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 9 attempts to hammer regional 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 second match in a row.


Further tries from Field and Smith plus one each from Zach Eckersley, Junior Nsemba and Tom Forber after the break - in addition to 9 goals from Keighran on a perfect night with the boot - made sure a 3rd league win from three for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to reveal up during a really one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a disappointing night for the visitors littered with handling errors and a lack of discipline.


Wigan went on after 10 minutes - French fired in a short pass for Keighran to cross over from close range on the last deal with 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 but the celebrations were cut brief as referee Liam Moore found a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a streaming team relocation.


French then discovered a small space in the Leigh backline on the best edge to roll challenges 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 showed a dummy before darting over for the remarkable Warriors' 3rd shot.


Field turned from scorer to company minutes later on, discovering space in midfield before establishing Smith to dot down beneath the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a 4th effective kick, the video game was efficiently 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 taken the full force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors extended their legs not long after when a stunning line break from Patrick Mago enabled the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly found Field to end up another free-flowing relocation for his second of the night.


At this phase, Wigan were playing exhibition rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out three Leigh protectors and found Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan's 6th shot.


Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on completion of a 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 between the sticks before Keighran included the additionals again to seal an ideal night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a more blow with just a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson had actually to be assisted 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 hard to know what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing a couple of [gamers] last week, Leigh were missing a couple of [players], so it is essential we do not get brought away at this phase of the season.


"The kids have got themselves in impressive physical shape, credit to our performance staff - we were ready for this season physically.


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


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


"Obviously terrible. That is probably as bad as we've played in my time here and I believe we were our own worst opponents.


"We handed out a deal with six charge when ball game was 0-0 which definitely turned the game entirely 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 give away those simple mistakes and penalties early on. We got battered a 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.