First and second in the Super League engaged in a tussle at Wigan as Darryl Powell’s Warrington came to town in a bid to go another round unbeaten, secure their position ahead of the chasing pack and put the 2022 rebuilding season behind them - along with the commentator’s annual joke about ‘this year’ being the Wolves’ year.

Wigan, straight off a powerful win over champions St Helens in the Easter rivals round, had their eyes on replacing Warrington at the top of the table and setting themselves up for an assault on Saints’ title.

The hosts kicked off in front of a record crowd and both teams were balanced in the opening sets, until the Warriors forced a goal-line drop-out in the fourth minute and scored in the subsequent set.

When they got within 10m of the Wire line, the cherry and whites passed the ball rapidly from right to left to Jake Wardle, who ran it in. Harry Smith couldn't convert the goal but Wigan led 0-4 after five minutes.

And for the rest of the half, Wigan dominated both territory and possession in the Wolves' den.

But rain started pelting down: Sam Kasiano lost the greasy ball and gifted Wigan an ideal attacking chance again in the 11th minute. But the Warriors lost the ball themselves as they set up for what would have been a blistering run for the try line up the left, stopped by a fearsome tackle into touch.

As the half hit its mid-point, Wigan pressed again and almost ran in on their right wing until the Wire's Matty Ashton pulled off a try-saving tackle just as the Wigan right-hand attack received a pass that would have seen them over the line and at least doubled Wigan's lead.

The Warriors were the only team making scoring chances in a game against a visibly tiring Warrington and on 26 minutes Brad O'Neill collected a Bevan French kick with the line in front of him.

He grounded the ball over the line with defenders hanging off him. Harry Smith converted to take the lead to 12 points.

With the clock running down George Williams, Matty Ashton and Matt Dufty broke down the left for nearly the full length of the field, but all three spurned chances to go for the line and the Wigan defence managed to get a tackle in on their own 10m line. 

After the next play-the-ball, the attack moved across the field to former Wiganner Matty Nicholson who dashed in to put the ball down and score the try Warrington needed. Stefan Ratchford's kick from the flank meant a 6-10 scoreline, which held until the half-time hooter.

When play restarted, Wigan resumed the pressure on their hosts, pressing hard in Warrington's red zone and when they won a penalty on the 10m le, opted to kick for goal and Smith made no mistake in taking the opportunity to score the first points of the second  half and take the scoreline to 6-12.

But by the time the game reached the three-quarter mark, that was the only addition to the score.  

Sustained pressure from Wigan failed to break the Warrington defence until Smith dropped a goal from just in front of the goal posts to get the scoreboard ticking over to 6-13.

They were dominating though, especially in defence, where they kept Warrington away from meaningful chances. As the game entered its final five minutes the Wolves looked no nearer to unlocking the Warriors' defence.

Even though Josh Drinkwater crossed the line to give Warrington hope, referee Chris Kendal spotted a knock-on in the build-up as a Warrington hand brushed the ball forward as it was passed across in the build -up.; And it was confirmed by the video ref.

And in the final 30 seconds an almost perfect repeat came again as Drinkwater offloaded to Greg Minikin who dived to ground the ball on the line – but again, Kendal spotted a slip of the hand as Minikin lost contact with the ball in the act of planting it.

And that turned out to be the final act: the hooter sounded before play could restart after the video ref's review.

Warrington's unbeaten start to the season ended as Wigan picked up the spoils from a bruising encounter between two teams at the top in front of 15,025 fans.

Warrington Wolves: Dufty; Thewlis, Mat'autia, Rachford (G), Ashton; Williams, Drinkwater; Kasiano, Walker, Vaughan, Currie, Nicholson (T), McGuire. Subs: Clark, Minikin, Russell, Green. 18th Man: Thomas.

Wigan Warriors: French; Miski, King, Wardle (T), Marshall; Shorrocks, Smith (G, P, DG); Singleton, Powell, Byrne, Isa, Farrell, Ellis. Subs: Havard, Mago, Pearce-Paul, O'Neill (T). 18th Man: Thornley.

Half Time: 6-10.

Full Time: 6-13.

Score Progression: 0-4, 0-8, 0-10, 4-10, 6-10. HT. 6-12, 6-13. FT.

Lead Exchanges: Wigan.

Referee: Chris Kendal.