Warrington 32-30 Leigh: Wolves safe after narrow win
Last Updated: 10/09/17 3:23pm
Warrington secured their place in next season's Super League after clinching a hard-fought 32-30 Super 8s Qualifiers victory over Leigh at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
In a frantic game where there was never more than eight points between the two sides, the Wolves trailed 30-24 with 14 minutes remaining and it was captain Chris Hill who claimed a crucial try to haul his side back into the game.
Harvey Livett then took over the goal-kicking responsibilities from Declan Patton and he kept his nerve to land the conversion and then a match-winning penalty soon after to edge the Wolves home.
The Wolves scored six tries in all with others coming from Matty Russell, Ben Westwood, Kurt Gidley, Kevin Brown and Peta Hiku, while they also landed two goals.
It was tough on Leigh, who gave their all in defeat and claimed tries through James Clare, Liam Hood, Antoni Maria, Atelea Vea and Lachlan Burr, with Josh Drinkwater adding five goals.
Five of the 11 tries in the match arrived inside the opening 20 minutes in a whirlwind opening quarter, with the visitors edging ahead first when Greg McNally's pass allowed Clare to score in the corner, following an initial 50-metre dash from Hood.
Warrington hit back when Brown and Stefan Ratchford combined to send Russell over in the corner and then Gidley's short pass allowed Westwood to crash over from close range, with Patton converting the latter score to make it 10-6 to Warrington.
But Leigh responded when Hood claimed a simple try from dummy-half close to the line before Maria dotted down from a crossfield kick from Drinkwater, who split the posts twice to give Leigh an 18-10 lead.
The game finally settled down before the Wolves registered two more tries in the final eight minutes of the first half.
Gidley claimed a fine solo try when he dummied his way over from close range and then when Leigh lost possession deep inside their own half it was Hiku who claimed the loose ball and he sent Brown over in the corner.
Patton added a further conversion to give the Wolves a 20-18 half-time lead.
The topsy turvy nature of the game continued at the start of the second half with Leigh regaining the lead just four minutes after the restart.
Glenn Stewart's crossfield run saw him deliver the perfect pass for Vea to take on the burst and dive over and score, Drinkwater again converted to make it 24-20.
But back came the Wolves again and in the 54th minute they drew level when Brown's high kick was misjudged by McNally and Mitch Brown, and Hiku was on hand to pounce on the loose ball and touch down.