Dragons destroyed by Wigan

Richards: 16 points

Wigan easily progressed to the last four of the Super League play-offs after a crushing 44-0 victory over Catalan Dragons at the DW Stadium.

The hosts' seven tries were scored by seven different players, while Pat Richards added 16 points with the boot as the Warriors bounced back from their defeat to St Helens last weekend in fine style.

The Dragons, who had two tries ruled out, ended their season by being blanked for the first time in the campaign and were overpowered and outclassed despite sporadic spells of promise.

The defending champions, meanwhile, now face a rematch with the Saints in the semi-finals while Warrington chose to play Leeds in Club Call.

The hosts moved into the lead with just two minutes gone as Richards booted a two-pointer through the posts, but they had a narrow escape at the other end shortly afterwards.

Sam Tomkins fumbled a towering kick by Scott Dureau and Thomas Bosc took the loose ball in for a try, but the score was ruled out by the video referee as Cyril Stacul was found to be offside.

Pressure

The visitors continued to exert plenty of early pressure but the Warriors emerged unscathed and were soon back on the front foot themselves.

They extended their lead in the 24th minute as Sam Tomkins looped a fine pass out to winger Josh Charnley, who had time and space to touch down in the corner.

A second try followed shortly afterwards as Ryan Hoffman burst through the Dragons' line to finish from close range, with Richards tacking on the extras.

The Dragons thought they had opened their own account when Lopini Paea bounced over the line, but referee Steve Ganson ruled that the Tongan had received a marginal forward pass in the build-up.

And the hosts moved 18-0 on the stroke of half-time as Thomas Leuluai collected his own chip over the top before feeding Liam Farrell to score under the posts.

The French outfit began the second half in much the same way as they did the first but were still unable to find the cutting edge needed to get over the try-line.

Points

Another two points from Richards then made it a 20-0 advantage for Wigan as any momentum the Dragons hoped to take from their quick start after the interval was gently killed off.

The visitors' looked to have had their comeback hopes ended when Richards crossed in the 56th minute, but consultation with the video referee showed that Steve Menzies had been obstructed as Wigan spun it out wide to the Australian.

But the video referee's decision went in Wigan's favour four minutes later as Richards expertly hooked a bobbling ball through for George Carmont to ground, with doubts over offside removed by the replays.

All the fight had by now drained out of the Dragons and they conceded another when Brett Finch hauled in an interception and race away under the posts.

The rout was not finished there, though, as Sam Tomkins was left with the simplest of tries after Stacul spilled a kick on his own try-line and Harrison Hansen took Wigan across the 40-point mark late on.