Game

Saturday 7 Mar 2009

Kick Off 17:30

Wigan Warriors turned the jeers to cheers at the JJB Stadium with a masterful 44-10 victory against a disappointing Bradford Bulls.

The Warriors were booed off the pitch after suffering surprise home defeats to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Castleford Tigers during their worst start to a league season for 23 years, but the Bulls never looked capable of making it a hat-trick of Yorkshire victories at the JJB Stadium.

Wigan ran in seven tries, including two from outstanding second-rower Gareth Hock, while full-back Pat Richards contributed 20 points with a try and eight goals from eight attempts.
A comprehensive defeat leaves Bradford still looking for their first win of the season.
Steve Menzies and Rikki Sheriffe both scored their first tries for the Bulls but they were little more than consolation and their misery was compounded by a suspected broken leg for hooker Wayne Godwin.

Wigan got off the mark at Harlequins RL a week ago and they looked like a side full of confidence from kick-off tonight.

Coach Brian Noble chose to give local boy Sam Tomkins his first engage Super League start in place of Australian half-back Tim Smith and the youngster repaid his faith with an impressive display.

Bradford had their moments and they were pressing when Wigan opened the scoring with a superb counter-attacking move sparked by an interception from Phil Bailey.

Richards finished off the move, taking George Carmont’s pass and sprinting unopposed to the line for a 60-metre try which he converted.

Wigan extended their lead after 17 minutes when Hock took hooker Mark Riddell’s pass from dummy half and slipped all too easily past centre Paul Sykes for a second try, with Richards kicking a second goal.

The Warriors then scrambled superbly to keep their line intact in the face of some severe pressure from the visitors and struck again just before the break when Hock sent Carmont over for a third try.

Richards extended his side’s lead with a penalty four minutes into the second half and they should have added another try when Hock broke clear but squandered a clear overlap by hanging onto the ball.

The England second-rower made amends on 52 minutes, however, when he forced his way over from close range for Wigan’s fourth try and Richards added a fifth goal.

Bradford briefly rallied when winger Sheriffe scored his first try for the club, finishing off a clever handling move in which stand-off Ben Jeffries featured twice.

But the Bulls lost Godwin after an awkward attempt to stop rampaging forward Iafeta Paleaaesina, and there was no way back for them when Warriors second-rower Harrison Hansen went over for a fifth try on the hour.

Hansen added a second following a break by Riddell and Paleaaesina crashed over for a popular score before Menzies had the final say for the outplayed visitors.