Wigan ease to victory over St Helens in Super League
By Robert Mulhern
Last Updated: 26/03/16 7:27am
Three quick-fire first half tries secured a 24-12 victory for Wigan over rivals St Helens at a sunny Langtree Park.
Dom Manfredi, Sam Powell and Joel Tomkins all touched down for the Warriors during a 10-minute spell to propel the Warriors into a 16-0 lead which never really looked in danger.
Once they settled into the game, the visitors established a tempo that opened gaps in the home defence and they were clinical in their execution when scoring opportunities arrived.
By contrast, St Helens enjoyed the best of the opening quarter, dominating possession and field position but they found a Wigan defence more than capable of dealing with the aerial threat posed and it was a play that persistently failed to yield a breakthrough.
When Wigan did get a foothold, it was one that brought a neat sidestep for Manfredi, who crossed on 20 minutes.
Outstanding throughout, he stepped back against the St Helens cover after Taulima Tautai made important muscular yards that brought play under the posts.
Wigan turned up the heat five minutes later when Powell finished off a brilliant length-of-the-pitch score after Manfredi stretched St Helens' defence with a diagonal surge.
When that move broke down, Sarginson wrong-footed the home defence before linking with Powell and he gathered his own deft grubber to cross close to the posts.
Wigan were transformed and St Helens were visibly wilting under the intensity.
When Tomkins crossed with relative ease on the half-hour, it looked like a score that might arrive late in a contest.
His determined carry left Wigan leading by 14 points and Matty Smith added the extras to leave the visitors 16-0 in front at the break.
Wigan queued up to add to that total in the third quarter - Oliver Gildart had a try disallowed for ripping possession, Anthony Gelling carved through the defensive line, so too Sarginson and Manfredi of course was talismanic in defence as well as attack.
But it took an easy Matty Smith penalty on 49 minutes to make the contest safe, even if St Helens were given a lifeline when Joe Greenwood brushed off the aforementioned Smith as the game entered the last quarter.
But Smith made amends when he took a Sean O'Loughlin feed, and made the most of Taulima Tautai's subtle blocking presence, to cross and reaffirm Wigan's superiority.
Theo Fages dotted down for the Saints with nine minutes to go and Luke Walsh converted but it was too little, too late for the home side.