Betfred Super League Round One
The Brick Community Stadium
Thursday 13 February 2025 (8pm)
Wigan Warriors 0-1 Leigh Leopards (after golden point extra-time)
Gareth O’Brien went down in Leigh folklore with the match-winning drop-goal three minutes into golden point extra-time to break an engrossing deadlock at the Brick Community Stadium.
O’Brien’s cool, calculated match-winning kick into the massed ranks of celebrating Leopards fans packed behind the posts sparked amazing scenes of celebration, akin to Lachlan Lam’s dramatic Wembley match-winner in 2023.
Not since August 1983 have Leigh won on Wigan soil and many of the Leopards army would not have been born or even thought about back on that summer Sunday at Central Park.
Tries by John Henderson (2), the late Mick Hogan and Ray Tabern, four Steve Donlan goals and one by Henderson routed Wigan that day 26-12 in front of 9,343 at one of the cathedrals of our sport, now sadly covered by a supermarket.
Wins at Wigan were routine for Leigh in that era, and that was their fourth win in six seasons at Central Park. Then came Wigan’s dominance of Rugby League, followed by the start of Super League, and the gap between the two rivals seemed at times too wide to ever bridge.
Veteran Leigh supporters present that day nearly 42 years ago have endured many years of hurt and good-natured ribbing from Wigan supporting family members, workmates or friends over that intervening period especially as the Warriors continued to collect so many trophies along the way.
Relegation from Super League after the Covid-dominated season year of 2021 ended what was only Leigh’s third season in the topflight since Super League was born in 1996, that memorable 50-34 win over Wigan at LSV in 2017 one rare highlight in what was otherwise a one-sided Battle of the Borough.
Then just over three years ago club owner Derek Beaumont kept his nerve after relegation, dug deep into his pockets and funded a full-time playing squad in the Championship, overseen by two key appointments.
The arrival of Chris Chester as head of rugby, ex-Wigan coach Adrian Lam as head coach was a masterstroke in changing the club’s fortunes. A record-breaking romp through the Championship, then the amazing revamp as the Leopards, two play-off places in successive Super League seasons and the Wembley win in 2023.
It takes skill and acumen to recruit and build a team, even more to then rebuild one. The Leopards side that had the honour of opening the 2025 Betfred Super League season had only seven of the Wembley team.
David Armstrong, Tesi Niu, Ethan O’Neill, Isaac Liu and Alec Tuitavake are all new recruits from Australia, each making their Super League debuts in the cauldron of a local derby having each braved the rigours of an English winter for the first time.
It was a night for heroes and each Leopards player did their club proud in as fine an all-round team performance for a generation. That quintet of overseas stars all look set to become new heroes of the adoring Leigh public that has welcomed them to their hearts.
Quite what they thought, stepping out on an ice-cold evening into a fantastic theatre of noise, colour and packed crowds is hard to imagine. They’d all been told of the passion of the Leigh fans, how much it meant to beat Wigan, how much the Leopards meant to the town. A town that walks on sunshine the morning after a win. Seeing is believing.
Wigan put on a show, a crowd of over 20,000 a great achievement on a Thursday February evening with school or work the next day. The two clubs have a friendly rivalry these days and both worked hard together to build up the game which was a fitting spectacle for the competition’s opening game. One of which the Borough as a whole can be proud.
Rugby League is dying say the critics. Not in the Wigan Borough it isn’t. It’s never been stronger.
A parade of past players from Leigh and Wigan, live music from The Lathums, lasers and pyrotechnics in the build-up all contributed to the big match feel, as the stands filled up long before kick-off. With Wigan due to play Warrington in Las Vegas soon, legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer added American razmataz, as he welcomed the teams to the field.
The game was fantastic, intense, highly skilled and physical, the efforts of all the players to maintain such a pace incredible. The defensive resilience of both teams to withstand periods of pressure was remarkable and the pace and intensity never slackened, the error count minimal.
