Warriors battle past Broncos
Wigan got back to winning ways in the Stobart Super League with a hard-fought 42-30 triumph over the London Broncos.
Last Updated: 18/03/12 5:50pm
Wigan got back to winning ways in the Stobart Super League with a hard-fought 42-30 triumph over the London Broncos.
Having suffered a stunning 37-36 reverse at the hands of bottom club Widnes seven days ago, the Warriors looked in danger of being beaten again when they trailed 18-6 after half-an-hour at the DW Stadium.
However, the Cherry and Whites stunned their opponents with three tries in the space of just six minutes to open up a 24-18 lead at the break.
They managed to keep their noses in front in the second half, Pat Richards adding a try to his seven goals to finish with a personal haul of 18 points.
Wonderful Witt
London stand-off Michael Witt matched Richards' efforts thanks to five conversions and two tries, the first of which broke the deadlock after just four minutes had been played.
Indeed, Wigan - who welcomed back key men Sam Tomkins, Richards, Thomas Leuluai and Sean O'Loughlin, while George Carmont returned from injury - did not get their hands on the ball until the eighth minute.
However they levelled matters in the 10th when Brett Finch charged on to half-back partner Leuluai's pass to score next to the uprights.
Tomkins then had a try ruled out after gathering Richards' diagonal kick under the posts and London took advantage in the 17th minute, Matt Cook's break leading to Luke Dorn sending Michael Robertson over in the left corner.
Witt then forced Richards to concede a goal-line drop-out and Dorn swept the ball out to the left to Dan Sarginson, who stepped inside to finish.
With all three conversions added the Broncos - who finally opened their account in 2012 with a handsome win over Castleford in the capital last Saturday - looked set to cause a serious upset on their travels.
Their hopes, though, were dealt a serious blow when the Warriors hit them with an 18-point blitz in the closing stages of the opening period.
Forward Gareth Hock reached over to score for the hosts and, after a London penalty, Lima set up Goulding to score with an arced run on the right. Tomkins then broke from inside his own half in the 37th minute, finding Finch in support, before O'Loughlin made the final pass for centre Carmont to cross.
Picked up
The Warriors picked up from where they left off at the start of the second half when Richards scored from Hock's offload just two minutes after the restart.
The Broncos tried to stay in touch with ex-Wigan man Chris Melling pulling a try back, only for Australian Finch to wriggle through at the other end of the field for his second of the afternoon shortly after.
Full-back Tomkins then caught the Broncos napping by taking a quick tap penalty and bursting through to score an excellent 80-metre try.
Leuluai lost his grip reaching for the line and then saw a wayward pass picked off to let Witt complete his brace. The score set up a rather tense final 10 minutes, Wigan twice having to prevent Antonio Kaufusi from touching down.
