Pundits blast “shambolic” Leigh Leopards after “disgusting” second-half in defeat to Hull KR

Jon Wilkin has blasted the efforts of Leigh Leopards after a poor second half against Hull KR saw them lose 22-8 at Craven Park.

The Leopards, who had won six out of their last seven matches heading into the game, produced their worst showing in the game they arguably needed to perfommost, with a win here elevating them into the top six, albeit provisionally, for the first time this season.

Jacob Alick-Wiencke and Bailey Hodgson crossed for the visitors, but two missed conversions from Adam Cook would be just one disappointing facet of the half-backs display this evening.

As a result, if forced Wilkin to be brutally honest about their performance, and it’s hard to disagree with his comments given how many chances they were awarded and did not take.

The former St Helens back rower said on Sky Sports: “Hull KR have got two points here. That’s it.

“There’s nothing to take for Willie Peters from this game, I don’t believe. They didn’t have much to beat.

“As second halves go, I don’t think that’s far off the worst second-half performance I’ve seen from a Super League team by the Leigh Leopards.

“I thought with the ball, they were shambolic. It was disgusting at times.

“Adrian Lam, he’ll bemoan a lot of things his side did, but they showed no authenticity with how they attacked. Error-strewn, lacked direction. I was flabbergasted by how poor Leigh were in the second half.”

Sam Tomkins backed up those comments, saying: “They were in good form, they’ve been picking up loads of points, they’ve been playing sides below them.

“Tonight they were well beat. Certainly in that second half for Leigh, they showed they’ve got no real threat without Lokie [Lachlan] Lam.”

Lam was one of two injury casualties from last week’s win over Bradford with both him and Josh Charnley missing out, whilst Jack Hughes was suspended.

That brought Gareth O’Brien into the halves and pushed Bailey Hodgson onto the wing, and it’s fair to say they didn’t cope well with those changes.