Wigan Warriors go top of Super League against gritty Leigh Leopards – Lessons learnt

Wigan Warriors took on Leigh Leopards in Round Eleven of Super League and here are the lessons we learned from the Battle of the Borough.

Whilst the match-up in round one only saw one point scored after 83 minutes, tonight’s affair saw over 60 scored as Wigan won 36-28 in a drama-filled game.

Wigan moved to first in Super League with the win and stretched the gap between themselves and third-placed Leigh.

Leigh Leopards were without David Armstrong with the full-back, who had been labelled “50/50”, missing out meaning Bailey Hodgson returned to the starting XIII. Wigan replaced Abbas Miski with Zach Eckersley as Patrick Mago also made his return from injury.

Wigan Warriors top table after Battle of the Borough

Leigh forward Joe Ofahengaue was sent for a HIA (which he passed) on the first tackle of the game and it got worse very quickly for the Leopards as Harry Smith hit a huge 40/20 and Wigan built on that to score in the corner through Liam Marshall making it 6-0 after less than six minutes.

Wigan doubled that lead to 12-0 inside ten minutes with Jai Field shifting it left again and it was Jake Wardle who scored this time. It looked like it could unravel for Leigh but Owen Trout’s effort to pressure Jai Field into a mistake under the high ball gave them territory.

From there, Tesi Niu crashed over but Wigan hit back through their own centre Adam Keighran who was called into action again minutes later to convert Junior Nsemba’s try as Wigan made it 22-6 within half an hour.

Kaide Ellis then scored with the loose forward managing to free his arm when near the line and reach out to ground. Leigh hit back immediately through Joe Ofahengaue despite the best efforts of Jake Wardle meaning Wigan went into the break 28-12 up.

An Ethan O’Neill brace in the first ten minutes of the second half brought it back to 28-22 to and give the Leopards a chance but those hopes were dashed through tries from Zach Eckersley and Kruise Leeming, the first of which was the result of some Bevan French magic.

The game then fell flat after a crusher-style tackle saw Zach Eckersley forced off on a stretcher after a ten-minute delay. Owen Trout did score late on to make it 36-28 but it was too little too late for the Leopards. It was also confirmed that Eckersley was conscious in a welcome boost.

Star man

Bevan French continues to makes things happen on a rugby league field that very few others, if any, in Super League can do. He does it so often that we don’t appreciate his brilliance enough.

Lesson One – Wigan on the rise

Wigan Warriors are growing into the season week on week. They clearly benefited from the week off, something which Leigh did not have, and the fact they’ll have another in early June is worrying for every other team heading into the second half of the season.

Lesson Two – Signing of the season

Ethan O’Neill is arguably the signing of the season. The second-row doesn’t count on the quota and is a very smart pick-up from the Leopards.

Lesson Three – Third best team in Super League

Leigh Leopards still aren’t quite there in and amongst the current Super League elite of Wigan Warriors and Hull KR but they’re clearly the third best team in the competition. With so many players missing and so many new signings in 2025, they could have a second-half of the season surge as they did last year.

Teams

Wigan Warriors XIII: Jai Field; Zach Eckersley, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall; Bevan French, Harry Smith; Sam Walters, Brad O’Neill, Liam Byrne; Junior Nsemba, Kaide Ellis

Interchanges: Kruise Leeming, Patrick Mago, Tyler Dupree, Luke Thompson

Leigh Leopards XIII: Bailey Hodgson; Darnell McIntosh, Umyla Hanley, Tesi Niu, Josh Charnley; Gaz O’Brien, Lachlan Lam; Joe Ofahengaue, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern; Owen Trout, Ethan O’Neill, Isaac Liu

Interchanges: Matty Davis, Jack Hughes, Alec Tuitavake, Ben McNamara

It’s derby day in Round 11 for @WiganWarriorsRL and @LeighLeopardsRL 🤝

Watch #SuperLeague Live at 8pm on @SkySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/oEi9kbpjur

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 16, 2025