Wigan return to summit

Wigan reclaimed top place in the Tetley's Bitter Super League yesterday but the Leeds revival was ended abruptly when they were pipped 26-22 at Hull.

The Warriors beat Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 48-30 at the JJB Stadium without ever being at their best to leapfrog St Helens and Bradford Bulls into pole position.

The home scrum-half Willie Peters scored the try of the match three minutes before the break as raced 90 metres after snatching an interception.

The Wildcats trailed only 22-20 at the halfway stage thanks to tries from Francis Stephenson, Adam Hughes and Neil Law.

Wigan moved up a couple of gears in the second half following the introduction of 18-year-old hooker Mark Smith, who tormented the visitors.

Jason Robinson scored two tries while Peters and Kris Radlinski also crossed the line, but Wigan once more lapsed under the hot sun as Paul Sampson and Hughes chalked up late consolation tries.

Frank Endacott, the Wigan coach, said: "We let them back into the game by half-time and it was all about getting the players back on track.

"Wakefield gave us a wake-up call and we responded in the second half. We weren't at our best but at least we got the two points."

Wakefield's head coach Andy Kelly said: "We came here with a positive attitude and overall it wasn't a bad 80 minutes. The first 40 was an even affair.

"There are a lot of young players in the team because of injuries and I was pleased with the effort and commitment everybody put in."

At the Boulevard Leeds were looking good for a fourth successive Super League win when tries from Richie Blackmore, Adrian Morley and Andy Hay helped them to a 16-4 half-time lead.

But Hull, spurred on by a season's-best crowd of 8,143, stunned the beaten Challenge Cup finalists by taking a 20-16 lead thanks to tries from Richard Horne, Steve Collins and Luke Felsch.

Leeds edged in front with Karl Pratt's 70th-minute try, superbly converted from the touchline by Iestyn Harris, but seven minutes later Will Robinson sent prop Andrew Hick in for the match-winner.

Castleford consolidated fourth place when they mounted a successful second-half fightback to beat bottom club Huddersfield-Sheffield 26-6 at the Jungle.

The Giants led 6-4 at half-time but crashed to their fifth straight defeat after the Tigers scored four second-half tries, two of them from their winger Darren Rogers in a five-minute spell.