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 regional rivals 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 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 an ideal night with the boot - ensured 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 littered with dealing with mistakes and a lack of discipline.


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


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors not long after however the celebrations were cut brief as referee Liam Moore identified 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 ideal 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 excellent Warriors' 3rd shot.


Field turned from scorer to service provider moments later on, finding room in midfield before setting up Smith to dot down underneath 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 2nd period, Leigh's Matt Davis was forced off with a head injury having actually taken the complete force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors stretched their legs not long after when a beautiful line break from Patrick Mago permitted the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to finish another free-flowing relocation for his second of the night.


At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibition rugby league and a miss-out pass from French eliminated 3 Leigh protectors and discovered Eckersley who strolled in for Wigan's sixth 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 shot between the sticks before Keighran added the additionals again to seal a perfect night for Wigan.


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


'Important not to get carried away' - Peet


Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:


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


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


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


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


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


"We offered away a take on 6 penalty when the rating was 0-0 which definitely turned the game totally on its head.


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


"You just can't distribute those basic errors 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.