Super League: Wigan Warriors 44-18 Huddersfield Giants

The opening 40 minutes had looked very different, as Huddersfield took the game to the Warriors, dominating midfield and looking like anything but a team that has lost its first three games.

They lost influential playmaker Tui Lolohea to illness before kick-off but that meant 20-year-old Flanagan forged a dynamic half-back partnership with Adam Clune, making his first appearance of the season after injury.

The excellent Clune sent Adam Swift over for an acrobatic finish and, after Farrell and Eckersley had shown how clinical Wigan can be with two quick tries in reply, Hewitt edged the visitors back in front before Flanagan finished a brilliant move to give Huddersfield an eight-point gap at half-time.

The game turned from the restart as Wigan’s Tyler Dupree was pinged for a knock-on, Farrell made a successful captain’s challenge to the decision, and Wigan went up the other end to score through Farrell after Swift had fumbled a high kick from Harry Smith.

The England scrum-half took control after that with a masterclass of kicking, passing, attacking breaks and sound defence.

Liam Marshall’s trademark athletic finish in the corner edged Wigan ahead, and then Smith’s stunning 40-20 kick set up another attack which ended with French pirouetting over the line despite the attentions of three tacklers.

Wigan were irresistible by this point and Harvie Hill and Leeming both had tries ruled out by video review as Giants struggled to cope with the whirlwind of attacking play coming at them.

Field stole some of Smith’s limelight by sending Jake Wardle over for a try against his old club, and then throwing an outrageous dummy to race clear for his own fifth Super League try of the season.

French sent Leeming over for the final try to give a scoreline the Giants did not deserve for their first-half excellence, and one which sends out an ominous warning to Wigan’s title challengers.