Wigan once again showed why they should be considered favourites to be crowned Super League champions after emerging from a captivating local derby with Leigh to keep pace with Leeds at the summit.
The National Rugby League is understood to be ready to submit its bid to invest and ultimately take control of Super League in the coming days. If it was watching here, it would have seen a game and a competition with plenty to offer. Just seven miles separate these two clubs, and they produced a spectacle any potential investor would have been engrossed by.
In front of a sold-out Leigh Sports Village, this felt like a night where the Leopards could have sent a statement about their own title hopes. For more than half of the contest they were near-faultless, and looked set to lead by eight points going into half-time. However, crucial errors either side of the break were punished by Matt Peet’s side in devastating fashion.
Despite being nowhere near their best, Wigan were ruthless when it mattered most, picking off each and every Leigh error with a try to ultimately run out comfortable winners. It was the kind of display which left you wondering what their star-studded team could be capable of if it all clicks in a big game.
These two great local rivals ripped into one another at breakneck pace throughout an engrossing first half. It was played at the speed and with the physicality that makes Super League so watchable, and it was Leigh who settled the quicker of the two early on, with an Adam Cook penalty nudging them into a two-point advantage.
Then with the Leopards’ first meaningful attack, they pieced together a wonderful move that led to Innes Senior touching down in the corner. It was a scintillating play, and a sign of what would follow over the rest of the opening 40 minutes.
That Senior try stirred Wigan somewhat. They immediately got on the front foot and laid onslaught to the Leigh line, but the Leopards’ defensive efforts were outstanding to deny the visitors time and time again, just when it began to feel inevitable that the Warriors would score.
Wigan finally thought they had breached Leigh from deep when Jake Wardle claimed a Cook kick on his own line before offloading to Liam Marshall, who raced the distance – but replays showed that Wardle pushed Umyla Hanley off the ball in the buildup, affording Cook a kickable penalty to make it 8-0.
But just when it seemed Leigh would go into the break with an eight-point lead, they switched off and were brutally punished. Robbie Mulhern’s high tackle led to a Wigan penalty and as the Leopards’ defence retreated, Jai Field tapped the ball quickly and punctured the Leigh line, going unchallenged from 90 metres out to narrow the gap to just two at half-time.
It was a stark reminder as to how Wigan’s dynamic duo of Field and Bevan French can punish any mistake in the blink of an eye. Three minutes after the restart, they were given another as a loose pass from Leigh was collected by the Warriors, with French doing the rest and showing the Leopards’ defence a clean pair of heels to put the visitors in front for the first time.
Then, five minutes later, it would happen again. Lazarus Vaalepu’s first carry after coming on from the bench saw him knock-on and Wigan swooped on the ball, with Zach Eckersley this time the grateful recipient to open up a two-score lead. Leigh had been close to faultless for 50 minutes but they made three errors, and Wigan punished each and every one of them with a try.
And incredibly, as the hour mark arrived, the trick repeated itself once more. Joe Ofahengaue was the latest Leigh culprit to spill the ball inside his own half and Wigan made no mistake once more, with French doing the damage to instigate the move that sent Noah Hodkinson over. Suddenly, only Harry Smith’s wayward goal-kicking kept it in the balance as the Warriors led 20-8.
Smith missed another penalty in the final 15 minutes which kept Leigh in touch but ultimately, their race had been run and Wigan had the defensive prowess to close it out with minimal fuss.
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