Nine-try Wigan Hammer Leigh To Keep Up Strong Start

26 February 2026


243 Comments


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 rivals Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their impressive 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 - along with 9 goals from Keighran on a best 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 frustrating night for the visitors cluttered with dealing with errors and a lack of discipline.


Wigan proceeded after 10 minutes - French fired in a brief pass for Keighran to cross over from close range on the last deal with after Leigh's Lachlan Lam yielded a set of 6 in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors quickly after but the events were interrupted as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a flowing group move.


French then found a little space in the Leigh backline on the right edge to roll difficulties from Lam and Tesi Niu to get 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 remarkable Warriors' 3rd shot.


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


Moments into the 2nd period, Leigh's Matt Davis was required off with a head injury having taken the full force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors stretched their legs soon after when a lovely line break from Patrick Mago enabled the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to complete another free-flowing move for his second of the night.


At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibit rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out three Leigh protectors and found Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan's sixth try.


Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on the end of a delicate grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a terrific break and found the supporting Smith to dive over beside the sticks.


Hooker Forber got 50-up for Warriors, barging over for his side's ninth try in between the sticks before Keighran included the bonus again to seal an for Wigan.


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


'Important not to get brought away' - Peet


Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:


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


"The young boys have got themselves in impressive physical shape, credit to our efficiency personnel - we were all set for this season physically.


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


'As bad as we have actually 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 opponents.


"We gave away a take on 6 penalty when the score was 0-0 and that certainly turned the game totally on its head.


"You have actually got to come here and win ownership and not do those things [mistakes] so it put us under pressure and it simply intensified from there.


"You simply can't distribute those easy errors and charges early on. We got beaten up 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.