Wigans set-up Rhino's clash

Tomkins, the younger brother of Warriors second row Joel, notched a whirlwind hat-trick inside the first 12 minutes, and added another two after the break.

Trent Barrett notched a hat-trick of his own to go with braces for Iafeta Paleaaesina, Harrison Hansen and Mark Calderwood. The Warriors crossed for 18 tries in total, with Pat Richards booting over 17 goals to go with the 16th touchdown for a personal tally of 38 points, with Ade Adebisi and Rob Jackson responding for the plucky but outclassed visitors.

Wigan opened the scoring after just two minutes when Paleaaesina burst through the middle and took full-back Gary Broadbent over the line with him, before Tomkins marked his senior debut in style with three tries with the game still only 12 minutes old.

Barrett crossed for the fifth try of the night after 14 minutes, after a break through the centres by Darrell Goulding, before the Australian sent skipper Sean O'Loughlin over three minutes later. With Whitehaven starved of possession, hooker Mark Higham dummied his way over in the next set and, with Pat Richards faultless with the boot, the Warriors led 42-0 with just 20 minutes on the clock.

Normal service was resumed after 32 minutes when Tomkins put Hansen through a gaping hole, with Richards again converting, but Whitehaven scored again right on the half-time hooter when Jackson crashed over despite the attention of three would-be tacklers.

Having conceded with the last play of the first half, the Warriors notched with the first play of he second period, when the visitors were driven back from the kick-off and Hansen picked up a forced offload almost on the line to score leaving Richards to convert.

Tomkins grabbed his fourth try after 48 minutes from close range, and then put Barrett over for his second six minutes later, with the boot of Richards bringing up the 70-point mark going into the final quarter.

Barrett and Tomkins then grabbed their third and fifth tries respectively before Calderwood added his second with a nice turn of pace and Richards plucked a high ball out of the skies to notch Wigan's 16th try of the night with five minutes remaining.

The crowd were willing for the century mark to be breached, which Phil Bailey helped bring up along with Richards' goal from the touchline, before Paleaaesina rounded off the scoring with the final play of an historic, if one-sided, night.