Two tries from New Zealand international scrum-half Thomas Leuluai helped Wigan Warriors to a hard-fought victory by 28-16 over Castleford Tigers at the JJB Stadium.

The Warriors had held a slender 8-6 interval lead thanks to a Pat Richards score right on the hooter, after Peter Lupton had given the visitors a shock lead.

But Leuluai’s contribution helped tip the scales in Wigan’s favour, with Liam Colbon also crossing and Richards booting over six goals.

Wigan had taken the lead after eight minutes through a Richards penalty, and they nearly extended their advantage four minutes later but for a fingertip interception from Tigers winger Michael Wainwright.

And the Tigers made the most of the let-off by scoring the opening try of the game when centre Ryan McGoldrick sliced through the Warriors defence and put Lupton under the posts, with Joe Westerman goaling.

The Warriors could have few complaints, having just survived a scare, when Luke Dorn broke down the middle of the field but could not find a supporting Tiger to his right.

Dorn was the Castleford hero five minutes later when he stopped Richard Mathers in full flow after a nice offload from Leuluai, who then spilled a short ball on the next tackle with the line at his mercy.

Wigan threatened eight minutes before half-time when Trent Barrett broke down the middle but elected to dummy with Leuluai on his inside.

The returning Gareth Hock emerged from the bench for his first run-out of the new enage Super League season and made an immediate impact.

George Carmont barged his way through down the left, and the supporting Hock looked to have put Leulaui in at the corner, only for the defence to run him down 10 yards short.

Wigan came closer still a minute before the half-time hooter when a Leulaui pass put Mathers over, but the referee ruled he had not grounded it properly and allowed Dorn to clear his lines.

The visitors were hanging on until Richards managed to cross right on half-time, with his conversion making it 8-6.

The Warriors were perhaps a tad fortunate to lead at the break, but established a stranglehold on proceedings with two tries in the first five minutes of the second half.

Colbon notched the first after the defence was unable to deal with another towering kick from Barrett, before the classy stand-off put Leuluai over under the posts shortly after.

Richards converted the second try to open up a 12-point advantage, and added a 55th-minute penalty to make it 20-6.

However, the visitors showed they still posed a threat when Tom Haberecht crossed down the right wing on the hour mark after only superb defence from Barrett had prevented a score in the opposite corner.

Wigan were quick to shut the door, though, and Leuluai took a nice short ball from Iafeta Paleaaesina to grab his second try, with Richards adding his fifth goal.

Burly prop Mark Leafa reduced the arrears with 10 minutes left, with Westerman's second goal making it 26-16, before a late Richards penalty and the sin-binning of McGoldrick for an offence at the play of the ball.