Saturday saw the ‘Battle of the Borough’ commence again as Wigan Warriors hosted Leigh Leopards in a battle of third versus second, with both sides coming in off bruising Challenge Cup semi-final matches.
The Leopards entered the DW having been victorious last week with their win over St Helens earning them a ticket to Wembley and a chance to lift the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1971.
They also entered in incredible form with just one loss in their last fourteen games whilst knowing that a win would not only avenge their round seven loss to Matt Peet’s men, but also open up a four point gap ahead of the Warriors whilst ensuring they keep pace with Catalans Dragons.
As for Wigan their form was very different with three wins and three losses from the last six and the stinging taste of a golden point semi-final defeat in their mouth.
Despite that it seemed that the 1pm kick-off at the DW was a carnival atmosphere and that had started pre-match when Leopards owner Derek Beaumont took to the hospitality section.
The man behind the radical rebrand took to Twitter to highlight the “great reception” he had got from the Warriors.
Quality this from rads @WiganWarriorsRL great reception and buy in to the bants! Class! Love it 👍🐆 pic.twitter.com/9RUaV5XqtM
— Derek John Beaumont (@derek_beaumont) July 29, 2023
The tweet in full reads: “Quality this from Rads at Wigan Warriors, great reception and buy in to the bants! Class! Love it.”
Beaumont was of course referencing Wigan’s Chief Executive Officer and former player Kris Radlinski who had seemingly taken it upon himself to ensure that Beaumont got the full leopard print reception he deserved.
That included Leopard print napkins and for Beaumont specifically a pair of leopard print handcuffs, as seen in the tweet with Beaumont’s place name in the background.
Beaumont had previously revealed that Wigan were one of the inspirations behind the rebrand, outlining that he wanted to differentiate the two clubs and take Leigh out of the shadow of the more successful club.
Speaking to BBC sport at Leigh’s semi-final win Beaumont said: “IMG coming in, I was a bit nervous because they were only going to select 12 teams and I thought we looked too much like Wigan with the red and white and a centurion as a mascot.
“It is about being a show and standing out there and getting people to buy in and the fans have done that.
“They are wearing the leopard print.”
Unfortunately for him it wasn’t to be a successful afternoon yesterday with Wigan running out 44-18 winners over his Leopards, but all eyes will be on Wembley in two weeks time and more specifically all eyes will be on Derek and what exactly he will be wearing.
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