Leuluai leads Warriors rout

Wigan cruised to a convincing 40-12 defeat of Harlequins on Friday night, the Warriors running in eight tries against the Londoners who had David Howell sent off.

Wigan had already scored three tries before Howell got his marching orders for an ugly high tackle on Sam Tomkins.

From that point there was no way back for the visitors as the Warriors eased to a one-sided triumph that takes them level on points with their opponents.

Wigan flew out of the traps and were on the board as early as the third minute thanks to a Pat Richards try that owed much to the skill and audacity of George Carmont.

It was Sean O'Loughlin who made the initial break before offloading to Carmont, the Australian then produced a sublime flicked pass inside that wrong-footed two covering defenders allowing Richards an easy run to the line.

The scorer was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt, but did land on his second attempt which came just five minutes later as Mark Riddell raced on to Sam Tomkins' clever grubber kick to collect and touch down next to the posts.

Harlequins were at sixes and sevens and fell further behind on 11 minutes as Karl Pryce claimed his second try in Wigan colours thanks to some more suspect defending.

A high kick from Thomas Leuluai was claimed by Amos Roberts who shrugged of weak challenge from Will Sharp to win the ball before spinning wide where, after a couple of passes, it found Pryce who rumbled over in the corner.

But Quins finally stirred as an attacking force on 25 minutes as another high-kick, this time from Danny Orr, caused confusion in the Wigan defence, Matt Gafa easily getting above the flat-footed Richards to collect and crash over in the corner.

Sending off

Orr added the extras, but any hopes Quins had of hauling themselves back into the game quickly evaporated as Howell became the first man to be sent off in Super League this season.

He was shown a red by referee Steve Ganson after launching an ugly elbow at Tomkins well after the whistle had already gone for a previous infringement.

Wigan instantly made their opponents pay for their indiscipline as O'Loughlin's slick pass sent Carmont over from close range and they added a fifth try five minutes before the hooter as Roberts cut inside a couple of defenders to finish off a polished move to make the half-time scoreline 24-6.

The hosts suffered a worrying early blow at the start of the second period as O'Loughlin limped off with what looked like a hamstring injury, but the points continued to flow as soon after Joel Tomkins beat a couple of defenders on the outside before getting the better of Chris Melling to just touch the ball down - the official requesting confirmation from the video referee before awarding the try.

The video referee was called on again to deny Will Sharp a try as he narrowly put a foot in touch and Wigan put the game to bed with two quick tries from Leuluai.

His first came on 55 minutes following a mistake from Chris Melling who dropped the ball to gift possession back to the hosts. Leuluai ensured it was to prove costly as he burrowed past three defenders to score from close range.

The New Zealander's second arrived five minutes later on the back of more suspect defending, Leuluai spinning out of a couple of weak tackles to score next to the posts allowing Richards another easy conversion to extend the lead to 40-6.

Harlequins did have the final word when Luke Gale weaved over for a fine solo effort, but it proved little more than a consolation for the well-beaten visitors.