The Leopards maul the Wolves in superb style

Leigh Leopards ran out a 30-12 victory over the league leaders Warrington Wolves in dominant fashion.

The result never really looked in doubt once the first try was scored. Leigh shot out the blocks with pace and power, concentrating on delivering big hits to rock the Wire pack. Warrington’s 80 minutes of play was littered with errors, and Leigh pounced open each and every one of them.

The first try came in the seventh minute on the back of one of the Wolves’ mistakes. The ball was sprung out from the scrum and shifted wide to Gareth O’Brian, who threw a trademark dummy before sliding over the try line to open the scoring and set the pace for the match.

Leigh then went on to dominate the next 15 minutes, shutting the Wire down every time they ventured forwards, and following the run of play they then crossed the line for a second time in the 20^th minute.

Leigh shifted the ball to the right hand side this time, and with some beautiful silky hands they beat the rushing Wire defence, sending winger Tom Briscoe over to ground the ball untouched.

Three minutes later Leigh were awarded a penalty when Lachlan Lam was tackled late, they opted for the two points and Ben Reynolds slotted over his third conversion of the night, giving the Leopards a 14-0 lead.

Warrington offered very little with the ball, but they’re not top of the table for no reason, they can create a try out of nowhere, and that’s exactly what happened in the 27^th minute. Daryl Clark made a strong break down the centre of the pitch before passing to the man in support, George Williams, who has made a habit of scoring tries through brilliant support play in 2023.

The try got the large number of Wire fans singing again, and it looked like they were back in the contest until young half-back Riley Dean had an absolute howler, failing to find touch from a penalty kick.

In the resulting attacking set the Leopards went the length of the field to score a breakaway try of their own just after the half-hour mark. It was O’Brien who finished the move off, grabbing his second try of the night and extending the lead once again.

Warrington did show some resilience throughout the game however, they hit back again in the 39^th minute when Joe Philbin steamrolled his way over the line. It would be the last play of a frantic first half that ended 20.12, a scoreline that flattered Warrington’s first half performance.

20 minutes of the second half passed by in no time. Warrington had all the possession and territory, but were either making silly errors near the opponents line, or just being shut down tremendously well.

In the 61^st minute it was Leigh who got the second half scoring underway. Their excellent defence was once again rewarded when they went up the other end of the field. They exploited Warrington’s edge defending multiple times and it was Josh Charnley’s turn to go over in the corner, earning himself a sweet try against his former club.

With Reynolds failing his first conversion attempt of the night, Warrington were still in the game, only needing two converted try’s to level the scores. However, they just never looked likely. They looked panicked going forward, and offered little creation, and when they fashioned a chance the ball would immediately hit the deck.

In the 74^th minute Leigh wrapped up the game. A Warrington attack lead to the ball being dropped on the halfway line, and it was scooped up by Reynolds who was fantastic all night. He raced away to cross under the posts for a deserved try in front of the adoring Leopards crowd. He then converted his own try to take the score to 30-12.

It was a gutsy performance from Warrington but there was clearly a spark missing, and their errors made it far to easy for Leigh. On the other hand, Leigh were excellent. They had creativity and cohesion, and were well drilled defensively.

Their manager Adrian Lam had this to say after the game:

“It was a tough game tonight, we had to be up for a physical challenge. Whenever you beat a team that’s in front of you in the league you have to enjoy the moment, but our effort tonight was outstanding.

“We have grown every week as a team, along the way we have taken real good lessons and improved massively. One of the secrets to our season is that there hasn’t been any standouts, the lads have all been so consistent.”

Warrington’s coach Daryl Powell was not so happy after the game, he said:

“We had a static start and were actually lucky to go in at half-time with that scoreline. We had some small opportunities but were never good enough to get the job done.

“I thought Leigh were at the top of their game, they dominated us in every facet. We didn’t handle the game well, we were rattled and you could see it in our attacking play.”

After this result Leigh have pushed deeper into the play-off mix and are now a real contender for a top six finish. They are only four points off top of the table Warrington who have had their lead at the top shrunk to two points.

Next up for both sides is Magic Weekend where Leigh will face Wakefield and Warrington play Hull FC.