Live of
Try:
Powell (5), Hastings (61), Hardaker (64)
Conversions:
Hardaker (6.62.66)
Drop-Goals:
Hastings (76)
Try:
Wood (38)
Conversions:
Sezer (38)
Wigan vs HuddersfieldSuper League
7:45 p.m. Friday 6 November
DW Stadium
Wigan overcame severe resistance from Huddersfield to clinch a 19-6 victory in the final Super League regular-season final at Headingley to win the League Leaders Shield for the first time since 2012
It was a first trophy for coach Adrian Lam as the Warriors refused St Helens to win a week off and a home draw in the play-offs semi-finals in a fortnight
It was a fitting way for longtime scrum-half Thomas Leuluai to mark his 300th game for the club as Wigan increased his bid for the big prize
But they were forced to do it the hard way after Huddersfield, who made his debut at Irish international striker Ronan Michael, clashed with them for an hour and kept his hand on the dangerous full-back Bevan French
The Giants’ valiant efforts were ultimately in vain as they ended the season with five straight losses under interim coach Luke Robinson
Despite his last 18 fit players, however, Robinson will keep his squad on hold for the play-offs in the event that any of the six teams that finish above them are hit by Covid
There was little hint of the fight ahead when Wigan got off to the ideal start, with hooker Sam Powell scoring a scoring try on a dummy half-race near the line after just four minutes
Zak Hardaker’s goal made it 6-0 but the Warriors had plenty of defense to keep their lead as the Giants gave as well as they have
Lam’s men missed a stellar opportunity to extend their lead after 24 minutes when winger Jake Bibby let down French’s pass with the line open and it quickly started to look costly when Huddersfield hit three minutes before the break
The normally reliable Frenchman escaped a kick from Giants captain Aidan Sezer under challenge from Kyle Trout to give Sam Wood the gift of a try and Sezer’s conversion evened the scores
Wigan continued to seek out the most likely winners, but they missed another chance after 49 minutes when England center Oliver Gildart came to the line but lost the ball in Jermaine McGillvary’s tackle
As the pressure mounted on the Huddersfield defense, they finally broke with two tries in four minutes
Jackson Hastings forced his way from the dummy half after Powell was tackled short and cross, then landed a superbly judged grubber kick for center Hardaker to hit
Hardaker added the two conversions to shine a light on the day between the teams and Hastings secured a drop goal with four minutes remaining
© 2020 Sky France
Wigan Warriors, Huddersfield Giants, League Leaders Shield, Super League, Jackson Hastings, Zak Hardaker, Thomas Leuluai
World News – GB – Wigan 19-6 Huddersfield: Warriors wins the Leaders Shield League
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
