Hull 20 Wigan 4

by Ian Laybourn

HULL were today basking in the glory of top spot in the Tetley's Super League following their impressive victory over a faltering Wigan side.

The east Yorkshire side will be overtaken by the winners of tonight's clash between St Helens and Leeds but director of rugby Shaun McRae is happy to take the plaudits in the meantime.

"If we can organise the RFL to call the competition off now, we will obviously qualify in first spot," he quipped.

"Four wins out of five is excellent and against our first top-six opposition from last year, this is a great result for us."

Although they were clearly the better side, it took Hull 35 minutes to achieve the breakthrough, winger Colin Best taking a tumbling catch from Jason Smith's clever kick to the corner.

Second-half tries from Adam Maher and Kirk Yeaman finished off a disappointing Wigan, although the visitors managed a consolation try from teenage loose forward Gareth Hock, his fifth in six games.

Delighted over his own team's display, McRae also offered hope for Wigan despite their obvious current struggles.

"Wigan have got some outstanding youngsters," he said. "They may lack experience at first-team level but they have got some players that look superstars of the future."

Hull's win was achieved at a cost, with second rower Scott Logan taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle, centre Toa Kohe-Love suffering a dislocated shoulder and captain Jason Smith picking up a sternum injury.

"Unfortunately, there is a price to pay," said McRae. "I suppose you would rather pay it after a victory than a loss. They are three key players to us."

Wigan, too, lost a trio of players as they prepare to slip into the bottom half of Super League for the first time for six years.

Winger Brett Dallas has been ruled out of next Sunday's Powergen Challenge Cup semi-final against Bradford with a pulled hamstring and the Warriors are also sweating on the fitness of hooker Mark Smith (shoulder) and second rower Stephen Wild (ankle).

Meanwhile, Wigan coach Stuart Raper blamed the host club for the slippery ball that caused a series of handling errors, while McRae pointed the finger at the ball itself.

"I will be making a complaint to Stuart Cummings about Hull putting the sprinklers on the pitch an hour and a half before kick-off on a dewy night," said Raper.

McRae accepted that watering the pitch was a contributory factor but believes a design fault with the new ball is causing more fundamental problems.

"I know another coach complained the other week about the footballs when they are wet and I have got to say the same thing," he said. "When they get slippery, they are like soap.

"Something needs to be done. We need to try and get together with the supplier or the manufacturer and have a chat about it. It seems to be an issue when the balls get wet.

"Even though we didn't have any rain, there was dew on the ground and I suspect the field was watered, as they tend to do, and that's probably contributed to it."