Saturday 5 July 2014 17:42, UK
Josh Charnley scored a hat-trick as Wigan Warriors regained third spot in Super League with a thumping 58-6 win over the London Broncos.
Winger Charnley took his season's tally to 14 tries, running in two scores before the break and a third late on as the Warriors rebounded from a sluggish start to romp home.
For the Londoners it was an all-too familiar tale, racking up their 19th successive defeat as relegation looms ever closer.
Wigan, who entered the game on the back of successive defeats to Wakefield and St Helens, included former London stars Dan Sarginson and Tony Clubb in their starting line-up, with Clubb replacing hamstring victim Sean O'Loughlin.
The hosts, meanwhile, rang the changes with Ben Farrar,Thomas Minns, James Cunningham, Joel Wicks, Jon Wallace and Maxime Herold all returning.
The Warriors, who saw off the Broncos 36-14 in the reverse fixture back in April, struggled to find their rhythm early on, with the Londoners giving as good as they got.
Both sides though were having difficulty coping with the driving rain, with handling errors aplenty.
It was the 15th minute before the scoreboard was troubled, with Wigan taking the lead when Anthony Gelling created space for Charnley to burst over in the corner.
The visitors certainly had the upper hand, but both Dom Crosby and John Bateman knocked on as they looked to wriggle over.
The Warriors' lead was doubled though on 22 minutes as Matthew Bowen broke through some weak tackling to bounce over the line.
Bateman ran in a third try six minutes later, finishing off a break from Charnley, as the visitors started to squeeze the life out of the Broncos.
It was Charnley's turn to touchdown for his second next after Wigan worked the ball along the line for the winger to scamper home just after the half-hour mark.
The Broncos were offering precious little in terms of attack and were unable to cope with the Warriors' physical presence.
But the Londoners did strike out of nothing on 38 minutes, with Minns swooping on the ball and racing home from half-way after Scott Taylor spilled.
It was more of the same after the interval and Wigan extended their lead to 28-6 on 45 minutes when Gelling pounced to score after Iliess Macani floundered dealing with Bowen's kick through.
The weather was still causing problems for both sides, but the Warriors continued to run in the scores at regular intervals. with Taylor the next to cross when he rounded off a searing break from Jack Hughes ten minutes later.
By now it was purely a case of how many points the visitors would rack up.
Gil Dudson took them to the 40-point mark when he wriggled over after taking a pass from Bowen.
Then Charnley's hat-trick duly arrived on 65 minutes. He managed to slide in at the corner flag after more good work from full-back Bowen.
The 50-point plateau was breached with six minutes remaining. Sarginson burst clear to free up Joe Burgess for a clear run to the line.
And a repeat act saw Sarginson send in Burgess again two minutes later as the Broncos defence crumbled.
