 | MATCH SUMMARY Wigan (8) 18
Tries: Moran, James, O'Loughlin, Brown
Goal: Tickle Harlequins (26) 30
Tries: Dorn 2, Gafa, Sheriffe, Mills, Smith
Goals: Gafa, Purdham 2 |
Wigan's miserable start to the Super League season continued as they slumped to a ninth defeat in 10 matches. The Warriors were 26-8 adrift and booed off at half-time as Luke Dorn (twice), Matt Gafa, Rikki Sheriffe and David Mills all crossed for Quins.
Wigan replied through Dennis Moran and Jordan James, but Tyrone Smith extended Quins' lead to 30-8 on the resumption.
Sean O'Loughlin and Kevin Brown, late on, did grab tries back but Quins held out for a second straight win.
Victory lifts them five points clear of Wigan, for whom defeat illustrated the scale of the task facing Brian Noble if he opts to leave Bradford and become Wigan's new coach.
The Warriors are now four points adrift at the foot of the table, and showing few signs of emerging from their slump.
Nine defeats in 10 matches is their worst ever run in the Super League era, and this was a seventh successive league defeat.
To add to their worries, O'Loughlin was placed on report for a suspect tackle on Mark Tookey five minutes from time.
Caretaker Wigan boss Stuart Wilkinson:
"We started the game pretty well but there were some lapses in defence and we were 10-0 down. We then had to chase the game until the 80th minute. "I'm absolutely confident that the players can turn it around. There's a tremendous amount of potential in the team but there is a lot of work to be done.
"Obviously the major factor is the new coach coming in. At the moment the coaching staff is trying to fix things on the run and we don't want to implement new systems without the new coach being around. "For now we will keep it as simple as we can. But from our point of view the sooner the new coach is here the better."
Harlequins boss Tony Rea:
"It was a job well done. I thought we played some pretty good footy. "We played really well as a team the whole way through and complemented each others play.
"There was a real key period in the second half where we defended our line for six minutes. We put the game away at that point."
Wigan: Moran, Ashton, Gleeson, Richards, Dallas, Brown, Orr, Hargreaves, Higham, Wilkes, Tickle, Jonkers, O'Loughlin.
Replacements: Godwin, James, Paleaaesina, O'Carroll.
Harlequins RL: McLinden, Sheriffe, Gafa, Smith, Bradley-Qalilawa, Dorn, Leuluai, Mills, Randall, Heckenberg, Purdham, Hopkins, Mbu.
Replacements: Budworth, Tookey, Williams, Lucky Luisi.
Referee: P Bentham (Warrington)
MMIX
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