Nine-try Wigan Hammer Leigh To Keep Up 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 9 tries to hammer local competitors Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their excellent 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 goals from Keighran on a best night with the boot - ensured a third league win from three for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to show up throughout an extremely one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a frustrating night for the visitors littered with handling errors and a lack of discipline.


Wigan went on after 10 minutes - French fired in a brief pass for Keighran to cross over from close range 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 quickly after however the events were cut short as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a flowing team relocation.


French then discovered a little space in the Leigh backline on the right edge to roll challenges from Lam and Tesi Niu to grab Wigan's second 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 showed a dummy before darting over for the outstanding Warriors' 3rd shot.


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


Moments into the second period, Leigh's Matt Davis was forced off with a head injury having taken the full force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors stretched their legs not long after when a gorgeous line break from Patrick Mago enabled 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 exhibit rugby league and a miss-out pass from French eliminated three Leigh defenders and discovered Eckersley who walked 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 found the supporting Smith to dive over next to the sticks.


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


Leigh were dealt a further blow with just a minute as full-back Bailey Hodgson had actually to be helped off the field with a major looking knee injury.


'Important not to get carried away' - Peet


Wigan head coach Matt Peet informed BBC Radio Manchester:


"It's difficult to understand what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing out on a couple of [players] recently, Leigh were missing a couple of [players], so it is necessary we don't get carried away at this stage of the season.


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


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


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


"Obviously horrible. That is most likely as bad as we have actually played in my time here and I think we were our own worst enemies.


"We offered away a deal with 6 penalty when the rating was 0-0 and that definitely turned the video game totally 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 simply escalated from there.


"You just can't hand out those easy mistakes and charges 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.