Wigan 26-12 Hull FC: Bevan French and Jackson Hastings inspire Warriors
By PA Media
Last Updated: 23/02/20 5:54pm
Bevan French and Jackson Hastings were the difference-makers as Wigan recorded their third win of the Betfred Super League season with a hard-fought 26-12 home success against Hull.
The two Australian playmakers were in sensational form as they both crossed for tries and also claimed assists as the Black and Whites slumped to consecutive defeats.
Wigan fought back from 8-0 down to lead 10-8 at the break following an entertaining half that saw both teams have players sin-binned.
And the Warriors ran in three more tries in the second half through Dom Manfredi, Hastings and Willie Isa while Josh Griffin claimed a consolation for Hull.
The Warriors opened the scoring after three minutes when Hastings and Liam Farrell combined expertly to send French in under the posts for his fourth try of the season.
Manfredi, who was making his return from a serious knee injury, almost scored with his first touch following great work from French, but he was bundled into touch just inches short of the line.
French was causing Hull problems and he made a break down the right before sending a kick infield for Zak Hardaker to chase, but the centre was unable to win the race for the ball.
Hardaker extended Wigan's lead to eight points with a penalty after 14 minutes.
Hull finally found their feet but Mahe Fonua was prevented from scoring thanks to a fine three-man tackle involving French, Liam Marshall and Jake Bibby.
But they found a way through when Griffin intercepted a ball from French near his own line and he eventually sent Adam Swift racing away to score.
Farrell was then penalised for interfering at the play-the-ball and Marc Sneyd levelled with the penalty.
Griffin and Farrell were both shown yellow cards following a melee to leave each team temporarily down to 12 men before Hardaker slotted over the resulting penalty.
The first try of the second half would be crucial and it fell to Wigan's Manfredi after 45 minutes. The impressive French sent over a looping ball for the winger to collect and touch down in the corner, but Hardaker was unable to convert.
Wigan threw everything at the Hull line and they got their reward as Hastings stretched over from close range to score. Hardaker converted to open up a 12-point lead.
The Warriors put the game to bed with 13 minutes remaining when substitute Harry Smith's first involvement saw him chase his own kick and put Swift under enough pressure to see him fail to ground the ball and allow Isa the simple task of touching down. Hardaker converted and the Warriors were out of sight at 26-8.
Hull had the final say when Griffin broke through a poor tackle attempt from Hardaker to race 40 metres to score in the corner but it was too little, too late.
