Warriors cut down champions

Wigan made light of the absence of five first-choice forwards to crush Leeds 50-8 at Headingley.

The Rhinos were favourites to end a five-match losing streak against a Warriors side lacking firepower up front, but Wigan had other ideas as they ran in nine tries during a hugely impressive display.

The visitors dominated possession and field position in a lop-sided contest as Leeds failed to take any sort of advantage from their supposed superiority in the pack.

There was an element of fortune about Jeff Lima's opening try after just three minutes, as he appeared to drop the ball as he touched down by the posts, but from there on Wigan deserved every point of their dominance.

Sam Tomkins' attacking runs were causing havoc in the Rhinos defence almost from the off and after seven minutes he broke from midfield and put Laim Farrell over for the score.

Josh Charnley was denied a third try in 10 minutes by good Leeds defence and when Sean O'Loughlin was penalised for a high shot on Danny McGuire, Ryan Hall finished superby in the corner.

Leeds may have thought they were back in it but Wigan had other ideas.

Crumbled

After conceding two drop-outs and two penalties, the Leeds defence finally crumbled as Brett Finch's short pass had O'Loughlin crashing over.

Four tackles after the subsequent kick-off Finch and Tomkins combined to bust up the middle and George Carmont finished the move.

Thomas Leuluai's try 10 seconds before the break just about settled it, but Wigan were far from satisfied.

Josh Charnley's try came from a fine handling move, but it was nothing compared to the brilliance of the attacking which put Anthony Gelling in moments later.

Hall's second try at least gave the home fans something to cheer but inevitably Wigan had the last word - or two.

A Tomkins break from deep was finished by Leuluai, then Finch pouched Lunt's attempted chip over the line and raced in for the ninth score.

In this form Wigan look simply unstoppable, although titles are won in October, not June, as the play-off specialists Leeds know all too well.