Leigh Leopards withstand Warrington Wolves rally for deserved victory

LEIGH LEOPARDS 18 WARRINGTON WOLVES 14
STEPHEN IBBETSON, Leigh Sports Village, Saturday

LEIGH withstood a late Warrington rally for a fully-deserved fifth win of the season that takes them up to third in Super League.

After a series of first-half near misses, Edwin Ipape put the Leopards in front just before half-time and further tries followed from back-rowers Ethan O’Neill and Frankie Halton.

Toby King and Matty Ashton gave the Wolves hope but they could have no complaints with a second defeat on the bounce.

The loss of fullback David Armstrong to injury took some of the shine off Leigh’s victory, on the day they welcomed back winger Josh Charnley.

For Warrington, Sam Burgess’ major selection call – replacing injured captain George Williams at halfback with hooker Danny Walker, instead of calling up Stefan Ratchford or Oli Leyland – did not pay off.

Warrington failed to inspire on the rare occasions they made it onto the opposition line in the opening hour, and fullback Matt Dufty appeared to struggle with the extra burden.

Leigh made a strong start and an epic defensive set, forcing Marc Sneyd to kick from inside his own ten, earned their first chance but Halton couldn’t take in a Lachlan Lam pass.

Halton then erred at the other end, his high tackle allowing the Wolves to take the lead with a Sneyd penalty.

Leigh were twice denied by the video referee in the first half, the first time following a move off a scrum which saw Armstrong – in evident pain for much of the first half – cut through off a Lam pass. Halton, contentiously, was ruled to have obstructed Rodrick Tai.

The second time, Lam latched onto his own kick in behind, but halfback partner Gareth O’Brien was deemed to have interfered with a defender from an offside position.

Warrington also had an effort chalked off, Zane Musgrove failing to ground the ball after slipping out a Robbie Mulhern tackle and powering towards the line.

Finally the first try came six minutes before half-time, and deservedly to the Leopards. Lam stepped through a gap in the defence and while Dufty was quick to intercept him, Lam slipped the pass out to Ipape and O’Brien goaled for a 6-2 home lead at the break.

Armstrong finally succumbed at half-time, but it didn’t stop Leigh making an excellent start to the second half. Lam was at the heart again, taking on the line and slipping a pass to O’Neill for a close-range try converted again by O’Brien.

Both sides had potential tries lost in the space of a minute as both Ashton and Keanan Brand found play to have been pulled back for obstructions.

Warrington were now looking livelier and Walker should have pulled them back into the contest having done brilliantly to step through the line, only to lose the ball agonisingly short amid a tap from Brand and the cover of Aaron Pene.

But a poor pass in attack from Dufty proved fatal – albeit not immediately, as interceptor Darnell McIntosh failed to find top gear and was closed down. But moments later O’Brien found Halton running a brilliant line and the conversion made it 18-2.

That wasn’t quite the match over, however, as Wire hit straight back, Sneyd popping a kick in behind for the returning King to cross and then converting.

And with ten minutes left Warrington were unexpectedly within four points, as Ashton finished a Dufty breakaway created by a King offload.

But Leigh’s scrambling defence came to the fore in the closing minutes as their excellent start to the season continues – and with Warrington standing in their way of a Wembley return in the Challenge Cup, it could still get much better.

GAMESTAR: Lachlan Lam was at his brilliant best as the heart of the Leigh attack, causing Warrington all kinds of problems on their line.

GAMEBREAKER: They should have secured victory much earlier, but when Leigh had to frantically defend in the final couple of minutes they did so.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Lachlan Lam’s step to get through the line and set up Edwin Ipape’s opening try was exquisite.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Lachlan Lam (Leigh)
2 pts Edwin Ipape (Leigh)
1 pt Ethan O’Neill (Leigh)

MATCHFACTS
LEOPARDS
1 David Armstrong
2 Darnell McIntosh
24 Bailey Hodgson
18 Keanan Brand
5 Josh Charnley
6 Gareth O’Brien
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Owen Trout
9 Edwin Ipape
10 Robbie Mulhern
11 Frankie Halton
20 Ethan O’Neill
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
12 Jack Hughes
14 Aaron Pene
15 Alec Tuitavake
16 Matt Davis
18th man (not used)
22 Ben McNamara
Also in 21-man squad
17 Brad Dwyer
21 Andy Badrock
29 AJ Towse

Tries: Ipape (34), O’Neill (44), Halton (59)
Goals: O’Brien 3/3

WOLVES
1 Matt Dufty
2 Josh Thewlis
3 Toby King
4 Rodrick Tai
5 Matty Ashton
9 Danny Walker
35 Marc Sneyd
13 Luke Yates
14 Sam Powell
10 Paul Vaughan
26 Dan Russell
12 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
11 Ben Currie
Subs (all used)
15 Joe Philbin
16 Zane Musgrove
17 Jordan Crowther
24 Max Wood
18th man (not used)
21 Adam Holroyd
Also in 21-man squad
18 Oli Leyland
19 Stefan Ratchford
– Ewan Irwin