Super League’s form team, Leigh Leopards, had their eye on a place in the top six and they would achieve it with a victory over tonight’s opponents Warrington Wolves who themselves were looking to make it into the top two in a bid for a home tie in the play-offs.
Should the Leopards secure the points then they would go above St Helens and Catalans into fifth spot, ahead of those sides playing their round twenty-four matches.
There was nothing to choose between the sides, the bookies making the home side the slight favourites and handicapping them by two points on the coupon.
The Leigh fans had something to cheer after eight minutes when Lachlan Lam picked up a wayward pass and immediately released Ricky Leutele to scamper home for the opening points of the game. Matt Moylan was unable to add a kickable conversion, Leigh with a four-point lead.
On eleven minutes Paul Vaughan was adjudged to have used the shoulder in the tackle on Trout and after consulting with the video referee, Liam Moore brandished a red card, a massive boost for the Leopards.
The match blew up again on twelve with a mass pushing event, the outcome a Moylan penalty goal to increase to lead to 6-0, it was an explosive start.
A brilliant tackle from Josh Thewlis on Moylan was a try saver as Leigh looked to exploit a two man overlap as both sides were putting everything that they had into the game.
Four minutes from the interval, Warrington were back in the game with Matty Ashton taking a fast miss-out pass from George Williams to go over in the left corner. Thewlis added a brilliant touchline conversion to level the scores as the two sides headed for the sheds at half time, the game living up to its pre-match billing.
Leigh had a Lam try ruled out by the video referee on forty-four as he was seen to not ground the ball but two tackles later Frankie Halton ran at the line and dropped over to score. Moylan added the extras, Leigh back in the box seat.
The lead was further extended on fifty-two, Josh Charnley taking the pass twenty from the Warrington line and using the space wide down the left to cross and round a little closer to the sticks. Moylan was unable to find the target with his kick.
Leigh were down to twelve men themselves on fifty-seven with Jack Hughes was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
A great tackle from Moylan prevented Ashton from scoring his second as he tackled the Warrington man into touch on seventy-one just a metre from the line.
Warrington didn’t throw the towel in and ended the game on the offensive with Sam Powell crashing over under the sticks, Thewlis adding the extras with twenty-four seconds remaining on the clock. It was a frantic few last seconds, but Leigh managed to defend deep inside the Warrington half and hold on for the win.
This was a brilliant win for the Leigh Leopards as they enter the top six for the first time in 2024 after starting the season in awful form but gradually improving to a side who look as though they have the confidence to go all the way and make it to Old Trafford. It was a setback for the Wolves as they move further adrift from the top of the table after Hull KR picked up a win over Salford this evening, their hopes of the minor premiership not laying in tatters. The excitement just keeps coming.
Leigh Leopards: Moylan (2/4 G), McIntosh, Hanley, Leutele (T), Charnley (T), O’Brien, Lam, Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, O’Donnell, Halton (T), Amone. Subs: Hardaker, Davis, Hughes (SB on 58), Pene. 18th Man: Dwyer.
Warrington Wolves: Taylor-Wray, Thewlis (2/2 G), Tai, King, Ashton (T), Williams, Drinkwater. Vaughan (SO on 10), Powell (T), Yates, Bateman, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Subs: Musgrove, Philbin, Walker, Crowther. 18th Man: Whitehead.
Half-Time: 6-6.
Full-Time: 16-12.
Score Progression: 4-0, (SO), 6-0, 6-4, 6-6 :HT: 10-6, 12-6, 16-6, (SB), 16-10, 16-12 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Leigh – Square - Leigh.
Referee: Liam Moore.
