Wigan 38-10 Warrington: Warriors underline Super League title credentials
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 19/05/18 8:19pm
Wigan underlined their Super League title credentials with their best performance of the season to record a convincing 38-10 win over Warrington in an absorbing Dacia Magic Weekend encounter.
In a meeting between the competition's form teams at St James' Park, Wigan were clinical with ball in hand and scrambled superbly in defence to end Warrington's 10-game winning run and stretch their own to eight matches.
Sam Tomkins' four goals were the difference as the Warriors took a 16-10 lead into the break, with in-form Harvey Livett and Stefan Ratchford touching down either side of efforts from Sam Powell and Tomkins.
John Bateman and George Williams scored back-to-back tries before Liam Marshall and Tom Davies crossed late on to complete a miserable afternoon for the Wolves.
Warrington went into the contest as one of only two teams to have beaten Wigan this year but the Warriors had just made their whistle-stop trip to Australia when they last met and were a different proposition in Newcastle.
Wigan hit the front through Tomkins' fifth-minute penalty following a high shot by Sitaleki Akauola on Powell, only to become the latest side to fail to contain rising star Livett.
After Ryan Atkins had been shut out by strong Wigan defence on the right edge, Warrington shifted the ball left where Tom Lineham dumped the ball back inside to give Livett his sixth try in four games.
Kevin Brown shoved Joel Tomkins in the face as tempers flared, a flashpoint that sparked the Warriors into life.
Williams played a key role in Wigan's first try, playing a one-two with Liam Farrell before putting Powell through a hole in the Warrington defence with a perfectly-timed, flat pass.
The video referee was called on to confirm the grounding but there was no such issue when Tomkins crawled his way over out wide after taking Farrell's pass out the back and evading the tackle of former team-mate Josh Charnley.
Warrington had played their part in an entertaining first half and they were back in it when Ratchford touched down Brown's reverse kick five minutes before the break.
Tomkins added another two points on the stroke of half-time to stretch the Warriors' lead, which was under threat at the start of the second half as Livett was held up over the line by Ryan Sutton and Charnley was cut down in flight by Wigan's cover defence.
The Warriors weathered the storm and then hit Warrington with a quick one-two to take full control.
First Bateman came on a good angle to round full-back Ratchford and touch down under the sticks before Williams added the finishing touches to Marshall's scintillating break from deep.
The Wigan defensive line was broken again when Ben Murdoch-Masila rampaged through the middle but again the Warriors got back to end the threat.
Ratchford had a try ruled out for obstruction and Wigan compounded Warrington's misery as Marshall touched down Williams' kick and Davies pounced on Charnley's loose offload to score.
Tomkins had the final say when he added his seventh goal from a penalty on the hooter.