Rugby League: Wigan 18 - 2 Leeds

Wigan celebrated a double victory last night, denying Leeds the chance to move to the top of the Super League table hours after inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Rugby Football League in the club's battle to limit or even avoid a points deduction for breaching last year's salary cap.

Scrappy second-half tries from their young wing Liam Colbon and the Australian veteran Bryan Fletcher were enough to settle a forgettable match in miserable conditions, consolidating the Warriors' position in the top four of the table.

Leeds fell well short of the standards set in their stunning win at St Helens last Friday, although that was largely down to the pressure exerted by the Wigan defence in which the captain, Sean O'Loughlin, was outstanding. The Rhinos were so frustrated by the end that their second-row Gareth Ellis was sin-binned for dissent.

News of Wigan's off-field victory came through a few minutes before the kick-off, with their chairman, Maurice Lindsay, emerging from the hearing at the RFL's Leeds headquarters to confirm that he was "relieved" after forcing the governing body into a humiliating climbdown.

The league had been confident that the tougher scale of punishments voted through by the 12 Super League clubs last June would apply to any breaches committed in 2006.

Now, however, the maximum penalty Wigan could suffer when their case is heard this month - having been deferred from next Monday, when it had originally been scheduled - is six points, whereas if they had lost the preliminary hearing last night they would have remained at risk of a 12-point deduction and being dumped from the top four to the bottom of the Super League table.

Steady summer rain ensured the match was never going to be a free-flowing affair, and two penalties from the Wigan full-back Pat Richards were the only scores of a tryless first half to establish a 4-0 lead.

Richards missed Wigan's victory over Bradford last Friday because his wife was giving birth. But he returned last night in place of the rugby union-bound Chris Ashton - who was dropped for the first time since announcing his move to Northampton in March - and punished a high tackle by the Leeds prop Ryan Bailey, followed by a play-the-ball offence by his opposite number Brent Webb.

Richards kicked a third goal eight minutes into the second half, before Leeds finally broke their duck with a penalty of their own from Kevin Sinfield after a play-the-ball offence by Fletcher.

But the game was settled by a perfectly weighted kick from the Wigan scrum-half Thomas Leuluai, with Webb unable to collect it under pressure and Colbon scrambling to touch it down. Richards maintained his perfect record with an excellent conversion, and even with more than 20 minutes left there never seemed much chance of Leeds coming back after that. Fletcher extinguished any hopes by plunging over from close range.

Wigan Warriors Richards; Calderwood, Bailey, Vaealiki, Colbon; Barrett, Leuluai; Fielden, Higham, Paleaaesina, Hock, Fletcher, O'Loughlin. Interchange Prescott, Hansen, Goulding, McIlorum.

Leeds Rhinos Webb; Hall, Senior, Toopi, Donald; McGuire, Burrow; Bailey, Sinfield, Peacock, Kirke, Jones-Buchanan, Ellis.

Interchange Leuluai, Lauitiiti, Thackray, Tansey.

Referee B Thaler (Sheffield).