WIGAN CRONULLA

bragging rights. It was weird but I felt so comfortable and like I had never been away.

“It means everything because it kicks off the season and gives us extra goals to go on and win the Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield and Super League title.”

To beat a team of Cronulla’s class takes a special kind of spirit. You need a certain togetherness; you have to be able to call on a collective desire.

Those qualities were evident throughout as Wigan fashioned a famous victory that was chiselled on aggression and obstinate defending as much as it was on attacking flair.

Nobody epitomised Wigan’s refusal to buckle more than England stand-off George Williams, whose efforts at both ends of the field earned him the man-of-the-match honours.

Wigan led in the fourth minute when Williams worked the ball to centre Oliver Gildart, another homegrown product, inside the left channel and he found Burgess arriving at pace in support.

The towering winger displayed outstanding dexterity to dive over in the left corner and acrobatically ground the ball.

The visitors twice had claims for tries waved away but in between those incidents came a second try in the 23rd minute. Sam Powell, Williams and Gildart combined in a stunning handling sequence which Burgess finished off in the left channel.

Putting your head in where it hurts was the mantra for Wane’s side as they repelled wave after wave of Cronulla attacks.

Five minutes into the second half, Gildart collected an exquisite long pass from French full-back Morgan Escare and dived over the line in the left corner. When Escare applied a superb touchline conversion to make it 16-0, Wigan seemed destined to prevail.

The Sharks came back strongly and scored through Jesse Ramien shortly before the hour for a converted try that made it 16-6.

Yet Burgess dived onto a loose ball in the last action of the game to cap a convincing win.