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 9 attempts to hammer regional 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 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 - in addition to nine goals from Keighran on an ideal night with the boot - ensured a 3rd league win from three for Warriors.
Leigh stopped working to appear during a really one-sided 'Battle of the Borough' on a frustrating night for the visitors cluttered with dealing with errors and a lack 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 yielded a set of 6 in his own half for a late shot.
Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors not long after but the celebrations were interrupted as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the accumulation of a streaming group move.
French then found a little space in the Leigh backline on the best 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 excellent Warriors' third try.
Field turned from scorer to provider minutes later, discovering space in midfield before establishing Smith to dot down underneath the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a 4th effective kick, the game was effectively 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 right after when a stunning line break from Patrick Mago enabled the prop to pass to Smith, who unselfishly discovered Field to complete 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 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 fragile grubber kick from Smith, before Field raced away on a terrific break and discovered the to dive over beside the sticks.
Hooker Forber got 50-up for Warriors, barging over for his side's ninth shot between the sticks before Keighran added the additionals again to seal a perfect night for Wigan.
Leigh were dealt a more blow with just a minute staying as full-back Bailey Hodgson needed to be helped 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 tough to know what level the other groups are at. Hull were missing a few [players] last week, Leigh were missing a few [players], so it is essential we don't get brought away at this phase of the season.
"The boys have actually got themselves in exceptional physical shape, credit to our efficiency staff - we were ready for this season physically.
"We have actually got ability - the game has accelerated up a bit so we can reveal it."
'As bad as we have actually 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 enemies.
"We distributed a take on six penalty when the rating was 0-0 and that certainly turned the video game entirely 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 simply escalated from there.
"You just can't give away those simple errors and charges early on. We got beaten up 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.