Super League champions St Helens staged a trademark smash-and-grab act to rescue a point from a derby thriller in front of a JJB Stadium record crowd of 21,073.

Wigan, beaten in five of their previous six derby clashes, looked to have overcome their hoodoo when they led 22-12 with 10 minutes to go.

Two tries in seven minutes from former Australian Test centre Steve Renouf appeared to tip a finely-balanced game Wigan's way but Saints reproduced their now famous never-say-die quality in a breathtaking finish to draw level with two quick-fire tries of their own.

Even then, the drama continued deep into injury time, with Wigan captain Andy Farrell failing with an ambitious penalty from inside his own half and both Farrell and St Helens substitute John Stankevitch striving unsuccessfully to break the deadlock with drop-goal attempts.

Farrell ended the game with three goals from six attempts to leave himself three points short of becoming only the second Wigan player to reach 2,000 while St Helens marksman Sean Long, too, had chances to win the game, missing with two straightforward kicks at goal.

However, there was no disputing the high quality performances of both sides in a match played amid a passionate and vibrant atmosphere.

Saints defended superbly to restrict the Warriors to a solitary try by the interval and hit their hosts with two well-taken scores to seize a four-point lead.

Their first try came against the run of play, courtesy of a sensational interception by centre Paul Newlove, who pounced on Adrian Lam's pass just 10 metres from his own line and sent winger Anthony Sullivan racing up field.

Wigan's pacy winger Brett Dallas got back to make the tackle but the home side's defenders were unable to regroup quickly enough to prevent Chris Joynt sending Long in for the opening score.

Wigan, who enjoyed the lion's share of possession, hit back midway through the first half when full-back Kris Radlinski won the race to Matthew Johns' grubber kick.

Farrell kicked the conversion to level the scores and then put over a 27th-minute penalty to edge his side in front for the first time.

However, Saints provided another demonstration of clinical finishing seven minutes before the break when the strong-running Kevin Iro took Long's pass and fended off young winger David Hodgson to crash over for a try and Long's second goal made it 12-8.

Saints stand-off Paul Sculthorpe, deputising superbly for the injured Tommy Martyn, looked to have scored a third try for his side six minutes into the second half but slow-motion replays revealed he lost the ball short of the line.

And that let-off gave Wigan the impetus to lift their game when it mattered most, setting up the platform for Renouf to work his magic.

The Warriors produced some wonderful handling to work the ball from theright-hand corner, where Paul Johnson had been held inches short of the line, to the left, where Renouf took Farrell's long pass to crash over.

And it was from another superb Farrell pass that the former Australian Test star claimed his second, fending off Long's challenge to cross at virtually the same spot.

When Sullivan failed to get under Farrell's high kick on 69 minutes, Radlinski pounced for his second try to make it 22-12 but nobody writes Saints off these days.

Long declined a simple shot at goal in favour of a tapped penalty and substitute winger Dwayne West finished off a glorious handling move with a try at the corner on 73 minutes.

And three minutes later Sculthorpe made the most of a poor offload from substitute Vila Matautia by hacking the ball on and following up to touch down, leaving Long with an easy chance to tie the scores once more.