Referee Liam Moore contributed to the spectacle, blowing for only four penalties and having no option but to sin bin Wigan captain Liam Farrell for a show of petulance and Adam Keighran for a foul.
Keighran’s absence when extra time began was perhaps a crucial contribution as the Leopards calmly worked their way towards the target and O’Brien rose above the mayhem to coolly pot the decisive point.
Leopards’ scrambling defence in the first half and their resolve and organisation was admirable as treble winners Wigan tested them with every trick in the book. Armstrong was brilliant under the high ball as Harry Smith went through his kicking repertoire, Keanan Brand and Umyla Hanley combined to superbly stop Jake Wardle’s burst for the line. The brilliant Bevan French was largely contained and Jai Field’s every move countered by a textbook defence.
Wigan looked to have broken the deadlock when Field went over 14 minutes after half-time but video referee Jack Smith ruled out the score for an illegal ball steal earlier in the move. Leopards grew in attacking confidence as the game went on while successfully keeping out Smith from drop-goal range. We even saw the captain’s challenge for the first time as Farrell and then Lachlan Lam both unsuccessfully appealed against decisions.
In the dying seconds Lam rose like a young salmon to defuse an angled Smith kick close to his own line with French lurking menacingly, receiving a hit from Keighran for his trouble that saw the home three-quarter sin binned.
The hooter finally sounded on Super League’s first ever 0-0 draw and the huge crowd gathered its breath for more drama to come. It was Leigh’s first 0-0 draw since March 1949, a home game against Salford, the first against Wigan since 1905.
The re-start was delayed far too long by the broadcaster and referee Moore had every right to insist on making a start with player welfare paramount. The players were freezing in the icy cold night air and risked injury as their muscles and body temperature cooled down dramatically.
Eventually after what seemed an interminable wait the game restarted and Leopards safely negotiated a Wigan set of six before working their way into the position for O’Brien to strike. Practice makes perfect and doubtless hours of work on the training field paid dividends.
Make no mistake, Wigan are a great team at the height of their powers. But the Leopards matched them in every department. And those new players have still to experience the Leopards Den and the North Stand in full voice after the Greatest Show in the build-up.
The stadium had all but emptied, the chants of the departing Leythers hanging in the night air, as Lam received the Wigan & Leigh Community Trophy in front of the main stand.
Hold on to your hats. 2025 is going to be a great season. Leopards are Massive. Everywhere We Go!
Warriors:
1 Jai Field; 22 Zach Eckersley, 3 Adam Keighran, 4 Jake Wardle, 5 Liam Marshall; 6 Bevan French, 7 Harry Smith; 16 Liam Byrne, 17 Kruise Leeming, 10 Luke Thompson, 11 Junior Nsemba, 12 Liam Farrell (capt), 13 Kaide Ellis
Bench:
15 Patrick Mago, 18 Tyler Dupree, 20 Harvie Hill, 23 Tom Forber. 18th Player: 21 Sam Walters
Sin Bins: Farrell (53), Keighran (79).
Leopards:
1 David Armstrong: 18 Keanan Brand, 4 Umyla Hanley, 3 Tesi Niu, 5 Josh Charnley; 6 Gareth O’Brien, 7 Lachlan Lam (capt); 8 Owen Trout, 17 Brad Dwyer, 10 Robbie Mulhern, 20 Ethan O’Neill, 11 Frankie Halton, 13 Isaac Liu
Bench:
12 Jack Hughes, 15 Alec Tuitavake, 16 Matty Davis, 9 Edwin Ipape. 18th player: 14 Aaron Pene
Drop goal: O’Brien
Referee: Liam Moore
Touch-judges: Warren Turley & Marcus Griffiths
Match Comm: Peter Taberner; Reserve referee: E McCarthy; Video referee: Jack Smith; Timekeeper: Tony Brown
Attendance: 21,958
Penalty count: 1-3
GLDO: 0-1
Scoring sequence: 0-0 (ht) 0-0 (ft) 0-1
