Rather than quote different people I'll do a reply in one.

Not sure what game people were watching if they thought Armstrong didn't look good. He didn't put a foot wrong defensively and looked capable carrying the ball back and coming into the line. He will go very well when the pitches dry up.

The delay for GP was that the official clock had malfunctioned so Moore got both captains in to say that they couldn't wait any longer and that the 4th official would manually do the timekeeping. Only in RL!

Very good game for the first of SL with some brutal defence from both sides. Yet again Lam proves he has an eye for NRL talent and all his signings went well.

I'm hoping that Sky have a separate clock next Wigan game to show how long it is until they have conceded a try. It's very impressive but my word did Dave Woods tell us every 5 mins. I see that they neglected to mention though it is now 120 mins since Wigan scored a try



In all seriousness I don't think Wigan will look as good in attack until the pitches dry up. That pitch looked a bit boggy last night which isn't a surprise due to the Latics playing on it now. I think when the weather improves (if it ever does) and the pitches dry then you will see Wigan's backline hit their straps.

The build up in the ground was great, Lathums were good, massive crowd, Buffer was brilliant I thought.

Then as has been said the crowd was dead, even the normally noisy Leigh fans maybe due to the temperature.

Felt we bossed the first 20 but then Leigh grew into the game and we started to fatigue.

I fully back Peets decision to let most of the team only start preseason in January (mental break needed after a gruelling season).

But felt we saw the downside of that last night, Leigh looked the fitter side.

With no WCC Peet knows we don’t need to be at our best early in the year and fitness will improve.

Lack of composure from Field and Smith cost us tries and easy attempts at 1 pointers.

Both sin bins were massive moments but correct calls and ultimately cost us.

During the night I felt gutted for the sport in general, given the big build up the game was quite a boring arm wrestle, not showing RL at its best to new viewers. That 10 minute delay before GP was amateur.

But was glad that most of the neutrals are twitter were talking up the game saying it was a classic which is good to see.

Happy for Leigh and their fans, their new signings looked great and should be in for a good year challenging us all the way.

No overreaction from me in regards Wigan - we will be fine.

I thought Armstrong was the best player on the field. He got absolutely clattered on a few occasions but kept coming back for more. He was a threat all night but we did cope pretty well with him and he was safe as houses under some really challenging high balls.

Lam looks to have found a couple more gems from the NRL, which he is extremely good at. Over a long season, I don't think Leigh will have enough in the forwards to challenge for trophies but their backline will make it an entertaining season for them.

sorry but got to disagree with you on this one

i've never seen him play before, but he handled everything we threw at him and he made 2 telling breaks, the 1st one he blew and Wardle intercepted and the 2nd led to the winning drop goal

rest of your post i cant disagree with and very much in the same boat. Good hard opening game, and credit to Leigh for sticking in there and getting the win

he feels like he's very much in the mould of Field and French, evasive and lightening fast, and will get better on dryer pitches

My thoughts on the game.

Great to have Michael Buffer there, as a long-time boxing fan that's something I never thought I would see! I thought Leigh went very well. Mulhern had a great game, Tesi Niu was a handful throughout and Armstrong looked every inch what Leigh fans will have been hoping for. Pace to burn, safe as houses under the kicks, not afraid to get stuck in, very nearly created a try and will likely destroy teams on faster tracks.

For us, I don't think it was as bad as all that. Field looked sharper than last season to me. Yes, he made a poor decision which probably cost us the game when he didn't pass out to Wardle but he was full of running, scored what would have been a magnificent try if it wasn't for the ball steal ruling (personally I thought the Leigh player had already lost the ball but I can see why the video ref went the way he did so I'm not going to get too worked up about it) and, along with Wardle and Marshall, looked the player most likely to make something happen for Wigan all night. Thompson was a beast as always, and unlucky not to score, Byrne went well in Havard's absence, Leeming had a good game too. Defence was obviously impressive. I think the Farrell sin bin hurt us, not just because we were down to 12 but also because I think that meant Peet held off bringing Mago on until Farrell was back.

Ref went for a very slow ruck. I don't think that was an advantage either way but both teams would have been pinged for six-agains several times last season, playing like that. I wonder whether that was just making allowances for the start of the season, or whether it signals a deliberate shift from the referees this year? The sin bin for Farrell was unarguable but unfortunate, as I felt watching it back that he absolutely had been obstructed. Clearly not a penalty try, as Dave Woods briefly floated the possibility, but definitely a penalty for me. As I said before, I thought the Marshall ball steal decision could have gone either way. Keighran is probably lucky to only see yellow. I know the ref said there was mitigation but I think that was pretty generous - he had every chance not to make contact with the head though, so he could have gone for that. Probably cost us our last chance of the game as, if he had made the tackle properly there we would have had the chance to pin Leigh down and get one last shot at scoring in normal time. He started last season with these brain farts but seemed to largely cut them out as the season progressed - I hope he gets rid of them sooner this year!

Eckersley does not look a natural winger to me. He put in a decent shift and defended well, but I would like to see Miski back sooner rather than later. I think Zack's future lies at full back or centre.

All in all, I thought that was pretty good season opener. Gutted to lose, but can't really complain. Yet another game that makes this old fart long for the days of draws after 80 minutes, as it would have been equally harsh on Leigh if we had managed to snatch it.

Well done Leigh just deserved the win.
Defences on top,attack very rusty but will come good I have no doubt.
Great opening night for SL,great crowd,as pointed out a little quiet on both sets of fans but it was pretty cold,maybe something to do with it.
Look forward to Hull now.

Coming off the ground I was trying to think what it reminded me of and then it clicked.
Remember when we used to do "The Big One" ? Where we'd go the extra mile in promoting the game, get a much bigger crowd in than usual for that fixture and then inevitably lose it


All credit to Leigh for the win, I went on thinking it would be a high scoring game with defences nowhere near up to standard yet, couldn't've been more wrong.
All in all not a disastrous night but I am looking forward to July, a bit fresh last night to put it mildly.

welcome to summer rugby





there is a certain irony in that its bloody freezing when we start, and inevitably p***ing down when we play the grand final, and nothing like summer rugby

Was Miski dropped for Eckerlsey?

When I saw the team I just assumed Miski was still a bit underdone but then I saw him in the warm up which is unusual for injured/rested players

Didn't he come back from pre-season a lot later? I'm assuming he's still trying to get fitness, or over an injury. I think the entire of last year he had strapping on his knee or arm, or both.

The coaching team decided to give him another week off as part of his recuperation.