Wigan Warriors 34 Bradford Bulls 12: Richards equals scoring record as Menzies says farewell

The goalkicking winger had a rare off day with the boot, succeeding with just two of his seven attempts, but grabbed two tries to reach the 14 points he needed to match the record of 388 set by former Wigan captain Andy Farrell in 2001.

His 34th-minute touchdown enabled him to overhaul Kris Radlinski's Super League club record of 28 tries in a season and his second early in the second half took him to third in the overall Super League list behind Lesley Vainikolo (Bradford) and Danny McGuire (Leeds).

Richards's exploits were witnessed by a 17,058 crowd at the DW Stadium, taking Wigan past the 200,000 mark for the season and enabling them to overtake Leeds as the best supported club in the league, and set the scene for the presentation of the League Leaders' Shield.

Wigan's early pressure paid off with a George Carmont try.

Bradford were determined not to roll over and hardly resembled a team that had won just one of their last 13 matches, with half-backs Brett Kearney and Heath L'Estrange probing to great effect in the early stages.

But the Bulls could not match the cutting edge of the table-toppers, who scored a second try via Iafeta Paleaaesina before Richards sailed over.

His conversion attempt bounced back off an upright and he was also off target when Joel Tomkins grabbed Wigan's fourth try, but Richards grabbed a second try 60 seconds after the re-start.

Wigan continued to create chances and right winger Darrell Goulding took Thomas Leuluai's cut-out pass on 68 minutes to score his side's sixth try and Richards added the conversion to equal Farrell's record.

Battling Bradford pulled a try back through Craig Kopczak, goaled by Paul Sykes, but Richards had one more chance to break the record when Goulding went over for his second try.

The crowd went silent as Richards lined up the conversion but it went wide of the target to leave him sharing the record.

The Bulls then had the final say when Andy Lynch grabbed a consolation try. Steve Menzies was given the opportunity to mark his final appearance for the club with the goal and he duly obliged.

Bradford have snapped up prop Bryn Hargreaves from St Helens on a two-year deal.

Hargreaves, 24, started out at Wigan but made his name at Saints, making over 100 appearances and will follow coach Mick Potter to Odsal next season.

Wigan: S Tomkins, Goulding, Marsh, Carmont, Richards, Deacon, Leuluai, Fielden, Riddell, Coley, Farrell, J. Tomkins, S O'Loughlin. Substitutes: Paleaaesina, Prescott, Tuson, Gleeson.

Bradford Bulls: Platt, Sheriffe, Sykes, Menzies, Finigan, Kearney, L'Estrange, Scruton, Godwin, Lynch, Worrincy, Whitehead, Langley. Substitutes: Hall, Olbison, Kopczak, Addy.

Referee: J Child (Dewsbury).