David Vaealiki was the Wigan hero as the Warriors kick-started their campaign with a hard-fought 16-12 win over Harlequins.

The Londoners had kept hold of their two-point half-time advantage until well into the final quarter, only for the former New Zealand Test centre to pluck Thomas Leuluai's long ball out of the air and cross in the corner to seal his side's first home victory of the season.

Scott Hill's try two minutes before the interval had looked increasingly like being the decider after Wigan had led through Michael Withers, following Daniel Heckenberg's opener for the Londoners.

But Vaealiki, who has had his critics during his three years at the JJB Stadium, emerged as the match-winner to the delight of the vast majority of the 14,971 spectators.

Trent Barrett made a welcome return for Wigan after overcoming a calf strain, although youngster Chris Ashton was omitted from the starting 17, fuelling speculation he is about to switch codes and join Northampton.

There also looked to be an intriguing clash at scrum-half, with Danny Orr and Leuluai doing battle having swapped clubs in the close-season.

Despite last week's horror show against Hull KR, there was another bumper crowd at the JJB Stadium and, fortunately for the home supporters, the Warriors were much more assured in attack and especially defence from the outset.

Richards opened the scoring with a penalty after Quins offended in the tackle 25 metres out, but Quins took the lead six minutes later with a try of stunning simplicity.

Another former Warrior, Henry Paul, delayed his pass beautifully and prop Heckenberg walked through some non-existent defence to cross under the posts, with Paul Sykes adding the easy conversion.

There was more bad news for Wigan when a grimacing Gareth Hock was replaced by Harrison Hansen with what looked to be a hip problem.

But the home side regained the lead seconds later when Mark McLinden looked to have done superbly well to defuse a huge bomb from Barrett on his own line, only for the ball to somehow find its way into the arms of Withers for the walk-in score.

Richards again goaled, and the winger added another penalty on the half-hour mark after Quins were penalised for not standing square at the play-the-ball to give his side a 10-6 advantage.

The Warriors were enjoying their best spell of the game and forced a repeat set when McLinden was tackled into touch by Mark Calderwood after a nice kick from Sean O'Loughlin.

And Calderwood was inches away from grounding Leuluai's grubber kick on the last tackle as the visitors were stretched.

However, Wigan undid all their good work two minutes before the interval when they allowed Hill to spin in the tackle and touch down for another soft try, with Paul's goal edging Quins ahead.

Wigan were boosted shortly after the restart when Hock reappeared for Hansen, and showed they meant business when McLinden lost possession after a big hit from Bryan Fletcher.

But, despite a weaving run from Leuluai that saw him evade several would-be tacklers, neither side looked overly likely to provide a moment of magic as the game entered the final quarter.

Barrett nearly provided that touch of class after 61 minutes, gliding through the cover and going for the corner only for Chris Melling, another former Wigan man, to deny him a yard short.

Four minutes later Melling dropped a regulation high kick from Barrett five yards in front of his own posts to give Wigan hope.

And the Warriors made them pay on the third tackle when Leuluai's beautiful long ball put Vaealiki in at the corner.

The Kiwi then intelligently ran 10 yards infield to improve the angle for Richards, who sneaked the conversion over just inside the far post for a 16-12 lead.

And, despite a frantic closing five minutes, when the visitors were camped on the Wigan line with almost constant possession, the Warriors held on.