Wigan open their Super League season with a 26–16 win at Castleford; Zack Eckersley double inspires comeback victory; Sky Sports is the only place to watch every Super League game live in 2026
Last Updated: 15/02/26 9:47pm
Jake Wardle scores Wigan’s fifth try against Castleford
A brace of tries by Zack Eckersley helped Wigan start the new Super League season with a 26-16 win at Castleford.
Warriors trailed for much of the opening half until efforts by Liam Marshall and Bevan French before the interval handed the 2025 Grand Final runners-up a slender advantage at the break.Eckersley’s 43rd-minute try cemented Wigan’s grip on proceedings before he added another and Jake Wardle made the points safe when he crossed 13 minutes from time. Castleford rallied late on, but they had too much to do. After a weekend of surprise results, with champions Hull KR defeated, Wigan looked set to suffer the same fate when Liam Hood opened the scoring after 10 minutes.It stayed 6-0 until the 34th minute when Marshall grabbed the first of five tries for Warriors.After the conversion was unsuccessful, French went over and finished off a slick move to ensure Wigan were 10-6 up at half-time. Mikaele Ravalawa of Castleford celebrating his try Matt Peet’s men were in the ascendancy and Eckersley opened his account three minutes into the second half before he virtually wrapped up the points with a second score after 62 minutes.It was followed by a try for Wardle, but Tigers finished strongly after Warriors’ Adam Keighran was sent to the sin-bin, with Mikaele Ravalawa and George Lawler able to add consolation efforts in the final 11 minutes.Peet: We were decent when we got goingWigan head coach Matt Peet: “For large parts defensively I thought we were very good against a team who certainly asked questions.”On the pitch at Castleford you always feel like you are defending your own line which is a test.”I liked our last plays and at times when we got going with the ball we were decent. We will…
2026-02-15 20:59:00
