Second place and a home semi-final in the Super League play-offs are Wigan’s after this victory in a lacklustre game against Huddersfield.
These are the underwhelming nights that the Super League chief executive, Robert Elstone, is keen to avoid under his reform plan approved last week, so it was fitting he was here to witness this first-hand.
Not that Elstone or the game’s power-brokers could do anything about the deluge that provided the backdrop to this stop-start affair, but the sparse crowd and the increasing feeling of Super League being in hibernation before the play-offs get under way in a fortnight will likely be high on Elstone’s agenda.
“We didn’t win but there’s no shame,” Simon Woolford, the Huddersfield head coach, said after the match. The Giants’ failure to make the play‑offs should be offset by a strong second half of the year in which they pulled away from relegation danger after Woolford’s arrival.
But for Wigan? “We just did what we needed to do,” was the frank admission of the Warriors head coach, Shaun Wane. “The atmosphere was terrible, the weather was shocking but getting second was important and we’ve nailed it.”
This victory means, barring a remarkable collapse from Castleford, it will be the Tigers who visit the DW Stadium in a fortnight’s time.
Points were never likely to be at a premium given the conditions, but it was Wigan who enjoyed the more decisive moments, largely thanks to the exploits of Morgan Escaré. The French full-back’s try, coupled with Sam Tomkins’s penalty, were the difference at the break, with Wigan ahead 6-0 following an error-strewn half.
Escaré kicked the next points, too: a drop-goal on the hour that opened up a two-score lead for the first time though Kruise Leeming’s try brought Huddersfield back to within a point.
However, after Danny Brough was sent to the sin-bin late on, Oliver Gildart’s try ensured a seventh victory in succession for Wigan. It certainly was not pretty, but the Warriors’ form displays the hallmarks of a side ready for the play-offs.
Huddersfield Gaskell; Rankin, Mellor, Mamo, Senior; Russell, Brough; Lawrence, O’Brien, Matagi, Ta’ai, Roberts, Hinchcliffe. Interchange Mellor, Leeming, Clough, English, Roche.
Try Leeming. Goal Brough. Sin-bin Brough (76).
Wigan Escaré; Manfredi, Gildart, Sarginson, Davies; Williams, Tomkins; Clubb, Powell, Navarrete, Greenwood, Bateman, Sutton. Interchange Hamlin, Partington, Woods, Tautai.
Tries Escaré, Gildart. Goals Tomkins 2. Drop goal Escaré.
Referee G Dolan. Attendance 4,197.
