Wigan Warriors underlined the gulf between themselves and St Helens with an emphatic victory over their great rivals, 24 hours on from the Saints’ shock decision to sack their head coach, Paul Rowley.
Rowley’s nine-month tenure was brought to an abrupt end on Thursday, making him the shortest-serving Saints coach in 50 years, with the club sat seventh and in danger of not making the Super League playoffs for the first time in history.
But his departure did little to change their fortunes in the immediate term. They certainly competed, trailing by just six at half-time. However, the Warriors – inspired by the return of Super League’s best player in Bevan French – ran riot after the break.
French scored one try and provided the assist for another four on a night which reiterated that only one of these two great rivals are, realistically, in contention for the Grand Final later this year. Rowley’s successor has a major rebuild on his hands if he is to restore the Saints to such heights.
Despite all the events leading up to the game, it was the Saints who started the stronger of the two sides. They took a surprise lead when the England international, Jack Welsby, stepped through the Wigan line to touch down and to their credit, the visitors had begun so brightly, it was an early score they merited.
However, the Warriors would soon respond. As with almost everything they did in the first half, it was Bevan French who was at the heart of it, as he finished a superb piece of play from deep to mark his return to the side with a try. But six minutes later, the Saints went back ahead through Jacob Douglas in the corner.
It would have been a moment of immense joy for Douglas, who switched from Wigan to St Helens last year and who had not been able to feature for most of this year due to the Saints being unable to register him on their salary cap. That briefly made it 12-6 but as the break approached Wigan – and French – took control.
The half-back’s cut-out pass found its way to Zach Eckersley to allow him to score his 20th try of the season before, five minutes later, French’s perfect chip kick behind the St Helens defence gave Eckersley a walk-in for his second. Suddenly, the Saints were scrambling and as half-time approached and with the visitors seemingly hanging on, there was a huge moment.
They had lost forwards Jed Cartwright and Matty Evans to injury but Jackson Hastings’ pinpoint kick appeared to be grounded by Harry Robertson, in a moment that would have levelled it at 18-18. However, video reviews showed Robertson did not ground the ball, meaning the Warriors led a pulsating and gripping derby by six at the break.
It was a pivotal moment. Within three minutes of the restart, French seized the moment again and provided another assist, this time for Oli Partington to put the hosts 12 ahead when it could have easily been level. That lead then quickly became 14 from the boot of Adam Keighran and with the Saints scrum-half, Jackson Hastings, in the sin-bin, it was quickly slipping away from the visitors again.
The Saints survived that period without Hastings but within two minutes of his return, they were picked apart again. For once, French took a back seat as Harry Smith’s cross-field kick was claimed by Partington for his second.
However, his final act before being taken off with 15 minutes left was to assist again, this time his kick for Keighran which made it 38-12. Lewis Murphy crossed for a consolation in the final minutes for the Saints, but the damage had long been done.
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