Devastating Zak Hardaker news

After their defeat to Wigan Warriors, Leigh Leopards are forced to go away to Hull KR in the opening week of the play offs as they are forced to win away to keep their season alive as they chase a league and cup double.

But their chances of doing so have been severely hurt by the fact they could have lost two of their stars for the rest of the season.

John Asiata is facing a scan on his hamstring and could be out for the season but the bigger blow is the fact Zak Hardaker is facing scans on his thumb.

It has now been confirmed that he is out for the season with an operation.

This was worsened by the defeat to Wigan. Leigh were under the pump in the opening quarter except for an early chance when they came up short with Ben Reynolds who was on the inside ball but couldn’t squeeze through.

There was a suspicion of a high tackle and that could have led to the first try had it been given.

Adrian Lam was clearly not happy about this spotted on Sky gesturing for the high tackle.

Shortly after that, Jai Field jinked and weaved his way through the Leigh defence wrong footing a number of Leigh fringe defenders to score the opener.

Down the left against a right edge without Zak Hardaker, Wigan were having plenty of joy and Jake Wardle came up only just short.

Leigh did roll down field for a chance of their own but Oliver Gildart was denied before a stray pass gave Wigan the ball and then a lovely set move saw Jai Field feed Wardle through a gap to score.

Leigh did have another chance but Josh Charnley was bundled into touch by Abbas Miski.

They did eventually get themselves a try after a lovely break down the left with Lachlan Lam finishing off under the stick with Ben Reynolds converting.

The second half depicted two top teams going blow for blow.

Wigan thought they had found a way through the Leopards defence when Jai Field ducked and darted through the defence but he was brought back for obstruction.

Then at the other end of the field straight after this Leigh thought they had scored with a lovely set play but a very slight obstruction was noticed by Liam Moore and insufficient evidence when the video referee looked back meant the try was denied.