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 tries to hammer regional 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 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 nine objectives from Keighran on a perfect night with the boot - guaranteed a third league win from three for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to show up throughout a very one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a frustrating night for the visitors littered with handling errors and an absence 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 tackle after Leigh's Lachlan Lam conceded a set of six in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors right after however the celebrations were interrupted as referee Liam Moore identified a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a flowing group relocation.


French then discovered a small gap 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 revealed a dummy before darting over for the remarkable Warriors' third shot.


Field turned from scorer to supplier minutes later on, discovering space in midfield before establishing Smith to dot down below the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a fourth successful kick, the video game was successfully 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 blast 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 discovered Field to end up 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 eliminated three Leigh protectors and discovered Eckersley who walked 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 fantastic 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 the bonus once again to seal an ideal night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt an additional blow with just a minute remaining 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 tough to understand what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing a couple of [players] recently, Leigh were missing a few [players], so it is essential we do not get carried away at this stage of the season.


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


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


'As bad as we have actually 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 opponents.


"We distributed a tackle 6 penalty when the rating was 0-0 which definitely turned the video game completely on its head.


"You have actually got to come here and win ownership and refrain from doing those things [errors] so it put us under pressure and it simply escalated from there.


"You simply can't distribute those easy mistakes 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.