Wigan eased their relegation worries by bouncing back from defeat at Warrington a fortnight ago to open up a four-point lead over bottom side Wakefield who face a tough game against Castleford on Saturday.

Catalans Dragons had a night to forget, making handling errors galore and the contest was over by half-time with the Warriors leading 20-0.

Wigan started strongly with skipper Sean O'Loughlin racing under the sticks inside the opening minute.

But it did not count as referee Karl Kirkpatrick had spotted an infringement in the build-up.

There was no mistake though when Wigan opened the scoring after three minutes.

A neat offload from Kiwi centre David Vaealiki, back in the side after injury, sent Australian second rower Bryan Fletcher clear, and he provided winger Mark Calderwood with an easy run-in for his fifth try of the season.

Wigan struck again after both Mickey Higham and Stuart Fielden had been held up over the line and the pressure finally told as Fletcher bulldozed his way over.

The Dragons missed a chance when full-back Renaud Guigue accelerated in, but then lost the ball over the Wigan line.

Kiwi second row Harrison Hansen came off the bench to force his way in for Wigan's third try and with former Catalans scrum-half Michael Dobson adding a penalty to his three conversions the Warriors led 20-0 after a scrappy opening half.

Winger Thomas Bosc gave the French brief hope scoring in the corner, before Australian wing Pat Richards marked his return to favour after a six-week absence, touching down from Dobson's kick to the line.

It was his 11th of the season, taking him to top spot in the Wigan try scoring chart ahead of Brett Dallas.

The Warriors wrapped it up with further tries from Vaealiki, Chris Ashton and Higham.

Dobson finished with four goals and Danny Tickle landed two.