The League One champions made a fast start to lead 24-12 at break, tries coming from Ollie Brookes (2), Junior Westwood and Jayden Hatton scoring for North Wales Crusaders, while tries came from Tiaki Chan and Leo Wadsworth crossing for Wigan – and despite further tries from Noah Hodkinson and Dayon Sambou, the home side withheld the comeback in front of a record crowd for rugby league at Eirias Stadium.
MATCH REPORT
The home side opened the scoring inside two minutes when a deep kick bounced towards Oliver Brookes, who gathered before sliding over from close range. Jordy Gibson was unable to add the extras as the score remained 4-0.
After a penalty allowed the Warriors to begin a new set 20m out, Taylor Kerr was held up before a short pass sent Chan crashing through between the sticks with Nathan Lowe kicking Wigan 6-4 ahead.
An end-to-end start continued in North Wales as Crusaders threatened the Warriors defence with a darting run before shifting play to the right where Brookes dived over for his second. Gibson’s conversion struck the post to keep the score at 8-6 after 11 minutes.
North Wales Crusaders added a third try four minutes later when Gibson’s kick inside bounced into the hands of Junior Westwood, who powered over from metres out with the extras kicked.
The home side extended their advantage to 24-6 when Jayden Hatton and Luke Forber crossed on opposites sides before the half hour mark, although Gibson was unable to widen the lead from the tee.
The Warriors introduced Shea O’Connor and Leo Wadsworth from the interchange bench. Shortly after O’Connor was held up over the line, Wadsworth stepped away from the tackle to score with Lowe reducing the points difference further to make the score 24-12 at the break.
The hosts capitalised on a Warriors error to score the first points of the second half when play was switched to Brookes who completed his hat-trick with Gibson kicking the two.
Shortly after O’Connor and Brad England were shown yellow cards for an off the ball incident, The Warriors crossed for a third try when Charlie Yeoman’s perfect pass sent Sambou over unopposed.
Lowe was unable to kick the extras as the score stayed 30-16.
A knock on denied Luke Forber his second as Wigan produced a fast-flowing attack which resulted in Hodkinson accelerating through a gap in the Crusaders defence to score.
Lowe successfully added the extras with 63 minutes on the clock.
Referee Liam Rush had to intervene once more when a coming together between the sides ended with Kian McDermott and Josh Eaves being sent to the sin-bin for a bit of a friendly fracas.
The hosts scored the final points of the friendly in the closing minutes when Forber raced onto an outside pass to dive over in the corner. Gibson’s kick dropped just short as the score remained 34-22 on the final hooter.
North Wales Crusaders: Lloyd Roby, Oliver Brookes, Jayden Hatton, Jake Spedding, Luke Forber, Junior Westwood, Jordy Gibson, Anthony Walker, Joshua Eaves, Chris Barratt, Brad England, Cole Oakley, Ashton Robinson.
Interchange: Joe Baldwin, Greg Eden, Tom Bridge, Shaun Costello, Kian Fishwick.
Wigan Warriors: Noah Hodkinson, Josh Cartwright, Nathan Lowe, Johnny Vaughan, Dayon Sambou, Charlie Yeomans, Jack Purtill, Kian McDermott, Tom Forber, Tiaki Chan, Lukas Mason, George Hirst, Taylor Kerr.
Interchange: Finn McMillan, Shea O’Connor, Kalum Rathbone, Leo Wadsworth, Riley Dervan, Harlen Smith (unused), Jaiden Drachenberg (unused), Mike Porter (unused).
Referee: Liam Rush
ATT: 1509