WARRINGTON WOLVES 24 LEIGH LEOPARDS 10
STEPHEN IBBETSON, Halliwell Jones Stadium, Saturday
WARRINGTON overcame a vastly improved challenge from Leigh to move within 80 minutes of a third successive Wembley appearance.
The Leopards were thrashed 42-6 on the same turf seven days earlier in Super League but were a different side this time, literally with four senior players returning.
They led 10-6 heading into the final quarter of an hour having kept Warrington and their own returning star Cai Taylor-Wray under wraps, but faded badly at the end with Ben Currie’s double seeing the Wolves through after a key Toby King try.
It was clear from the start that Leigh, with hooker Edwin Ipape, forward Jack Hughes and centres Tesi Niu and Umyla Hanley all back, would be a different proposition.
Ipape, returning after almost two months on the sidelines, in particular drove their effort and steered them into good positions early on.
But by the end Niu (sternum) and Hanley (shoulder) were nursing injuries as Leigh found themselves emphatically worn down.
The first half featured just one try apiece, with both sides making far too many handling errors in good ball to earn anything more than that.
After Ipape’s short kick forced a knock-on, Lachlan Lam threw a fantastic long pass out for Innes Senior to dive into the corner despite the efforts of Josh Thewlis to force him out of bounds.
Before that ninth-minute try, Warrington had an effort of their own ruled out. Albert Hopoate was played in after Gareth O’Brien dropped a high kick, but the Wire chasers were offside.
Leigh grew their lead to six points in the 13th minute when Currie was penalised for accidental offside and Adam Cook slotted a simple goal.
But the Wolves were level four minutes later as Currie’s offload, following a Marc Sneyd inside ball, found Danny Walker who stretched his diminutive frame well to touch down under pressure.
Sneyd’s conversion proved the final points of the half although Warrington did have other try-scoring chances.
George Williams was stopped close to the line after a brave attack down the left flank from a scrum, while King muscled his way to the line a couple of minutes before half-time but was held up over it by the visiting defence.
Things remained tight at the start of the second half, leading Cook to attempt a long-range penalty following a ball strip – only to see the ball strike a post and bounce back into play.
The deadlock was finally broken after Warrington’s Josh Thewlis was sent to the sin bin for dissent in the 56th minute.
Leigh immediately attacked down Thewlis’ wing and an Ipape offload released his skipper Lam to put the Leopards in front – albeit they only secured a four-point lead, rather than six, as O’Brien sliced a poor conversion attempt wide.
That looked to be costly when, just before Thewlis’ return, a sharp pass by Williams allowed King to slip through a Josh Charnley tackle and score, and Sneyd added an impressive goal – with a salute to the baying away fans behind the sticks for good measure.
Sneyd then sealed it by placing a clever kick along the ground for Currie and converting.
Currie, in the week he signed a new two-year contract extension, made it two tries in five minutes after the gift of a failed Leopards short drop-out.
Three-time Lance Todd Trophy winner Sneyd missed his first goal after that, but kicked a penalty on the hooter as Warrington close in on another final.
GAMESTAR: Ben Currie was as hard-working as ever in the middle and was rewarded with two late tries.
GAMEBREAKER: The missed Gareth O’Brien conversion from close to the posts seemed to deflate Leigh.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: George Williams landed a brutal shot on Gareth O’Brien late in the first half.
MATCHFACTS
WOLVES
1 Cai Taylor-Wray
5 Matty Ashton
3 Toby King
4 Albert Hopoate
2 Josh Thewlis
6 George Williams
7 Marc Sneyd
8 Luke Yates
9 Danny Walker
16 Liam Byrne
20 James Bentley
12 Sam Stone
13 Ben Currie
Subs (all used)
10 James Harrison
14 Sam Powell
22 Joe Philbin
34 Kelepi Tanginoa
18th man (not used)
18 Ewan Irwin
Also in 21-man squad
21 Luke Thomas
26 Josh Smith
33 Tommy Rhodes
Tries: Walker (17), King (65), Currie (71, 76)
Goals: Sneyd 4/5
Sin bin: Josh Thewlis (56) – dissent
LEOPARDS
21 Gareth O’Brien
19 Innes Senior
3 Tesi Niu
4 Umyla Hanley
5 Josh Charnley
6 Adam Cook
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Joe Ofahengaue
9 Edwin Ipape
10 Robbie Mulhern
22 Jack Hughes
12 Owen Trout
13 Isaac Liu
Subs
15 Jacob Alick-Wiencke
16 Matt Davis
24 Ben McNamara
25 Louis Brogan (not used)
18th man (not used)
17 Liam Horne
Also in 21-man squad
14 Aaron Pene
20 AJ Towse
28 Ryan Brown
Tries: Senior (9), Lam (57)
Goals: Cook 1/3, O’Brien 0/1
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 6-6; 6-10, 12-10, 18-10, 22-10, 24-10
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Wolves: Ben Currie; Leopards: Edwin Ipape
Penalty count: 8-4
Half-time: 6-6
Referee: Jack Smith
Attendance: 7,759