St Helens strike Wigan down

St Helens have given themselves a great chance of making the top four, triumphing in the derby with an impressive 23-4 victory against Wigan at the DW Stadium.

A great defensive display from the visitors saw them deny Wigan from scoring a single point in the second half.

Saints registered the first points of the match inside five minutes, Mark Percival kicking a penalty after Sam Tomkins was penalized for a high tackle on Matthew Fleming.

Ryan Sutton went close to going over, but was stopped a metre from the try line by Jonny Lomax.

Then Lewis Tierney grounded the ball in the corner to send Wigan 4-2 in front after a brilliant kick from George Williams.

A second Percival penalty drew St Helens level after Willie Isa’s dangerous tackle on Jordan Turner.

Percival continued to have a big influence on the game, touching down after taking Lomax’s pass before nailing the following conversion to put Saints 10-4 ahead six minutes before the interval.

Morgan Knowles extended St Helens’ lead, capitalizing after Sam Tomkins fumbled Turner’s kick.

Tomkins thought he had crashed over but Joe Greenwood came to the rescue, adjudged to have held the ball up after confirmation from the video referee in a brilliant tackle.

Luke Walsh’s drop goal seven minutes from time put further daylight between the two sides.

Both teams were reduced to 12 men five minutes from time after an altercation between Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Frank-Paul Nuuausala saw them both sent to the sin-bin.

James Roby took Luke Walsh’s pass before racing over to seal a dominant victory for Saints in the final minute.