Leigh end long wait for win at Warrington

Keanan Brand grabbed the game's first try, after just four minutes, for Leigh

Betfred Super League

Warrington Wolves (0) 12

Tries: King, Thewlis Goals: Ratchford 2

Leigh Leopards (10) 34

Tries: Brand 3, Davis, Hanley, Hodgson Goals: O'Brien 5

Leigh Leopards won at Warrington for the first time in more than 38 years, piling more misery on Wolves head coach Sam Burgess.

Defeat by a Leigh side chasing a home elimination final was Warrington's sixth loss in seven games – and came after Wolves chairman Stuart Middleton had publicly backed former England dual-code international Burgess.

Although the 36-year-old Burgess also spoke of "truly believing" in what he can do as Warrington boss, Leigh were largely untroubled by the eighth-placed Wolves as first-half tries from Keanan Brand and Matt Davis put the visitors up 10-0 at the break.

Brand went on to grab two more tries for his hat-trick, while Umyla Hanley and Bailey Hodgson also went over in the second half, as Leigh cruised to their first away win against Warrington since a 17-10 Stones Bitter Championship victory at the Wire's former home ground of Wilderspool in April 1987.

Wolves managed two late tries, through Toby King and Josh Thewlis, which allowed decorated full-back Stefan Ratchford to mark his final home game before retirement with two successful conversions.

Warrington's hopes of reaching the play-offs were already over before Leigh's visit, with defeat by crisis club Salford Red Devils a week earlier putting their top-six aspirations beyond reach and marking a low point in Burgess' tenure.

As if to sum up the Wolves' woes, the hosts conceded a penalty with their first touch, when Marc Sneyd's kick to start the match sailed straight into touch.

While Leigh did not immediately punish Warrington - after being handed possession to start the game's first set on the halfway line - their wait to take the lead did not last long, as Brand dived over in the right corner after Hanley found him free at the end of a sweeping passing move.

Wolves' day quickly got worse as Leon Hayes, in just his second game back after a 15-month injury lay-off, was forced off with a suspected broken arm.

Handling errors plagued Warrington as they tried to find a way back into the game, but they rallied well to restrict Leigh to only one more try before the break, which Davis grabbed after meeting a clever kick from Edwin Ipape under the posts.

Leigh had a Jack Hughes try ruled out early in the second half, but there was no denying Brand as he added his second score of the afternoon soon after to put Adrian Lam's side in a comfortable position.

Hanley and Hodgson went on to touch down to put Leigh 28-0 up with less than 10 minute remaining, only for Warrington to hit back with two tries in three minutes before Brand got involved in the late flurry of tries to complete his treble.

Lam pride in milestone Super League win - reaction

Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess told BBC Radio Merseyside: "The scoreline probably doesn't reflect our effort. It might seem a bit silly, but that is how I feel about the game.

"I'm pleased we got off the canvas, so to speak, today. The scoreboard is not on our side, or anywhere near it, but we lost Leon to a broken arm, and that threw us out and it took time to adjust, but there was so much effort out there from a lot of players.

"Some of our left edge defence really let us down, but they are a great attacking side and they made us pay in the end."

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester: "I was pretty happy with it [the win], but it was a bit stop-start at times. We got out of it what we needed.

"We touched on it during the week that Warrington would be emotional with what is going on, so the start was going to be really important. And I thought we were pretty good for most of the game.

"I am proud of the fact that was the first time we have beaten Warrington at Warrington in the Super League era. We are ticking these boxes, these milestones, as we go along, and it is just reward for all the hard work."

Warrington Wolves: Dufty, J Thewlis, King, Ratchford, J Thewlis, Sneyd, Hayes, Philbin, Walker, Yates, Stone, Fitzgibbon, Matterson

Interchanges: Powell, Holroyd, Wood, Thomas

Leigh Leopards: Hodgson, Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O'Brien, Lam, Pene, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Hughes, Liu

Interchanges: Trout, Tuitavake, Davis, Dwyer

Referee: Chris Kendall