Super League: Wigan Warriors beat London Broncos after slow start
Wigan overcame a poor start to beat London Broncos 36-14 and record their fourth Super League win in a row.
Last Updated: 11/04/14 11:08pm
Jamie O'Callaghan and Mike McMeeken both scored inside 10 minutes to give the winless Broncos an ideal start, but the champions came roaring back to seal a 36-14 victory at the DW Stadium.
Wigan took almost half-an-hour to find their rhythm but once they did, former Broncos favourites Tony Clubb and Dan Sarginson both went over before Iain Thornley's try gave them a 16-10 lead at half-time.
After the break the Broncos fell away and made too many errors and further tries from Clubb, Sarginson, Thornley and Matty Bowen sealed the points.
The Broncos stunned the home crowd by taking the lead in the first three minutes. Wigan prop Gil Dudson knocked on and the visitors capitalised with winger Jamie O'Callaghan touching down in the corner to lead 4-0.
London came into the game having lost their first seven league games of the season but seemed the more confident of the two teams as they extended their lead to 10-0 when McMeeken strolled through some poor defending to go over. Josh Drinkwater converted.
Wigan were out of sorts and their first real attack came in the 25th minute, but still they could not score as skipper Sean O'Loughlin was held up over the line.
Tries
But they made no mistake moments later as Clubb found his way over in the corner following good work from Joe Burgess who collected and offloaded from Green's cross-field kick. Williams converted from the touchline to make it 10-6.
The Warriors finally looked like they had upped their game and levelled the contest when Sarginson collected a long ball from Green to ghost over in the corner.
The Broncos started to tire and Wigan took full advantage as centre Thornley showed some nifty footwork to step his way under the posts. Williams converted as Wigan led 16-10 at the break.
The start of the second half was a scrappy affair with Wigan enjoying a lot of possession while not creating any clear-cut chances, while the Broncos lacked any real attacking threat.
The hosts were slowly but surely stamping their authority on the game, however, with Bowen being held up over the line and Burgess almost creating a try.
The first score of the second half finally came in the 63rd minute when Clubb took a quick tap from a penalty to barge over for his second score and Williams converted.
London's ill-discipline started to hurt them and Wigan finally put the game to bed inside the final 10 minutes.
Sarginson collected a neat kick from Powell to score and, even though Iliess Macani went over for London, Wigan had the final say as Thornley and Bowen both outpaced a tired Broncos defence to score.