The Wigan Warriors were seeking to put a momentary halt on the Saints charge to the Minor Premiership and to try and prevent them from opening up a ten point overnight lead in the Super League with one round of the regular season remaining.

Dan Sarginson, Joe Greenwood and new signing from the Swinton Lions, Chris Hankinson, were all in the seventeen named by Sean Wane. Justin Holbrook made just one change to his side with Jack Ashworth being named on the bench.

St Helens won the game between the two sides on Good Friday by a slender three points and Wigan went into the game keen to level the 2018 score between the two favourites to make the Grand Final in October.

It was a scrappy and nervy opening for both sides with a number of mistakes on show. Saints opened the scoring on ten minutes when Dominic Peyroux took advantage of a collision between two Wigan defenders to collect the rebounded ball just centimetres from the line and drop over for the four pointer. Danny Richardson added the extras.

After Wigan interfered at the play-the-ball, thirty metres from their own line, Saints pointed to the sticks and Richardson kicked the penalty to extend the lead.

Although there was a sparcity of points the action was end to end with strong defences thwarting attack after attack. Saints took an 8-0 lead into the sheds with the Warriors knowing that they would need to dig deep in the second half.

Ten minutes after the restart, and following intensive Saints pressure, Morgan Knowles crashed over the line after slipping out of the first tackle to dive over. Richardson added the extras for 14-0 and were starting to boss the game after dominating the second half.

Dan Sarginson went close for Wigan on sixty-nine but was held up over the line but a minute later a jinking Sam Tomkins found his way over the whitewash to ground one-handed by the left upright. He added the conversion to his own try for 6-14.

The Warriors were playing some great rugby in the closing minutes but couldn’t magic a second score as Saints held on for a convincing win and to go ten points clear at the top of the pile. Wigan will now hope that Castleford don’t go past them tomorrow evening as the league heads into the final round before the middle eights.

Saints increasingly look unstoppable.

Warriors: Tomkins S (T, G), Davies, Hankinson, Sarginson, Marshall, Woods, Powell, Clubb, Leuluai, Flower, Isa, Bateman, Navarrete .  Subs: Hamlin, Paisley, Greenwood, Tautai.

Saints: Lomax, Swift, Makinson, Morgan, Grace, Fages, Richardson (3G), Amor, Roby, Thompson, Peyroux (T), Knowles (T), Wilkin.  Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Douglas, Lees, Ashworth.

Referee: Robert Hicks.

Half-Time: 0-8.

Full-Time: 6-14.

Attendance: .