‘Best player on the field’ – Pundits in awe over Leigh Leopards star’s performance

Leigh Leopards star Edwin Ipape has been hailed as ‘the best player on the field’ after Adrian Lam’s side defeated Salford Red Devils 14-6 to progress to the Super League play-off semi-finals.

Ipape has been absent in recent weeks, most notably in Leigh’s loss to Hull KR, but he returned to the side last week to pick up Man of the Match honours in a must-win game against St Helens and he did the same last night against Salford.

The Papua New Guinean international broke the line to help break the game open as he set up Gaz O’Brien’s try before scoring one of his own as Leigh went from 2-0 down to 14-2 up in a whirlwind 15-minute period.

That spell also saw Leopards star Josh Charnley leave the field on a stretcher but the winger has since provided an update to confirm that he is in good health and spirits.

With Charnley and others for Leigh off the field through injury or rest, Ipape took the game by the scruff of the neck and that’s been noted by Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin who has heaped the praise on the Leopards’ number nine.

Wilkin argued: “By far, the best player on the field. We saw Asiata leave the field and that shows you the versatility of the man. He’s been playing nine for the majority of the game, goes to loose forward and steps up as first receiver. Granted, Oliver Partington slips over, but the versatility of the man to go into the middle and the ball on the end of it is magic.

“In a game that didn’t have a lot of quality in it, doesn’t it stand out when one man comes up with multiple bits of quality. You move him to right back-row, ‘you’ve not done enough work Edwin’. Then he punches a line, shows and goes and shoves three guys and with a one-hand reach he puts the ball down.

“It’s been an exceptional couple of weeks for him. He was amazing last week and he’s been amazing again here.”

Leigh Leopards star earns rave reviews

It wasn’t just Wilkin who was impressed as Catalans Dragons man Sam Tomkins went on to wax lyrical about the Leigh Leopards number nine.

“This was off the back of an injury,” Tomkins noted.

“He’s been out with a pretty serious shoulder injury so there was doubts last week coming into the squad, what would he do? Well, he was the best player last week because of his defence and today he was the best player in attack.”

Ipape was also applauded for his versatility as he was forced to move around to accommodate injuries and interchanges, specifically after Leigh lost Frankie Halton early on to a failed HIA, but it didn’t matter as the Papua New Guinean star continued to dominate.

“I thought it was brilliant what Lachlan Lam said, ‘he’s a hybrid, you can play him anywhere’. How valuable is that for a team going into the end of the season, he’s the best nine they’ve got, he looks like the best middle and the best back-rower.

“You could play him anywhere across the board. I probably wouldn’t put him on the wing but other than that.”

Leigh Leopards will learn their semi-final opponents when the result of Warrington Wolves versus St Helens is determined but they will be making the trip either up the road to face Wigan Warriors or across the M62 to take on Hull KR.