Round 12
Wigan Warriors 38 d. St Helens 18

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Wigan break Magic Weekend hoodoo
Sun May 3, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

A change of venue brought a change of fortune for Wigan Warriors, who put their previous Magic misery behind them to inflict a second successive defeat on Super League leaders St Helens.

The Warriors produced their best performance of the season to bring down the curtain on the opening day of the Magic Weekend in Edinburgh in stunning fashion in front of a 29,627 crowd.

Surprisingly beaten at home by Bradford Bulls a week ago, Saints were once more unrecognisable from the side that put together an eight-match winning run earlier in the season and their lead will be cut to only a single point if Hull KR defeat Warrington Wolves tomorrow.

Saints lacked spark in attack and were harried into a series of errors by an energised Wigan outfit, who outplayed their arch rivals from the kick-off to register their biggest derby win for six years.

After losing 34-18 and 57-16 to Saints at the Millennium Stadium, the Warriors found Murrayfield, scene of their 2002 Challenge Cup triumph, more to their liking as they raced into a 18-0 lead inside half an hour.

Wigan coach Brian Noble, who enjoyed a Challenge Cup final success with Bradford in Edinburgh, took a gamble by dropping wing sensation Shaun Ainscough, Super League's leading scorer, despite the teenager scoring four touchdowns in last week's win at Wakefield, but the move paid off when his side made a whirlwind start.

The Warriors' previous best performance was not good enough to prize the points from Saints at Easter but this time they turned their early superiority into tries and never looked back.

Right winger Amos Roberts palmed the ball back from Tim Smith's high kick for Martin Gleeson to send skipper Sean O'Loughlin over for the game's first score after only seven minutes.

O'Loughlin then turned provider with a pinpoint kick to the corner for left winger Pat Richards to touch down after outpacing England international Ade Gardner.

Richards added both conversions to make it 12-0 and it got even better for Wigan when second rower Gareth Hock forced his way through the tackle of Sean Long and Chris Flannery to grab a third try after 29 minutes.

Long, who contributed 27 points in the corresponding game in Cardiff, appeared to be suffering from an early challenge by Wigan full-back Cameron Phelps but he briefly sparked a fightback six minutes before the break.

His grubber kick took a wicked deflection off Wigan scrum-half Thomas Leuluai and Long followed up to touch down.

Kyle Eastmond, whose move to full-back enabled Paul Wellens to switch to centre, added the conversion and Long looked set to add a second try after being put clear by half-back partner Leon Pryce but substitute Sam Tomkins denied him with a last-ditch tackle.

Tomkins then made the break that set up the position for older brother Joel to score a fourth try on the stroke of half-time, taking a neat pass from Smith to scythe through the leaden-footed Saints defence.

Wigan extended their lead two minutes into the second half when St Helens hooker James Roby was penalised for interference at the play-the-ball and Richards kicked a fifth goal to make it 26-6.

And any hope of Saints getting back into the game disappeared two minutes later when Phelps released Richards up the wing and Leuluai was in support to score the Warriors' fifth try.

Mick Potter's men added a touch of respectability to the scoreline when Pryce side-stepped through the Wigan defence to score his 11th try of the season and then produced some clever handling to send Wellens over.

Long added both goals but it was little more than consolation and Wigan fittingly had the final say when Richards went over for his second try and maintained his 100% record with the boot to take his personal haul to 22 points.


Magic weekend kick-off times confirmed
Fri March 20, 2009
The kick-off times for the matches in the engage Super League Magic Weekend have now been confirmed.

The weekend sees all seven games in Round 12 of engage Super League taking place at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium in one big carnival-style weekend.

As well as seven exciting engage Super League fixtures, the weekend will be packed with interactive family entertainment including a Tag tournament for supporters and the new Mascot Highland games.

The action takes place over the early May Bank Holiday weekend (2nd / 3rd).

The RFL will make more announcements about the exciting Magic weekend entertainment very shortly but can now confirm that the matches themselves will kick-off at the following times:

Saturday 2nd May
Salford City Reds v Harlequins RL - ko 3pm
Wakefield Wildcats v Bradford Bulls - ko 5pm
Wigan Warriors v St Helens - ko 7pm

Sunday 3rd May
Huddersfield Giants v Celtic Crusaders - ko 12.30pm
Hull FC v Castleford Tigers - ko 2.45pm
Catalans Dragons v Leeds Rhinos - ko 5.00pm
Warrington Wolves v Hull KR - ko 7.00pm

Tickets for May's Magic Weekend are still available. A two day pass is priced from just 10 for concessions and 25 for adults.

To purchase tickets please call 0871 226 1313 or visit www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk

Visit the dedicated Magic Weekend website - www.themagicweekend.co.uk

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