Round seventeen of Super League XXX brought the third ‘Battle of the Borough’ as Leigh and Wigan came together for what promised to be another close encounter as the second placed Warriors faced a Leopards side in fourth and still smarting from taking a beating in relinquishing their third place to Leeds last weekend.

Both games so far, both played at The Brick, have been tight affairs with Wigan winning the Round Eleven game by 36-28 and Leigh taking the points in that memorable season opener by a solitary golden point drop goal, this time Wigan were the favourites with the bookies and the home side had an eight-point start on the coupon.

Wigan would move within two of Hull KR at the top if they picked up the win, Leigh would be back into third spot if they were to pick up the points but in danger of ending the weekend in fifth should they slip up.

A full house and tremendous atmosphere welcomed the sides onto the field, the opening encounters set the scene for a belter of a game.

After a fiery opening it was Wigan who took the lead on five minutes when Jake Wardle took a pass from Jai Field and jinked his way to the line to dive in. Adam Keighran added the extras for a 6-0 lead, the home crowd subdued.

Frankie Halton failed to ground a difficult opportunity on sixteen minutes as he chased a grubber kick into goal, nudging the ball dead rather than grounding.

Wigan extended their lead, after a scrappy period of play, when on thirty-five when Keighran kicked a thirty-five-metre penalty goal after Leigh were caught offside by referee Jack Smith.

It was a tight game, both sides making errors, defences on top. There was little in it at the interval.

On fifty Leigh were right back in the game after Harry Smith put an attempted 40-20 out on the full. Leigh used the gift to attack the Wigan line and Tesi Niu took a Lachlan Lam ball to crash over from ten metres. Gareth O’Brien added the touchline conversion, Wigan’s lead back to just two points. Game on.

Leigh went in front on sixty-seven thanks to a brilliant team try. Edwin Ipape was the man to take the glory with the try, but a break from inside their own half saw lead score a seventy metre try, Umyla Hanley putting in the final pass to send his hooker over. O’Brien added the conversion, Leigh with a 12-8 lead, the game theirs to lose.

A scrapy seventieth minute try from Josh Charnley, on hand to take a knocked-back high kick to the corner which hit Hughes on the head before bouncing into the hands of Charnley to ground was ruled out by the video referee for offside after intense scrutiny of the replays.

Twenty seconds from time the Leopards put the result beyond doubt. Ipape chased his own kick to goal but was unable to ground, as Field attempted to pick up the loose ball he lost it with Owen Trout on hand to ground. O’Brien added the conversion for a final score of 18-8.

The loud cheers from the Leigh fans at full time were matched in Hull as Hull KR supporters knew that this loss for Wigan edged them a step closer to the minor premiership. Leigh go back up to third ahead of the Rhinos and just three behind a Wigan side who are looking increasingly out of form by their own very high standards.

Leigh Leopards: Hodgson, Brand, Niu (T), Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien (G 3/3), Lam, Trout (T), Ipape (T), Ofahengaue, Halton, O’Neill, Liu. Subs: Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, McNamara. 18^th Man: Badrock.

Wigan Warriors: Field, Miski, Keighran (G 2/2), Wardle (T), Marshall, Farrimond, Smith, Dupree, O’Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis.  Subs: Mago, Havard, Byrne, Leeming. 18^th Man: Eckersley.

Half-Time: 0-8.

Full-Time: 18-8.  

Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 0-8: HT: 4-8, 6-8, 10-8, 12-8, 16-8, 18-8 :FT.

Lead Exchanges: Wigan - Leigh.

Referee: Jack Smith.