Sky Sports pundit explains why “brave” Leigh lost to Wigan

Last night Leigh Leopards started well against Wigan Warriors.

They took a 6-0 lead through a brilliant Tom Briscoe try in a moment that saw the Leopards lose fullback Gareth O’Brien after he was hit late by Jake Wardle and failed his Head Injury Assessment.

However, the Leopards seemed to run out of steam. After trailing 10-6 at halftime, the Warriors stormed to a 34-6 win with five second half tries.

Speaking on Sky Sports, former Warrior Terry O’Connor explained why Leigh came up short against Wigan despite what he called a “brave” performance.

He said:

“I think Leigh have been brave in this game but have just been beaten by that little bit of class and power.

“That has especially been the case in this second half summed up by the try for Toby King.

“When you watch Leigh, they were desperate and working hard for each other, the only thing that was going to break a defence working so hard was a kick.”

Meanwhile, Leigh boss Adrian Lam explained the loss as such:

“We just ran out of gas. There was plenty of energy in our performance but we didn’t play in the key areas of the field.

“We made a few critical errors and conceded points and that hurt us.”

Asked if the loss of O’Brien after the late hit from Wardle hurt his side, Lam said:

“He is a big part of us, very influential with the way we attack. When he went down, it disrupted our team.

“You have to deal with that, it played a part but Wigan defended very well tonight.”