Leigh had the slight advantage at half-time through a converted Edwin Ipape try, Warrington’s only points of the half coming through an early Marc Sneyd penalty as they trailed 6-2 at the break.
Two early converted tries for Leigh through Ethan O’Neill and Frankie Halton gave Leigh a comfortable 18-2 lead early in the second half but Warrington managed to fight back with 12 unanswered points in the space of 10 minutes, converted efforts from Toby King and Matty Ashton bringing the score to 18-14 in the Leopards’ favour with 10 minutes remaining.
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However, Warrington could not find the crucial third try to bring the game level, Leigh picking up their fifth win of the season after eight rounds, adding to one draw and two losses.
The victory for Leigh moves them up to third in the Super League table on 11 points, edging them just ahead of Hull FC – also on 11 points in fourth – and St Helens on 10 points in fifth.
The loss for Warrington keeps them down in eighth place, with Catalans able to go ahead of them with a win over Salford.
Lam starts for Leigh as Warrington resurgence comes too late
In a contest between two teams who have had similar starts to the Super League season, the first half showed just why there is nothing separating them.
It was Warrington who got the first points in the ninth minute, a penalty for a high shot on Josh Thewlis being sent over the sticks by Sneyd for a 2-0 advantage.
From there both outfits had ample opportunities that they could not turn into points, with handling errors plaguing the opening exchanges, Leigh with two tries chalked off after video ref checks – one through obstruction and one through interference for offside.
Warrington also had an opportunity come and go as Zane Musgrove was held up over the line, meaning 30 minutes of the contest had passed and it was still only the penalty on the scoreboard.
Although Leigh could not add to the scoreboard, Lachlan Lam was pulling the strings throughout and that finally paid dividends on the 34th minute as the Leigh half-back stepped through then found Ipape on his inside shoulder, Gareth O’Brien converting for a 6-2 lead at half-time.
Leigh started the second half in much quicker fashion than the first and that saw Lam send O’Neill into the gap to stretch over and O’Brien convert within the first five minutes.
Momentum continued to swing before a huge interception from Darnell McIntosh took Leigh from defending to attacking right on Warrington’s line, the pressure finally coming up with a try as Lam sent Halton through the gap, O’Brien accurate with the boot once again as Leigh led 18-2 with just 20 minutes remaining.
Despite the deficit, Warrington did not give up and Sneyd sent up an early kick on the fourth tackle which caught Leigh off-guard. That allowed King to race onto it before the Warrington No 7 quickly added the extras to reduce the hosts’ lead to 10 points.
Following the visitors’ try they had their tails up, and a nice pass from King found Matt Dufty who then sent it onto Ashton to show off his pace and go over in the corner, Sneyd converting to bring the scoreline to 18-14 with just 10 minutes on the clock.
Warrington continued to chance their arm and look for the all-important try to bring the game all square but they could not find the breakthrough as Leigh stood firm in defence.
Round 8 – RIVALS ROUND results
Thurs April 17: Wakefield 13-12 Castleford
Fri April 18: Hull FC 14-28 Hull KR
Fri April 18: Wigan 24-14 St Helens
Fri April 18: Leeds 28-6 Huddersfield
Sat April 19: Leigh 18-14 Warrington
Sat April 19: Catalans vs Salford – 6pm
Sky Sports will again show every game of Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.
