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 local competitors Leigh Leopards 54-0 and continue their outstanding 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 objectives from Keighran on a best night with the boot - made sure a third league win from three for Warriors.
Leigh stopped working to appear throughout a really one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a disappointing night for the visitors littered with handling errors and an absence of discipline.
Wigan went on after 10 minutes - French fired in a brief pass for Keighran to cross over from close variety on the last take on after Leigh's Lachlan Lam conceded a set of 6 in his own half for a late shot.
Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors quickly after however the events were cut short as referee Liam Moore found a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a streaming team move.
French then found a little space in the 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 excellent Warriors' 3rd shot.
Field turned from scorer to service provider minutes later on, finding room in midfield before establishing Smith to dot down below the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a 4th successful kick, the video game was successfully over as a contest by the half-hour mark.
Moments into the 2nd duration, Leigh's Matt Davis was required off with a head injury having actually taken the complete force of a kick to the corner by Smith.
And Warriors extended their legs soon after when a beautiful line break from Patrick Mago enabled the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly found 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 defenders and found Eckersley who walked in for Wigan's 6th shot.
Nsemba then got his name on the scoresheet, getting on completion of a fragile grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a wonderful 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 between the sticks before Keighran added the extras once again to seal a perfect night for Wigan.
Leigh were dealt an additional blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson had to be assisted off the field with a serious looking knee injury.
'Important not to get carried away' - Peet
Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:
"It's hard to understand what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing a couple of [players] last week, Leigh were missing a few [players], so it is necessary we do not get carried away at this phase of the season.
"The young boys have actually got themselves in exceptional physical shape, credit to our efficiency personnel - we were all set for this season physically.
"We have actually got ability - the video game has quickened up a bit so we can show 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 distributed a take on six penalty when the rating was 0-0 and that certainly turned the game completely on its head.
"You've got to come here and win ownership and not do those things [mistakes] so it put us under pressure and it simply escalated from there.
"You just can't offer away those easy mistakes and charges early on. We got battered a little 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.