all season.

The second half started with a much better intensity from the Warriors and four minutes into the second period, they made Wire pay.

After a knock-on from the visitors, the home side applied the pressure and after a quite brilliant offload from Kai Pearce-Paul, he found Field who had the easiest of tasks to set up Jake Bibby who put the Warriors ahead.

And it was Wigan who managed to extend their lead again ten minutes later after a frantic spell of action. Matty Ashton looked to be away for Wire after a smart interception, but he was caught by Field who dragged him down from behind.

Moments later, Marshall stole possession back before ending up back over on the left-hand side later in the set to finish off the move and extend the Warriors lead to 16-6 after Smith’s second conversion of the evening.

As Warrington attempted to apply pressure on Matt Peet’s side, it was the Warriors who remained in control of the contest and had a fourth try of the game with just over ten minutes to go.

A high kick from Harry Smith was unbelievably caught by French who quickly shifted the ball left to Marshall who went over for his second try of the game.

And just seconds later, Marshall had his third of the evening and completed his second-half hat-trick as he got on the end of yet another successful Harry Smith kick to cross in the far corner.

There was time for one more try as Field got in on the act and extend the Warriors lead with a minute to go as it finished 32-6.

With Harry Smith showing some excellent kicking throughout the second-half, he was awarded Man of the Match but there was certainly some unsung heroes for Matty Peet on Friday evening with Morgan Smithies and Sam Halsall both having excellent contributions throughout the 80 minutes, particularly when Wigan were up against it.

Wigan now face a trip to the Wakefield whilst Warrington need points as quickly as possible before they end up dangerously involved in a realistic relegation battle. Powell’s men face a four pointer at the Halliwell Jones against Toulouse which is a critical clash in the Betfred Super League.

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