Jai Field doubles up as Wigan recover from slow start to breeze past Leigh

Wigan’s influential duo Jai Field and Bevan French were at their scintillating best as they guided the Warriors to a well-earned derby victory over Leigh. Field and French have so often provided moments of magic during their time at the club and this proved to be another of those nights.

Field scored two tries while French also claimed one and had a hand in several others as the Warriors registered a third successive Super League win.

Leigh, who have already won three times since promotion from the Championship and look a good bet to stay up in 2023, fought hard in a brilliant derby atmosphere but were ultimately undone by the magic of Wigan’s talismanic pairing in key moments, with French excelling at full-back and Field at half-back after a tactical reshuffle from Matt Peet that paid dividends.

Encouraged by a near-capacity crowd, newly promoted Leigh started well. They took the lead after seven minutes: a wonderful, free-flowing move found Tom Briscoe on the right, and he had just enough room to ground the ball for his 200th career try to move the Leopards 6-0 ahead. Wigan were then reduced to 12 men when Toby King was sent to the sin-bin for a late hit but it didn’t prevent a Warriors response to falling behind.

Even with King off the field they managed to cut the deficit with their first try of the evening, as French cut through the Leigh line in incisive fashion, though Harry Smith missed the conversion to keep Leigh ahead by four. However, Wigan weren’t behind for long.

When King returned, Wigan’s attack improved further. After previously shifting the ball right for French’s try, this time they went left to find Field

The Australian, despite being under immense pressure from three Leigh defenders, managed to