Vikings sunk by Warriors

Josh Charnley: Scored hat-trick in comfortable win

Josh Charnley grabbed a hat-trick as Wigan claimed their 10th consecutive Stobart Super League victory with a comfortable 54-12 win over Widnes at the DW Stadium.

The winger also kicked seven goals as he went past Hull forward Danny Tickle and Catalan Dragons' Scott Dureau as the top scorer in the competition this season.

It was all too easy for the Warriors as they cruised to a 13th successive victory on home soil in a contest that showed just how big a gulf exists between the top and bottom of Super League.

Stand-off Brett Finch ran in two tries while Michael McIlorum, George Carmont, Paul Prescott, Anthony Gelling and Sam Tomkins also crossed as Wigan gained ample revenge for their shock 37-36 defeat at the Stobart Stadium in March.

It took the league leaders just two minutes to score the first of their 10 tries, with Charnley taking in skipper Sean O'Loughlin's pass to cross at the corner.

A rout looked on the cards when hooker McIlorum easily shrugged off the attempted tackle of Chris Dean to score a soft try and Finch and Tomkins worked the ball out wide to centre Carmont for a third touch down.

The Warriors were 16-0 up after only 13 minutes, but former Wigan prop Ben Cross stopped the rot when he powered over for the second try of his long career, just three weeks after scoring his first.

Pressure

Patrick Ah Van added the goal and the Vikings then enjoyed a heavy spell of pressure as they set up camp on the Wigan line.

Stand-off Joe Mellor, on loan from the Warriors, looked certain to add a second try following a break from halfway but a terrific tackle from a recovering Jack Hughes stopped him short.

Wigan hit back with two more quickfire tries through substitute Prescott, who took O'Loughlin's short pass to claim his first Super League touchdown for 12 months, and winger Gelling.

Mellor made amends for his earlier miss when he intercepted Finch's pass to race 30 metres for a try on the stroke of half-time, which came with the scoreline reading 28-12 to the hosts.

However, Wigan re-established their 22-point advantage within two minutes of the re-start when Finch dummied his way over for a sixth try and Charnley tacked on the extras.

Wales international Rhodri Lloyd was then inches away from scoring on his home debut before Charnley showed his strength as well as pace to beat two defenders to claim his second try.

He completed his hat-trick on 67 minutes, pouncing after former Wigan full-back Shaun Briscoe failed to clear Tomkins' grubber kick, and O'Loughlin once more demonstrated his class to get Finch over for his second try.

Charnley initially struggled when asked to fill in for regular kicker Pat Richards but he looked full of confidence as he booted his seventh goal from nine attempts to bring up the half-century before Tomkins' scored his side's 10th try.