Super League: Leigh Centurions 22-8 Warrington Wolves

Crooks' first-half score helped Leigh Centurions earn a third consecutive home win

Warrington Wolves' losing start to the season stretched to five straight Super League defeats as Leigh Centurions earned a deserved win in an electric atmosphere at the Leigh Sports Village.

Tries from Gareth Hock and Ben Crooks gave Leigh a 12-2 half-time lead.

Adam Higson and Hock extended the hosts' advantage after the break before Tom Lineham crossed to give Wolves hope of a comeback that never looked likely.

Ben Reynolds missed three conversions but his late kick capped a big win.

Warrington managed the first win by an English club over Australian opponents since 2012 when they beat Brisbane Broncos in the World Club Series in February - after a 2016 season in which they enjoyed a +250 points difference. This season they remain rooted to the bottom of Super League without a point.

By contrast, newly promoted Leigh have already earned more points this term than in any previous Super League campaign in their history.

Hock showed his strength to cross early on and Reynolds added the conversion before Crooks raced over to make it 10-0, Reynolds striking the post with his kick.

The teams traded two-pointers before the break to maintain Leigh's 10-point lead.

Both sides were temporarily reduced to 12 men in the second half as first Leigh's Glenn Stewart saw yellow for a high tackle on Kevin Brown, and then Wolves' Lineham was binned for lashing out at Ryan Hampshire.

Handling errors let Warrington down and enabled Leigh to withstand heavy pressure when they were a man down before sealing victory with further unconverted tries from Higson and Hock, to move up to fourth in Super League.

Leigh Centurions coach Neil Jukes:

"It was a real tough opening six games and to get 50 percent of them as wins is a real credit to the boys. We're finding our feet, we're getting battle-hardened.

"It's a cauldron here. We're starting games well but we're also finishing them strong so we're getting some consistency.

"Our defence was outstanding. Warrington are a class side and we did a real good job to put them under pressure,

"It never looked in doubt. I was disappointed with the try we conceded at the end but I can't complain too much."

Warrington Wolves coach Tony Smith:

"They out-enthused us. Both teams made a reasonable amount of errors in the first half and we gave away too many penalties.

"There was an amount of self-inflicted pain again. My players are trying hard but just coming up with wrong options and it's hurting us.

"Once we start making better decisions, we will come out the other side and get on a roll.

"We will re-group. We'll get in tomorrow into some hard work and fix it up. We'll have Stef Ratchford back next week but we've got to get some the people who are already out there back in their best form."

Leigh Centurions: Brown, Higson, Crooks, Reynolds, Dawson, Drinkwater, Hock, Higham, Acton, Stewart, Hansen, Vea, Hampshire.

Replacements: Pelissier, Tickle, Hopkins, Burr.

Warrington Wolves: Atkins, Brown, Clark, Cooper, Evans, Gidley, Hill, Hughes, Johnson, Lineham, Russell, Westerman, Westwood.

Replacements: Sims, Dwyer, Savelio, Livett.