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9 March 2025, 15:11 GMT
Betfred Super League
Wigan (10) 44
Tries: Farrell (2), Eckersley, Marshall, French, Wardle, Field, Leeming Goals: Keighran (6)
Huddersfield (18) 18
Tries: Swift, Hewitt, Flanagan Goals: Sutcliffe (3)
Wigan Warriors shook off their Las Vegas jetlag to score six second-half tries and leave Huddersfield Giants still seeking their first Super League win of the season.
Huddersfield were the better team in the first half and led through scores from Adam Swift, Sam Hewitt and George Flanagan, with Liam Farrell and Zach Eckersley keeping the home side in touch at the Brick Community Stadium.
The Giants had led at the break in their three previous matches before losing, and this time they found Wigan in irresistible form in the second half after they had looked sluggish following their history-making jaunt to Nevada last week where they beat Warrington.
The fourth-placed Warriors moved back on to the shoulder of early leaders Hull KR as Farrell went over again, and Liam Marshall, Bevan French, Jake Wardle, Jai Field and Kruise Leeming all scored tries in a brilliant display by the reigning champions.
The opening 40 minutes had looked very different, as Huddersfield took the game to the Warriors, dominating midfield and looking like anything but a team that has lost its first three games.
They lost influential playmaker Tui Lolohea to illness before kick-off but that meant 20-year-old Flanagan forged a dynamic half-back partnership with Adam Clune, making his first appearance of the season after injury.
The excellent Clune sent Swift over for an acrobatic finish and, after Farrell and Eckersley had shown how clinical Wigan can be with two quick tries in reply, Hewitt edged the visitors back in front before Flanagan finished a brilliant move to give Huddersfield an eight-point lead at half-time.
The game turned from the restart as Wigan’s Tyler Dupree was pinged for a knock-on, Farrell made a successful captain’s challenge to the decision, and Wigan went up the other end to score through Farrell after Swift fumbled a high kick from Harry Smith.
The England scrum-half took control after that with a masterclass of kicking, passing, attacking breaks and sound defence.
Liam Marshall’s trademark athletic finish in the corner edged Wigan ahead, and then Smith’s stunning 40-20 kick set up another attack which ended with French pirouetting over the line despite the attentions of three tacklers.
Wigan were irresistible by this point and Harvie Hill and Leeming both had tries ruled out by video review as Giants struggled to cope with the whirlwind of attacking play coming at them.
Field stole some of Smith’s limelight by sending Jake Wardle over for a try against his old club, and then threw an outrageous dummy to race clear for his own fifth Super League try of the season.
French sent Leeming over for the final try to give a scoreline the Giants did not deserve for their first-half excellence, and one which sent out an ominous warning to Wigan’s title challengers.
‘Silly, selfish decisions’ – post-match reaction
Huddersfield coach Luke Robinson told BBC Radio Leeds:
“I need to go in the dressing room and ask some questions, and I need them to come up with some answers, because we are putting ourselves in a position to win games.
“Every single game we’ve played, we’ve been winning at half-time and looked really strong, and then we come out and make some really silly, selfish decisions.
“We ripped the ball, then another where we took somebody off the ball, and we don’t deal with kicks. The game was in our hands and it’s so frustrating.
“The game was ours to be won. The 40-20s killed us as well, when we looked like getting back into the game – it zaps your energy and takes away field position.
[On Clune’s performance]: “He’s our general in the middle and it’s been really frustrating not having him because he hasn’t trained with us since September. So to have him back for the last week and a half has made huge difference to the way we play.”
Wigan: Field, Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall, French, Smith, Byrne, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis.
Interchanges: Dupree, Hill. Walters, Forber.
Huddersfield: Gagai, McGowan, Bibby, Sutcliffe, Swift, Flanagan, Clune, Cudjoe, Murchie, Hewitt, Wilson, Golding, Rogers.
Interchanges: Deakin, Burgess, Rushton, Milne.
Referee: Liam Moore.
