Wigan welcomed Tarleton in their first home game of the 25/26 season, buoyant after a rampant win over local rivals, Aspull, in the opening game.

Tarleton came to Douglas Valley having narrowly missed out on promotion last season and looking the part of a side used to playing at this level.

The game was evenly balanced and it was 23 minutes in before the deadlock was broken. An errant Tarleton lineout was fielded by George Lowe, who played the ball along the line to Logan Astley. Astley made ground to halfway before kicking through and chasing the ball down for the opening score. Joss Parker added the conversion.
Wigan added further points when a bounced pass wasn’t collected by the Tarleton backline. Wigan pounced and hacked the ball on for Nathan Butler to chase down for the score. Parker added the conversion for a 14-0 lead.
On the stroke of halftime, Tarleton hit back with a break down the left wing that was well finished in the corner.
Tarleton took the momentum into the second half and a penalty in the scrum led to the visitors getting excellent position deep in the Wigan half before taking the ball over to narrow the gap to 14-10.
Wigan went back on the front foot and took the ball into the Tarleton 22 before a loose pass was seized upon by the Tarleton wing who took it the distance for the score. With the conversion added the score was now 14-17.
Wigan had a breakaway of their own now, as Logan Astley intercepted on halfway and took the ball over to give Wigan the lead once again. Parker added the conversion.
With 10 minutes to go Tarleton showed their class as they began to run riot. A score through the middle was followed up by a score down the right hand side before they scored the final try straight through the middle once again for a 21-36 win.
Wigan can take heart from a spirited performance and will take on the learning opportunity provided by what was a closer contest than the scoreline suggests.
Wigan welcome Warrington to Douglas Valley this coming Saturday 20th September, to play the first round of the national cup competition, with kick off scheduled for 3pm.