Bottom side Huddersfield beat leaders Wigan

ByAdam Lanigan

BBC Sport England

Betfred Super League

Wigan (4) 16

Tries: Eckersley, Farrimond, Farrell Goals: Smith 2

Huddersfield (16) 34

Tries: Gagai, Zenon, Evalds, Douglas, Wrench, Clune Goals: Zenon 5

Super League leaders Wigan Warriors suffered a shock home loss to bottom side Huddersfield Giants, ending their 100% start to the season.

It also ended Huddersfield's losing start, which stood at five games and had resulted in head coach Luke Robinson leaving.

Few would have expected the Giants to pull off this victory, but they ran in six tries, having only managed a total of eight in their previous five matches.

Tries from Jacob Gagai, Tanguy Zenon and Niall Evalds gave them a 16-0 lead, while debut scores from Jacob Douglas and Connor Wrench and returning captain Adam Clune clinched a deserved win, moving them level on points with Leigh Leopards.

Wigan, who stay two points clear of Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity at the top, had only tries from Zach Eckersley, Jack Farrimond and Liam Farrell to show for a miserable afternoon for them at The Brick Community Stadium, where Tara Jones became the first woman to referee a Super League game.

Huddersfield's terrible start to the season coincided with a huge raft of injuries, but notwithstanding that, it cost Robinson his job.

However, for this fixture the Giants were able to call upon crucial reinforcements in the shape of captain Clune and full-back Evalds for their first games of 2026.

It reflected in a strong first half as Gagai's burst score saw them take the lead. And they would have had two other scores but for brilliant try-saving tackles from young Warriors full-back Noah Hodkinson.

But there was a fairer reflection of their dominance after Zenon was adjudged to have scored after a successful captain's challenge.

And when Adam Keighran dropped the ball, Evalds reacted fastest to pick up and dart through a gap to touch down.

Wigan had been second best throughout the opening half, but a flying winger's finish from Eckersley got them on the board.

Some fine defending from the visitors close to their line stopped the Warriors from further reducing the gap, only for the Giants to extend their advantage when Tom Burgess' big miss-pass set ex-Wigan winger Douglas free for a run to the line on his first Huddersfield game, having joined on loan from St Helens.

Wrench, in his first match since coming out of retirement, went over to extend the lead to 20 points, which was briefly reduced by Farrimond's try.

But Huddersfield's sixth and final score was one of the tries of the season so far as brilliant offloads and handling in midfield resulted in Clune running through unopposed.

For Wigan, the absence of injured star backs Bevan French and Jai Field hit hard as they were nowhere near their usual selves, with Farrell's 80th-minute effort little more than a consolation.

On the 30th anniversary weekend of the launch of the Super League era, this was the first match to have a female referee.

Jones had described it as a "crazy week", having received her MBE on Monday from Prince William for services to rugby league.

A former St Helens and England player before she retired to become a full-time official, the 29-year-old was given what she will hope to be the first of many Super League games.

Her early cries of 'six again' showed her to be at the heart of the action, while her first big call was the decision of 'No try' when Wigan captain Farrell thought he had gone over, with the television official backing up Jones' call by saying that Farrell was offside in the build-up.

She initially ruled that Zenon had not grounded the ball properly for Huddersfield's second try, only for the Giants to successfully use their captain's challenge to prove that the France winger had applied enough downward force before the ball slipped out of his grasp.

But she produced an excellent display, and when Wigan's frustrations threatened to spill over deep into the second half as the shock defeat was on the cards, she was on hand to diffuse everything calmly and with authority.

Wigan: Hodkinson; Eckersley, Keighran, Farrell, Marshall; Farrimond, Smith; Havard, O'Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Walters, Ellis.

Interchanges: Mago, Partington, Eseh, Kerr.

Huddersfield: Evalds; Zenon, Wrench, Gagai, Douglas; Lolohea, Clune; Powell, Patolo, O'Donnell, King, Woolford, Rogers.

Interchanges: Milne, Burgess, Rush, Cozza.

Referee: Tara Jones