Liam Marshall marked his 150th appearance with a hat-trick as Wigan sealed their return to the Betfred Super League Grand Final for the first time in three years with a blistering 42-12 win over Hull KR at the DW Stadium.
Matt Peet’s men scored three tries in the opening 12 minutes and never looked back as they set up an Old Trafford clash with Catalans Dragons and their former hero Sam Tomkins, who starred in each of Wigan’s previous three Grand Final wins.
Elliot Minchella’s try gave Rovers a glimmer of hope before the break but three tries in quick succession at the start of the second half – bolstered by the unerring boot of Harry Smith who kicked all seven of his conversions – wrapped up Wigan’s win inside an hour.
Willie Peters’ men had arrived at the DW Stadium brimming with confidence after a stellar campaign but the semi-final simply proved a step too far as their flat-footed defensive line was ruthlessly exploited by the hosts.
Marshall marked his 150th appearance by crashing between Tom Opacic and Louis Senior to notch the opener inside three minutes, then Jai Field pursued Smith’s clever kick to slap down his side’s second, a video check over-ruling referee Liam Moore’s suspicions of a knock-on.
Marshall exposed more gaps on the Rovers rights to trot over all too easily for his side’s third and Smith’s precision with the boot meant the visitors were staring at an 18-0 deficit having barely brushed the ball in anger.
Minchella at least gave his side hope before half-time as Rovers capitalised on a careless knock-on by Abbas Miski, Opacic and Matt Parcell combining to give Minchella the chance to get their side on the scoreboard.
Rovers briefly looked galvanised and Matty Storton had a sniff of a second, but it marked their last real chance to establish some sort of contest as familiar failings meant Wigan completed the job within 15 minutes of the restart.
French’s clever cross-field lob found Marshall in space to tap down for his hat-trick, yet another Rovers failure to cope with a high ball sent Toby King over in the opposite corner, then Patrick Mago’s fancy footwork served up Field’s second.
Wigan were simply merciless against a Rovers team folding under the weight of an exhaustive campaign and a seventh try via Abbas Miski began to give the scoreline echoes of Wigan’s 64-6 win over a second-string Rovers side early last month.
They at least avoided that indignity, but it was a sad ending for Rovers and in particular their stalwart Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who had a shocker in his final game before retirement.
Smith finally missed with a cheeky long-range drop-goal attempt as Wigan counted down the minutes and Rovers at least gave their massed ranks of travelling fans something to cheer when Jordan Abdull sent Jez Litten cantering through in the dying stages.
Jamaica Exodus go down 22-28 to Tampa Mayhem in Florida
Jamaica Exodus went down 22-28 to the Tampa Mayhem in their debut 13s representative match on Saturday, May 11, at the Hillsborough High School in Tampa. The contest was a contrast of two halves. Tampa raced to a 16-4 lead at half time and seemed destined to rack up a big score against the visitors. Things looked even worse when the home team scored first just after the break.
However, the Jamaicans had a huge rally in the second half and almost snatched victory at the end, denied by desperate Tampa defense on the very last play of the game. Overall, Adrian Hall led Exodus with 10 points from three goals and a try, Ricardo Richards bagged two tries at center, and winger Oshane Christy got on the score sheet with a try. Tries for Tampa came from Gunnar Johnson, Justin Davenport, Lee Soprenuk, Justion Branca and Donte Salter. Jayeden Jeanes completed Tampa’s scoring with eight points from four goals.
Exodus Manager Mike Williams said, “This was an excellent test for our boys, tours such as this replicate the short turnaround time players will face when playing with the full Jamaica National side. I am pleased with the overall effort from the team, Tampa is a solid outfit and gave as good as they got. Our fight back in the second half was very pleasing and we look forward to touring again next year, hopefully in Tampa again.
The Jamaican team was proudly sponsored by Rapid Production, Maximize the Moment and JM Documents and Services. The team will now set its sight on possible participation in the Las Vegas 9s in 2025, and a return to Florida to take on one of the State based teams. The Exodus program was created in 2022 to further expose aspiring and national players residing in the USA, Canada, and Jamaica to high-level competition in North America.
