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 nine tries to hammer local competitors Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their remarkable 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 - along with nine objectives from Keighran on a best night with the boot - guaranteed a third league win from 3 for Warriors.


Leigh failed to appear during an extremely one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a disappointing night for the visitors cluttered with dealing with 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 deal with after Leigh's Lachlan Lam yielded a set of six in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors not long after however the events were interrupted as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the build-up of a flowing team relocation.


French then found a small 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 revealed a dummy before darting over for the outstanding Warriors' third shot.


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


Moments into the 2nd duration, 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 right after when a gorgeous line break from Patrick Mago allowed the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly found Field to end up another free-flowing move for his second of the night.


At this stage, Wigan were playing exhibition rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out three Leigh defenders 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 delicate grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a terrific break and discovered 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 extras again to seal a best night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a further blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson had actually to be helped off the field with a serious 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] last week, Leigh were missing out on a few [gamers], so it is very important we don't get carried away at this phase of the season.


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


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


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


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


"We provided away a take on 6 charge when the rating was 0-0 and that definitely turned the video game entirely on its head.


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


"You simply can't distribute those basic errors and penalties 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.