World News – GB – St Helens 6 Wigan Warriors 18

In a thrilling derby they fought 6-4 at halftime to score three unanswered tries after the break from Thomas Leuluai, Bevan French and Jackson Hastings

It was a bloody competition full of needles, skill, passion, drama – and many fierce exchanges – that would have been worthy of the Grand Final in four weeks

The margin of victory would have been greater if Zak Hardaker hadn’t missed three of his four conversion attempts, but it was a night to admire the positives in Wigan’s performance – and there were plenty of them

>

On the other side, they showed an admirable amount of energy and character to achieve victory, which puts them at the top of the leaderboard under the revamped win percentage formula

Perhaps the only problem is whether the RFL’s match review committee charged Joe Greenwood after he was sentenced at the end of stadiums for a high tackle that sparked a scrum

The Saints had won their two previous derbies this year, most notably beating a young Wigan side 42-0 a month ago

But with Lam’s side unchanged from the lineup which beat Salford 58-12 a week earlier – and the Saints missing suspended support Alex Walmsley – many were predicting a different, closer and bloody derby and they certainly have it

On a crisp night in a totally deserted stadium, the voices could be heard loud and clear – and Hardaker was consistently one of the loudest

Halfway through the first half, the breakneck pace seemed to take its toll as errors began to creep in: Saints sent off full blast, French pass hovered over the line sideline there was even a collision between James Graham and referee Chris Kendall

Jonny Lomax appeared to be an early victim of the ferocity as he received treatment for a leg injury but ex-Orrell St James junior fought back and managed to deliver the breakthrough, piercing the Wigan defense to send Lachlan Coote for a try which he converted just after the half hour

Wigan’s response was swift and impressive Greenwood came off the bench and immediately made an impact, piercing and placing the platform for Leuluai to pass a ball through for Jake Bibby to take to the ground in the corner

Hardaker was wide with the conversion, giving the hosts a slim two point advantage at the break

The tone continued into the second half, and the longer it lasted, the more it felt like a high-stakes muscular flashing competition A Saints error near their own line gave Wigan the gold position from which Leuluai snuck in for his first try of the season to put his team forward for the first time

But Hardaker was off-target again, keeping Wigan’s two-point advantage as the game entered the final quarter

It wasn’t the kind of game for fancy footwork, but the Frenchman provided it anyway, flamboyant on the straight sideline after a neat tie from Leuluai and Willie Isa

A three-try-to-one lead should be comfortable, but with Hardaker out of the frame again they led just 12-6 Hastings, however, made the game safe moments later, combining with Greenwood to lean in for a try

Hardaker’s first conversion of the night closed a 12-point gap between the teams with eight minutes remaining and they finished strong, even when they were 12 men away once Greenwood sinned

St Helens: Coote; Makinson, Naiqama, Welsby, Grace; Lomax, Fages; Graham, Roby, Lees, Taia, Bentley, Knowles Submarines: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Peyroux, Amor, Paulo

Wigan: French; Bibby, Hardaker, Gildart, J Burgess; Leuluai, Hastings; Bullock, Powell, Singleton, Isa, Farrell, Partington Submarines: Flower, Greenwood, Clubb, Smithies

Read unlimited stories about Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors for less than 70p a week by subscribing to our sports package here

St Helens RFC, Wigan Warriors, Super League, Zak Hardaker, Thomas Leuluai, Lachlan Coote