Jamaica Exodus: Kareem Harris, Odane Lalor, Mike Williams, Sheldon Kelly (Atlanta Rhinos) Adrian Thomas, Andre McFarlane, Kevin Thomas (Duhaney Park Red Sharks), Adrian Hall, (Liguanea Dragons), Daniel Dean (Tampa Mayhem), Odane Christy, Oshane Christy (St Catherine Old Boys Thundercats) Chevaun Smith, David Williams, Jevaughn Henry, Hakeem Richards, Linval Green, Sean Reid (Washington Blvd. Bulls), Ricardo Richards, (West Kingston Hyenas), Sandino Hastings, (Unattached).
Calabar High and Cedar Grove Academy crowned Rugby League U14 and U16 champions
Rugby League Jamaica concluded its U14 and U16 High School 13-a-side Championships on Friday, April 26, at Campion College. In U14 action, five-time defending champions Calabar High faced off against BB Coke High, whilst in U16, Calabar battled last year’s beaten finalist, Cedar Grove Academy, for top honours.
In the U14s, Calabar overcame a spirited BB Coke outfit 8-4, to grab their sixth consecutive hold on the trophy. Jahir Brown scored both tries for the winners, whilst Tyrell Scott got the consolidation try for BB Coke.
Cedar Grove then won their maiden U16 title with a clinical defensive display, holding off Calabar 14-2. Elvis Simms led the victors with eight points from two tries with support from Steven Constantine with a try while Nathan Brown kicked a goal for two points. Derone Plummer kicked a goal to give Calabar their only points.
Commenting on his team’s performance in both finals, Oshane Edie, head coach of Calabar said, “Our U14s are a new young group who just started playing, it’s a great result to get the win and bodes well for the future. Throughout the season Devontae Molar and Amore Anderson were good for us, their exceptional play along with their teammates gave us the victory. As for our U16s, they had a good season, but I think we were a bit overconfident in the finals and paid the price. Overall, the rugby league programme at Calabar remains strong and is looking good for the future.”
Cedar Grove’s winning coach Antonio Baker attributed victory to hard work stating, “Winning the U16 crown is a culmination of years of work that has finally paid off. We’ve been close on several occasions before, including past year, when we were beaten finalists, but this season our focus was spot on, and we are happy for the school.”
In other action on the day, Kingston College snatched 3rd place over Campion College 6-4. Armani Burnette with the try for the winners and Donnoy Harris kicking a goal. Meanwhile, Josah Bennett bagged Campion’s lone try.
In Girls action, BB Coke won the final 9-a-side tournament of the school year, Grove Academy 16-8 and 16-4 in a best of three clash.
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John Mousinho admits Portsmouth celebrations took their toll against Wigan
John Mousinho admitted Portsmouth’s Sky Bet League One title celebrations had an impact on their 2-1 defeat to Wigan.
Pompey had their return to the Championship confirmed after they beat Barnsley on Tuesday, but Luke Chambers and Josh Magennis spoilt their promotion party – which saw them lift the trophy as champions.
Mousinho said: “I think Wigan deserved to win. We were awful in the first half. I don’t think we got the press right.
“We were good in possession, but not out of possession, and we got punished for it. We changed things around for the second half and we were more aggressive and much better.
“Their second goal was poor defensively. We created more chances after our goal but just couldn’t get the equaliser.
“We wanted to go out on a high, so the players are obviously disappointed to have lost that unbeaten run.
“I thought we had enough in the tank pre-match to win it, but it’s been a difficult week in terms of normality. Winning on Tuesday, the euphoria of that, and the awards here on Wednesday meant the preparation was very different from the last 44 games.
“Next week will be back to normal in terms of physicality and mentally.”
Wigan’s Jonny Smith hit a post in the 13th minute, but the visitors took the lead 10 minutes later when Chambers put the loose ball past Pompey goalkeeper Will Norris.
Latics sealed the win when Magennis beat Norris with seven minutes to go, despite Kusini Yengi pulling one back for Pompey in the 85th minute.
Wigan manager Shaun Maloney said: “It was a game of two halves really. The first half was probably the best we’ve played all season. We had chances to increase the lead but didn’t take them. That would have made the game very different.
“Pompey were talking about keeping up their unbeaten run and reaching 100 points, but we wanted to win this game. We’ve had 500 fans travel down here today, so it was important we played well.
“Luke really hurt them the first half, and it would be great to have him back next season.
“Jonny’s really stepped up. I think if anything I need more from him next season. He needs a full pre-season and I think he’s a brilliant player.
“The game changed after their goal. Sam (Tickle) has made some tremendous saves getting in where it hurts. The scuffle at the end on the touchline was just about two teams wanting to win.”
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