Wigan are comeback kings

The Warriors looked down and out when they trailed 30-6 after an hour but a hat-trick of tries from winger Mark Calderwood enabled them to draw level and full-back Pat Richards edged his side in front for the first time with a drop goal four minutes from the end.

Wigan, who only secured the last place in the play-off series thanks to a shock last-day victory over St Helens, will now fancy their chances of going all the way to Old Trafford. They will face another away game, against Hull or Huddersfield in next Saturday's semi-final, but will fear no one after this astonishing display of never-say-side courage.

There was no hint of the drama to come, however, as a hat-trick of tries from New Zealand Test forward David Solomona put Bradford in complete command. The Bulls looked full of enthusiasm and dominated for an hour, shaking off the disappointment of losing prop forward Chris Feather with a dislocated right shoulder. The former Leeds and Wakefield player, who only recently came back from a broken ankle, went off after 25 minutes and was taken to hospital at half-time.

Also without captain Paul Deacon, who remains troubled by a hamstring injury, the Bulls still had plenty of game-breakers, especially the classy Solomona, who scored the game's first try after only three minutes. Iestyn Harris, who took over both the scrum-half and goalkicking duties from Deacon, added the conversion to put the Bulls 6-0 up and they went on to establish a stranglehold on the game.

Bradford extended their lead on 22 minutes through Tame Tupou but Wigan gave themselves hope when Trent Barrett's long pass exposed a gap on the Bradford right and centre David Vaealiki burst clear to send Thomas Leuluai over.

The Warriors faced an uphill task when Solomona registered his first hat-trick for the Bulls. And the match looked to be over as a contest within three minutes of the restart when Bradford scored a fifth try when centre Ben Harris sent Iestyn Harris over.

The Welsh international added the conversion and shortly afterwards made it 30-6 with a penalty after Wigan captain had been placed on report for a high tackle on him. When Calderwood went over for Wigan's second try on 56 minutes, it looked to be nothing more than consolation but the visitors managed to retain possession and, with Barrett enjoying more and more influence, they piled on the pressure.

Barrett's long pass got Calderwood over for his second try five minutes later and the Australian stand-off was again the provider when second rower Harrison Hansen smashed through the Bradford defence on 65 minutes. The Bulls were then pressing for the killer blow when Calderwood snapped up a casual pass from Shontayne Hape and sprinted 80 metres to complete his hat-trick.

Richards maintained his 100% record by kicking his fifth goal to level the scores and he edged his side in front for the first time four minutes from the end with a drop goal.