
Sam Tomkins scored his 500th Wigan points on the stroke of half
time as the Cherry and Whites maintained their stronghold at the
top of the Super League table in front of 17,736 fans - the highest
Super League attendance for a Wigan v Hull fixture, beating the
16,554 figure of 2006.
The 48-10 success was also helped by a Josh Charnley hat-trick and
a debut try for Sam Powell who didn't look out of place at Super
League level.
Tomkins jostled the scoreboard into action after just 2 minutes
with a dance through the Airlie Birds' defence close to the line
after Joe Westerman was penalised for ripping the ball from Gareth
Hock in a two man tackle.
It took the Warriors a few minutes to settle though, as Epalahame
Lauaki dropped a pass straight from the kick-off but it wasn't of
any consequence as Gareth Hock scored a typically macho try,
barging through would-be tacklers and choosing not to use the
supporting Iain Thornley after Sam Powell, Sam Tomkins and George
Carmont all had a hand in an attractive move.
After quarter of an hour, Josh Charnley ensured he was still level
with Sam Tomkins for tries in all competitions in 2012 as he too
crossed for the 32nd time this term, but he was struggling to add
the extras as he missed his second from three.
The game was held-up briefly on 24 minutes as Kirk Yeaman took a
leg injury forcing Hull to put Chris Green in his place and Jamie
Foster, on loan from St. Helens, went close after play was
restarted, only to be denied by the kind of strong solid defence
that comes with a Shaun Wane stamp of approval.
Charnley soon added his second with a simple but efficient move of
passing along the line between Powell, Tomkins, Matty Smith and
Jack Hughes before Hull F.C. managed to crack the Wigan line after
34 minutes.
Tom Lineham had gone close, losing the race to a kick by a
fingertip to the dead ball line and Wigan looked to be away after
successfully taking a quick 20-metre tap. Harrison Hansen was to
lose control of the ball though and the strained Wigan defence
could do little to prevent Lineham being successful in grabbing a
four-pointer at the second attempt.
The Warriors soon put it behind them though and after the hooter
for half-time had sounded, Matty Smith placed a grubber with
chilling precision for Tomkins to accept for his milestone try.
Charnley had no trouble with the extras this time, converting from
in front of the posts to give a half-time scoreline of 24-4.
Sam Tomkins got the first chance of the second half when from his
own 30 metre line he slipped through the defence before handing
over to Harrison Hansen. On Hansen's return pass, Tomkins lost
control meaning Wigan would have to wait a little longer to break
further away.
That happened in the 51st minute as Charnley claimed his hat-trick
after Jack Hughes broke from his own half, and it could have been
worse still for Hull when Matty Smith thought he'd scored seven
minutes later. Referee, James Child, decided to use the video
referee for the first time who ruled Smith had lost control with
his fingertips.
The video was used again shortly after when Jamie Foster went in,
despite the touch judge raising his flag. It only took a couple of
views though to confirm the touch judge was right before Liam
Farrell bagged a deserved score just after the hour mark to get
Wigan rolling again.
Joe Westerman was put on report in the 66th minute for a high shot
on Epalahame Lauaki. The game was briefly held-up but Lauaki
thankfully didn't need a stretcher to leave the field.
Michael McIlorum edged Wigan further ahead with quarter of an hour
to go before Brett Seymour managed a try which would prove to be
scant consolation for the travelling fans.
Sam Powell waited until time was almost up before throwing a dummy
Andy Gregory would have been proud of to cap-off a solid debut with
a nice try, which is even more impressive when it is taken into
account he only came back into the under 20s from a broken leg a
month ago. |