Warriors on the charge
Wigan maintained their position at the top of Super League with a 54-14 hammering of Wakefield.
Last Updated: 05/04/10 6:49pm
Wigan Warriors maintained their position at the top of the engage Super League with a 54-14 hammering of Wakefield Wildcats on Easter Monday.
Pat Richards and Amos Roberts each touched down twice as the Warriors raced into a 32-0 half-time lead at the DW Stadium.
The visitors fought back with three tries in 10 minutes but the early-season pacesetters eased home to their ninth victory from 10.
Wigan finished with 10 tries, including a hat-trick for Darrell Goulding and a debut score from Liam Farrell.
Richards completed a hat-trick of his own and landed seven goals in a 26-point haul.
However, the match was marred by a suspected broken leg for Wigan full-back Roberts while scoring his second try - and 12th in 10 games.
Farrell chance
The Warriors were already without four first-teamers following their 18-10 win at St Helens on Good Friday so onto the bench came 19-year-old forward Farrell, cousin of former Wigan captain and dual-code international Andy Farrell.
The Wildcats made one change following their 19-6 win over Castleford, with Dale Ferguson in for Jason Demetriou, and they were caught cold as Wigan opened the scoring with just 90 seconds on the clock.
Joel Tomkins and Roberts worked the ball wide for Goulding to streak down the right, and the Wigan winger kicked back inside for Roberts to touch down.
And the Warriors produced more slick handling five minutes later as Sam Tomkins and Sean O'Loughlin found Phil Bailey, whose fine long pass sent Richards over.
Wakefield regrouped but Leuluai then jinked through and a Sam Tomkins chip kick to the corner forced Damien Blanch to concede a goal-line drop-out.
Tomkins almost crossed by the posts after two fine side-steps but Wigan then sent it wide and Roberts' cut-out pass sent Richards over again in the 18th minute.
Successive Wigan penalties allowed Wakefield to put pressure on the hosts' line for the first time and Richard Moore's grubber forced a drop-out from Martin Gleeson.
Richards did well to avoid another drop-out and moments later Joel Tomkins set off to score a superb 80-metre try and open up a 22-0 lead with 25 minutes gone.
The in-form Warriors forward broke a Darryl Millard tackle 20 metres out then sneaked round Dale Morton on halfway and outwitted full-back Matt Blaymire to finish off.
Roberts topped that 10 minutes later, bursting past Shane Tronc and Paul King before holding off another two attempted tackles to score a 65-metre try.
Stretchered off
But in withstanding that final tackle to get the ball down, Roberts clattered into one of the posts and was stretchered off after a lengthy stoppage.
Wigan claimed another try just before the break as Paul Deacon's chip to the corner came off Morton for Goulding to touch down.
And Goulding scored again just two minutes after the restart after Deacon put O'Loughlin through.
The Wildcats replied in the 45th minute with Blanch taking a Richards pass to run in an 80-metre interception try.
And six minutes later, the visitors further cut the deficit with Blaymire crossing from Paul Cooke's offload.
A Wigan penalty then allowed Wakefield to keep the pressure on and Blaymire crashed over from another Cooke pass in the 55th minute.
Farrell barged his way over to keep Wigan well clear before Deacon kicked for Richards to claim his 13th try of the season.
Millard was then sin-binned late on before Goulding also claimed a third try - and his 11th in seven games.
