A NIGHT which began with Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont issuing a statement ended with Wigan Warriors making one.
With ill-feeling over away-fan ticket allocation for last year’s Super League play-off semi-final still lingering, a statement from Beaumont was posted on Leigh’s website around 40 minutes before kick-off explaining why they had returned 3,550 of the 5,000 tickets allocated to them by the hosts for the Round 3 opener.
Those 1,450 Leopards supporters who did made the seven-mile trip to The Brick Community Stadium might well have been left wishing they had not bothered either though, as the Warriors trounced their rivals 54-0 on Thursday night.
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Jai Field and Harry Smith led the way with two tries apiece for Wigan in the biggest margin of victory over their ‘Battle of the Borough’ rivals since the 60-10 triumph in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup 13 years ago.
Yet it was the defensive side of the performance, as Leigh became the first team to be nilled so far in the nascent 2026 Super League season, which Warriors skipper Liam Farrell believed would have pleased head coach Matt Peet and his assistants the most.
“If you ask anyone at the club, particularly Matty, [Sean O’Loughlin], Tommy [Leuluai] – even though Tommy is attack coach – they’ll all say the same,” Farrell, whose side kept two clean sheets in the 2025 Super League season, told BBC Five Live Sports Extra.
“Keeping a clean sheet is better than scoring 50 or 60 points, so we’re all happy with that.
“Defence will win big games.”
Bevan French, Zach Eckersley, Junior Nsemba, Tom Forber and player of the match Adam Keighran, who also kicked nine goals from nine attempts, accounted for the rest of Wigan’s tally.
Leigh, meanwhile, were left to count the cost on the injury front as Joe Ofahengaue and Matt Davis had to leave the field, while Bailey Hodgson suffered a suspected ACL injury late on.
Wigan’s dominance was underlined by them enjoying 62% percent possession, and significantly out-gaining Leigh in run metres (2,166-1,043), post-contact metres (683-344) and play-the-balls in the opposition 20-metre zone (42-8) per Super League stats.
Wins over Castleford Tigers and Hull FC as well mean last year’s grand final runners-up have begun the Super League campaign with three straight as they seek to wrest the crown back from Hull KR, but Farrell urged caution.
“I’m hoping it’s only the start because it’s not usually that good of a sign if you’re playing so well at the start of the year,” Farrell said.
“I’m hoping we’re going to improve from this. Hopefully we do, we’ll take on the year, and we’ll see where we end up.
“Everyone is hungry at the moment, it’s early in the year and we look pretty good, so hopefully that will continue for us.”