Wakefield Contribute To Leigh's Early-season Woes

45 Comments


Wakefield (8) 18


Tries: Tevaga, Myers, Pratt Goals: Jowitt 3


Leigh (4) 14


Tries: O'Brien, Charnley, Alick-Wiencke Goal: Cook


Wakefield exacted a procedure of revenge for their removal by Leigh in last season's play-offs as the Leopards' poor start to the Super League campaign continued.


Leigh, who finished third last season, scored two late tries to provide a tight scoreline however a fourth defeat in five means they stay 2nd from bottom.


They have actually been hit hard by early-season injuries, with head coach Adrian Lam revealing before kick-off he is down to 18 fit gamers, but they were architects of their own downfall at the DIY Kitchens Stadium with their indiscipline.


A second-half sin-binning for Jack Hughes after they had actually conceded a stream of first-half penalties gave Trinity an upper hand.


Wakefield led 8-4 at the break. Loose forward Jazz Tevaga provided them the lead with his very first shot for the club in the 11th minute, with some late footwork taking the impressive Samoan outside Isaac Liu close to the Leigh line to discuss.


Leigh came close in the 19th minute however Tom Johnstone, making his 200th career look, prevented stand-in centre Hughes grounding the ball over the line.


Wakefield's Jayden Myers had actually a shot disallowed for a foot in touch as he introduced himself in at the right-hand corner after some great defence from Innes Senior.


But after Caius Faatili spilled belongings in a take on by Liam Horne from the kick-off, Leigh penalized Trinity with full-back Gareth O'Brien forcing his method over for the shot to keep them in touch.


Myers extended Wakefield's lead within 2 minutes of the second half starting, as O'Brien failed to deal with Tyson Smoothy's chip through and presented the try to the winger after Faatili's agricultural kick on the last take on had caused confusion in the Leigh ranks.


Brilliant defence from Max Jowitt denied first Tesi Niu, as the full-back got his body under the centre as he crossed the line, and then Senior in the corner.


Leigh likewise undertook from Frankie Halton dismissed for a knock-on by Horne on a hectic night for video referee Liam Moore.


But the loss of Hughes to the sin-bin, for a tackle off the ball simply after the hour, proved crucial as Wakefield made the most of the extra male with Ollie Pratt reviewing in the 64th minute.


Josh Charnley pulled a shot back with 10 minutes left from Adam Cook's pass - his 258th in Super League - but despite the fact that Jacob Alick-Wiencke crossed with 30 seconds left, the visitors disappointed finishing a comeback win.


'Pretty typical efficiency' - response


Wakefield boss Daryl Powell informed BBC Radio Leeds:


"2 points is two points but I believed it was a lovely average efficiency. We were so negative at the start and got belted for territory in the second half when our discipline was pretty poor.


"Leigh were fantastic, with the injuries they've got, and we didn't back up what we did last week - in some cases that happens when you've had a big win.


"We can play better than that, we need to play better than that, we have to enhance and discover some lessons from it.


"We had 33% in the 2nd half and their line speed and intent was a bit much better than ours across the 80 minutes."


Leigh head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:


"There were some things that really harmed us. The charge count I think was 7-1 at half-time which was just outrageous.


"It's very hard to compete when it resembles that but we hung in there. I'm happy of them for competing right to the very end.


"It was three tries all at the end. If we kick our goals we connect the game but it wasn't to be.


"We're there or thereabouts however a long method away - that's how it feels at the moment.


"We only had 11 players train this week. We're doing our best. We simply have to discover a win along the way so next week ends up being really, truly crucial to us.


"It's effort at the minute but there's no requirement to panic."


Wakefield: Jowitt; Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone; Sinfield, Trueman; McMeeken, Smoothy, Rodwell, Nikotemo, Vagana, Tevaga.


Interchanges: Storton, Pitts, Hamlin-Eule, Faatili.


Leigh: O'Brien; Senior, Niu, Hughes, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Trout, McNamara, Mulhern, Halton, Alick-Wiencke, Liu.


Interchanges: Brogan, Brown, Davis, Horne.


Referee: Chris Kendall.


Leigh Leopards