LEIGH LEOPARDS 18 WIGAN WARRIORS 8
DAVE PARKINSON, Leigh Sports Village, Friday
LEIGH moved within three points of borough neighbours Wigan following a hard-fought derby success that saw Owen Trout the hero with a crucial score at the end.
The Leopards had fought back from a 0-8 deficit at half-time and showed superb levels of commitment and grit to come away with victory.
It was a close-run opening and two consecutive sets swung it to the Warriors as Jai Field combined with Jake Wardle for the centre to display some wonderful feet to go over ten metres in from touch on the left. Adam Keighran goaled from wide and Wigan led 0-6.
Leigh’s first real attack looked promising in the eleventh minute before Liam Marshall tapped up a pass from Lachlan Lam and went 50 metres before being chased down by Bailey Hodgson and Josh Charnley. The attack fizzled out with a forward pass.
Wigan threw a second forward pass and Leigh were growing in confidence, with Umyla Hanley bursting down the right and Edwin Ipape kicked forward at the end of the set, only for Frankie Halton to lose control of a difficult ball.
At the other end of the field Hodgson came to Leigh’s rescue with a huge leap to take Harry Smith’s kick and Wigan contained Leigh, forcing Lam to kick from his own 20-metre line.
In the 20th minute a textbook tackle from Keighran dislodged the ball from Halton, allowing the Warriors possession on their own 40-metre line. They took little time to get to a threatening position but Isaac Liu dropped on Jack Farrimond’s kick.
Leigh did well to give Charnley a running chance in the 24th minute but he didn’t find a pass to the supporting Hodgson and the chance was lost as Field cut him down.
Into the last few minutes of the first half, play became more fractured, mistakes coming from both sides with the likes of Keighran racing downfield for the Warriors and Jack Hughes rolling forward for the hosts.
Sensing the closeness of the contest, as soon as Ben McNamara handled the ball in an offside position after a crunching tackle forced an error from Matt Davis, Keighran added the penalty goal from 35 metres to make it 0-8 to the Warriors in the 36th minute.
Leigh then kicked the ball out on the full from the restart and had to defend again, but they held out until the break.
The Leopards had renewed purpose in the second half and dominated the opening stages. They had the best chance of points too, but Smith caught O’Brien’s kick. However, the Wigan halfback hammered the ball out of play on the full in the 49th minute and the Leopards went on the hunt again.
This time, they were good enough as Ipape and Lam combined to send Tesi Niu over on the left. O’Brien goaled from wide out to make it 6-8.
A tremendous chase from Hanley trapped Marshall in his own in-goal following an early kick from O’Brien but it came to nothing as Leigh sensed a possible victory.
Thirteen minutes from time, Leigh scored a stunning try as Joe Ofahengaue got the ball away and six passes later Hanley spun the ball infield for Ipape to romp to the posts. O’Brien converted and the hosts were in front 12-8.
Leigh thought they had added a third try after 70 minutes but Charnley saw his effort disallowed by video referee Chris Kendall.
Field thought he was going to flash around the outside of the defence within the final couple of minutes but the defence caught up with him and a rushed offload landed in the arms of Keanan Brand.
Leigh pushed for the line in the closing stages and Ipape’s low kick through was kicked away by Field as he lunged for the score, Field followed up but Owen Trout placed a hand on the loose ball and O’Brien added his third goal to send the bulk of Leigh Sports Village into raptures.
GAMESTAR: Edwin Ipape’s second spell on the field saw him simply unplayable, edging it ahead of hard-working Bailey Hodgson and Joe Ofahengaue, and Wigan’s Liam Farrell.
GAMEBREAKER: Owen Trout’s score before the final whistle guaranteed a win for the hosts.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: That stunning Edwin Ipape try, a fantastic rugby league play.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Edwin Ipape (Leigh)
2 pts Bailey Hodgson (Leigh)
1 pt Liam Farrell (Wigan)
MATCHFACTS
LEOPARDS
24 Bailey Hodgson
18 Keanan Brand
3 Tesi Niu
4 Umyla Hanley
5 Josh Charnley
6 Gareth O’Brien
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Owen Trout
9 Edwin Ipape
32 Joe Ofahengaue
11 Frankie Halton
20 Ethan O’Neill
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
12 Jack Hughes
15 Alec Tuitavake
16 Matt Davis
22 Ben McNamara
18th man (not used)
21 Andy Badrock
Also in 21-man squad
1 David Armstrong
17 Brad Dwyer
29 AJ Towse
Tries: Niu (50), Ipape (67), Trout (79)
Goals: O’Brien 3/3
WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
2 Abbas Miski
3 Adam Keighran
4 Jake Wardle
5 Liam Marshall
24 Jack Farrimond
7 Harry Smith
19 Tyler Dupree
9 Brad O’Neill
10 Luke Thompson
11 Junior Nsemba
12 Liam Farrell
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs (all used)
8 Ethan Havard
15 Patrick Mago
16 Liam Byrne
17 Kruise Leeming
18th man (not used)
22 Zach Eckersley
Also in 21-man squad
23 Tom Forber
27 Harvey Makin
38 Christian Wade
Tries: Wardle (5)
Goals: Keighran 2/2
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-8; 6-8, 12-8, 18-8
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Leopards: Edwin Ipape; Warriors: Liam Farrell
Penalty count: 3-2
Half-time: 0-8
Referee: Jack Smith
Attendance: 10,375