Rugby: Maguire believes that Murrayfield is magic

The Australian, who took on the task of reviving Wigan's fortunes when he arrived at the DW Stadium in October, is clearly a fan of the festival of competitive action. The concept sees all 14 teams play an extra round of league matches at a single venue. It was the second time the Capital had hosted the event and, coming on top of the success of the 2002 Challenge Cup final, has underlined the popularity of Murrayfield as an alternative venue to the 13-man code's heartland in the north of England.

Maguire said of the weekend: "I think it's great to get all the teams together. It's a great one for myself because it's the first time."

The top contest of the seven had seen Maguire's men produce a stunning second-half effort that transformed a 4-4 interval score into a convincing winning margin. An intense opening 40 minutes produced a try for Giants' second row Lee Gilmour which was cancelled out by Darrell Goulding to leave the scores tied at the break.

However, Maguire's charges notched up the pace after the restart against the side with the league's best defensive record to run in four more tries, three of which were converted. Sam Tomkins edged his side into the lead for the first time when he chipped ahead and profited from uncertainty on the Giants defence to gather and flop over for a converted score.

Further tries by Karl Pryce, George Carmont and Thomas Leuluai – the last-named an impressive example of perseverance – made the game safe before Eorl Crabtree powered over for a try, converted by Danny Brough, who represented Scotland at the 2008 rugby League World Cup. That was as close as the Giants were to come, however.

Warrington Wolves had temporarily occupied pole position in the table after piling up 12 tries on their way to the weekend's biggest points tally as they chalked up a 68-16 win over Salford City Reds in match two.

Earlier on Saturday, the weekend had kicked off with a glimpse of the progress being made by Celtic Crusaders – a Welsh side created in 2005 and boosted by the Magic Weekends in Cardiff – cause a stir when they saw off Bradford Bulls 19-0 in a match that featured a fine contribution by Gareth Thomas, a recent convert from rugby union.

By the time St Helens signed off Murrayfield's second Magic Weekend with a 54-0 romp over Hull Kingston Rovers to cement third place in the table, the seven matches had yielded a tally of 64 tries, with the biggest haul being Ryan Hall's hat trick as Leeds Rhinos chalked up a 34-30 win over Wakefield Wildcats in the weekend's tightest finish.

The event had attracted a combined two-day audience of 52,043.