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| Wigan 42-18 Hull KR Wigan 42-18 Hull KRWigan revived their challenge for a first Grand Final appearance in seven years in style with this seven-try victory and must now wait to see whether St Helens dare to choose them as their semi-final opponents next weekend. Saints inherited the Club Call pick courtesy of Wigan's defeat by Leeds in the first round of the play-offs last Sunday and could be forced to decide between their two fiercest local rivals if Warrington beat Huddersfield tomorrow.The St Helens coach, Mick Potter, came for a first-hand view and saw the Warriors bounce back impressively from last weekend's disappointment, inspired by another dazzling performance by the full-back Sam Tomkins, who played on despite dislocating a finger. Tomkins, who has made such a successful switch from stand-off in the second half of the season, will be the biggest single reason why Potter must be wary of plumping for Wigan."You need a lasso or a poisoned dart to stop him," said the Hull KR coach, Justin Morgan. "One of the tries he set up for Darrell Goulding he must have skipped past six of our players. You know what he's going to do but I haven't figured out a way to stop him yet."Those two Tomkins-inspired tries for Goulding earned Wigan a 24-14 lead at the end of a first half in which Rovers had twice gone ahead. First they responded to a Pat Richards opener from Sean O'Loughlin's perfect long pass with two well-worked tries of their own from Peter Fox and Ben Cockayne to take a 12-6 lead. Then, after Liam Farrell had surged over from a forward-looking pass for an equalising score for Wigan, Michael Dobson nudged Rovers ahead again with a 19th-minute penalty. But they continued to concede too many silly penalties that handed Wigan the position for each of their four first-half tries and it was a similar story after the break.After 13 minutes of standing toe to toe with the Warriors in a relentless period of play-off rugby, the young interchange hooker Josh Hodgson went needlessly high in a tackle. Wigan seized the invitation, with the threat of Tomkins on the open side helping Thomas Leuluai to catch Rovers napping from acting half.Within a couple of minutes Leuluai's burst created space on the right for Martin Gleeson to offer an all too rare reminder of his class with a clinical finish and the Warriors were out of sight. Fox scored a second try for Rovers but the elder Tomkins brother, Joel, claimed the last score of the game to leave the Wigan coach, Michael Maguire, delighted by his team's response - and relieved not to be in the Club Call hot seat.Wigan Warriors S Tomkins; Goulding, Gleeson, Carmont, Richards; O'Loughlin (capt), Leuluai; Fielden, Riddell, Coley, Hansen, J Tomkins, Farrell. Interchange Prescott, McIlorum, Paleaaesina, Tuson. Tries Richards, Farrell, Goulding 2, Leuluai, Gleeson, J Tomkins Goals Richards 7Hull Kingston Rovers Briscoe; Fox, Cockayne, Welham, Colbon; Murrell, Dobson; Vella (capt), Fisher, Clinton, Newton, Galea, Netherton. Interchange Lovegrove, Wheeldon, Cook, Hodgson.Tries Fox 2, Cockayne Goals Dobson 3Referee R Silverwood (Mirfield). Attendance 11,133.Super LeagueWigan WarriorsHull KRRugby leagueAndy Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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