Leigh Leopards injury update following York win as utility sidelined

Leigh boss Adrian Lam admitted Edwin Ipape probably shouldn’t have played against York Knights on Friday night, but down to the bare bones, the Leopards have come through their 18-6 win unscathed.

The Leopards picked up just their third Super League victory of the season at the LNER Community Stadium, keeping York scoreless in the second half as Josh Charnley and Jacob Alick-Wiencke scored decisive tries.

Alick-Wiencke had initially been set to start on the bench, but was thrust into the starting 13 at the eleventh hour after Robbie Mulhern’s late withdrawal.

Elsewhere, hooker Ipape featured for just 31 minutes and did not return to the field. But there is good news on both.

Leigh Leopards coach provides injury update following York win

Speaking post-match, head coach Lam provided a comprehensive injury update.

The Papua New Guinean detailed: “Nothing happened to him (Mulhern), but it was a precautionary call that him and I spoke about.

“He’s been in this situation for the last couple of years where it (his calf) gets to this point and then tears, and it’s six-to-eight weeks out.

“We had a conversation, he felt that it was not quite right and there was a chance of that happening, so I just made a call for him not to play.

“It’s a long season and as much as we need to win, I think that was the right call.

“A few other players played busted tonight, it’s tough. We got the win tonight and we certainly deserved it.

“Edwin played busted and if we had a fit team, I probably wouldn’t have played him tonight.

“We just needed him at the start, he was carrying a bit of shoulder sprain from last week with a lot of pain. But he put his hand up to make sure he did a job for the team and for the club, and we’re grateful.”

Leopards utility sidelined

Leigh made the trip to York without a whole host of their senior players, including first-choice centres Tesi Niu and Umyla Hanley.

The pair will miss next week’s home game against Huddersfield Giants, but are expected to return for Leigh’s visit to Catalans Dragons in Round 10.

Lam explained: “Tesi will be (back) not next week, but the week after, and Umyla is probably the same.

“Next week, we’re hoping to get one or two players playing in the reserves game against Huddersfield on Thursday night.

“We’ve changed that game to have a curtain-raiser before the first-team just to get a few of those boys in before they can get considered for the first-team the week after.”

The only bad bit of news delivered on the injury front following the win at York comes in the shape of utility Matt Davis, who was recently sidelined for an extended period with concussion symptoms after a defeat at Wigan Warriors.

29-year-old Davis has suffered similar issues again, with Lam saying: “He got a HIA knock in training yesterday which worsened as he got home.

“He wasn’t feeling right, so the medical team made a call to pull him out.

“It’s not ideal, he’d have been on the bench, we were down to the last couple of players tonight, which is frightening.”