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 attempts 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 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 - as well as nine objectives from Keighran on a perfect night with the boot - made sure a third league win from 3 for Warriors.


Leigh stopped working to show up throughout 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 ahead after 10 minutes - French fired in a brief pass for Keighran to cross over from close quarters on the last tackle after Leigh's Lachlan Lam yielded a set of six in his own half for a late shot.


Liam Marshall dotted down for Warriors soon after however the celebrations were cut brief as referee Liam Moore spotted a forward pass from French in the build-up of a flowing team relocation.


French then found a little space in the Leigh backline on the right edge to roll challenges from Lam and Tesi Niu to grab Wigan's 2nd 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 remarkable Warriors' 3rd try.


Field turned from scorer to provider moments later on, finding room in midfield before establishing Smith to dot down below the sticks and, after Keighran dispatched a 4th successful kick, the 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 taken the complete force of a kick to the corner by Smith.


And Warriors stretched their legs quickly after when a beautiful line break from Patrick Mago permitted 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 exhibit rugby league and a miss-out pass from French cut out 3 Leigh defenders and found Eckersley who walked in for Wigan's 6th shot.


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 next to the sticks.


Hooker Forber got 50-up for Warriors, barging over for his side's ninth shot in between the sticks before Keighran included the bonus once again to seal a perfect night for Wigan.


Leigh were dealt a more blow with simply a minute remaining as full-back Bailey Hodgson had to be assisted off the field with a major looking knee injury.


'Important not to get brought away' - Peet


Wigan head coach told BBC Radio Manchester:


"It's tough to know what level the other teams are at. Hull were missing out on a few [players] last week, Leigh were missing a couple of [gamers], so it's important we don't get carried away at this stage of the season.


"The boys have got themselves in outstanding physical shape, credit to our efficiency staff - we were prepared for this season physically.


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


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


"Obviously dreadful. That is probably 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 ball game was 0-0 and that definitely turned the game totally on its head.


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


"You just can't distribute those basic mistakes 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.