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 nine tries to hammer regional rivals 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 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 - as well as 9 objectives from Keighran on a best night with the boot - ensured a 3rd league win from three for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to reveal up during a very one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a frustrating night for the visitors cluttered with handling 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 quarters 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 not long after but the events were interrupted as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the build-up of a streaming team relocation.


French then discovered a little gap in the Leigh backline on the right edge to roll difficulties 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 showed a dummy before darting over for the impressive Warriors' third try.


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


Moments into the second period, Leigh's Matt Davis was forced off with a head injury having actually taken the full force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors extended their legs not long after when a beautiful line break from Patrick Mago allowed the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to end up 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 cut out 3 Leigh defenders and found Eckersley who strolled 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 fantastic break and discovered 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 included the bonus as soon as more to seal an ideal night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a more blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson needed to be assisted 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 difficult to understand what level the other teams are at. Hull were missing out on a couple of [players] recently, Leigh were missing out on a few [gamers], so it is essential we do not get carried away at this stage of the season.


"The young boys have got themselves in outstanding physical shape, credit to our efficiency personnel - we were all set for this season physically.


"We have actually got ability - the game has actually accelerated up a bit so we can reveal it."


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


"Obviously terrible. That is most likely as bad as we have actually played in my time here and I believe we were our own worst enemies.


"We provided away a deal with 6 penalty when ball game was 0-0 and that definitely turned the game completely on its head.


"You've got to come here and win possession and refrain from doing those things [errors] so it put us under pressure and it just escalated from there.


"You just can't give away those simple errors and charges 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.