Leigh forward lands 1 after dire showing in error-strewn Wigan defeat

Leigh’s winning run came to an end on Friday night as they were beaten 20-8 on home soil by neighbours Wigan Warriors in the ‘Battle of the Borough’.

The hosts had led 8-0 heading towards half-time before Jai Field was allowed to run 95 metres from a quick tap restart to pull Wigan back into the game.

An error-strewn start to the second half then saw the visitors take the lead, and Leigh never recovered.

Live from the press box, our Leopards ratings…

Gareth O’Brien – 6

Not really O’Brien’s night. Offered little in attack, and spilled Jack Hughes offload into Bevan French’s arms for one of Wigan’s tries. The pair share the blame for that, for us.

Innes Senior – 8

Senior took the opening try of the game well and had a largely positive impact throughout.

Andy Badrock – 7

Not a bad return to action for Badrock, who was recalled from his loan at Widnes to plug a gap here. His assist for Senior in the first half was a neat one.

Umyla Hanley – 7

Hanley’s drive and determination evident throughout again. Overstepped the mark on Liam Marshall early on, and was nullified in the second half.

David Armstrong – 6

Armstrong’s best position isn’t on the wing, but he went okay.

Adam Cook – 7

Cook enjoyed a leading role in Leigh’s superb start with a couple of great high bombs, but faded when Wigan got on top, the opposite of what you want from a half-back. That came after he’d sent a goal-line drop-out straight out, too. Ended the night two from three with the boot, nudging over a couple of penalties.

Lachlan Lam – 7

You could pretty much copy and paste the above for Lam, minus the conversions.

Joe Ofahengaue – 7

Not a great night for Ofahengaue compared to the usual with a couple of knock-ons in there, but had a go, which is more than can be said for some in the second half.

Liam Horne – 6

Hone went alright across his two stints, but Leigh missed Edwin Ipape, make no doubt about it.

Isaac Liu – 7

Liu was really good defensively in the first half, and then dropped early on in the second half before he was brought off. Went better in his second stint.

Owen Trout – 6

We’ve seen much better from Trout, who should have done better to stop Field roaming free from the tap restart. Had he done that, this game could have been oh so different.

Jack Hughes – 5

Two really poor moments from Hughes, unable to find a pass having broken through early on and then a poor attempt to offload to O’Brien early on in the second half which ended in French’s try. Leigh never recovered from the latter.

Louis Brogan – 6

Brogan went alright across his two stints.

Robbie Mulhern (Interchange) – 6

Mulhern’s return from injury saw him come off the bench, and he went well for the majority of the time he spent on the field. It was his penalty conceded which led to Field’s try at the end of the first half, but he can’t really be blamed for team-mates not switching on at the quick restart.

Lazarus Vaalepu (Interchange) – 1

What can we say here? Absolutely woeful from Vaalepu, who’ll go some way to deliver a worse performance. His first touch off the bench early on in the second half saw him offload the ball into Zach Eckersley’s hands for a try. He then juggled the ball but got away with it, before lazily obstructed Sam Walters’ kick chase to give a penalty away, being hooked off immediately.

15 utterly dire minutes.

Jacob Alick-Wiencke (Interchange) – 6

An okay return from injury for Alick-Wiencke.

Matt Davis (Interchange) – 6

Not the impact off the bench that Davis would have hoped for, but far from the worst in a Leigh shirt.