Super League: Wigan Warriors 2-26 St Helens - Saints coast to highly charged derby win

Wigan and St Helens both had players sent to the bin in a tense fixture, with Saints pulling off their second win of the season against the Cherry and Whites

St Helens coasted to a derby win over Wigan Warriors in a highly charged Super League fixture at the DW Stadium.

Mark Percival capitalised on Wigan losing Willie Isa to the bin as he ran through to send Saints 16 points ahead.

Harry Smith scored Wigan's only points with his first-half penalty goal, with Alex Walmsley adding a late emphatic try to wrap it up for Saints.

St Helens, who beat Wigan in a memorable Super League Grand Final last season, have now also pulled off the double over Wigan this term, having already beaten them 26-6 at home in July.

Wigan suffered a nightmare start when Liam Marshall came off worse in the first tackle of the game and was forced off for a head injury assessment.

Grace, who scored on his Super League debut in this fixture in 2017, ran in a trademark try in the corner to get Saints off the mark.

Both sides had players sent to the bin after 15 minutes when James Bentley and John Bateman saw yellow following an altercation after Saints gave away a penalty - and that was a sign of things to come.

In a heated derby with a vociferous 16,000 crowd in attendance, Jackson Hastings was lucky not to be punished for grabbing Saints' Lachlan Coote by the neck and bringing him down just before he was able to go over for what would have been the visitors' third try of the night.

Soon after, Bentley caught Marshall high with a tackle as tensions ran high, while Bateman was later sin-binned for a second time, this time for dissent.

Just before the hour mark, Isa was put on report for a strong off-the-ball tackle on Jack Welsby and, just as Bateman returned, Isa was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

It was a night to forget for Wigan, as they rarely threatened their opponents when in possession, with Walmsley's late try rounding off a miserable 80 minutes.

Wigan: Hardaker, Bibby, Isa, Gildart, Marshall, Hastings, Smith, Havard, Shorrocks, Partington, Farrell, Pearce-Paul, Smithies.

Interchanges: Bateman, Bourouh, Bullock, Byrne.

St Helens: Coote, Naiqama, Welsby, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Thompson, Bentley, Knowles.

Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Paasi, Smith, Batchelor.

Referee: Chris Kendall.

• Super League Show - watch and catch-up here

• Breaking taboos in sport: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Ben Stokes and their powerful message about mental wellbeing
• For The Love of Hip Hop: Romesh Ranganathan dives into the genre, not always successfully