Centurions' young guns impress

When head coach Darren Abram returns from holiday this week, he'll get glowing reports on how Leigh's youthful and inexperienced side never wavered against a far more experienced Warrington side.

Leigh chose to omit something like 11 of their senior squad, opting to give youth a fling while, at the same time, handing debuts to new pack pair Oliver Wilkes and David Larder.

In a match to celebrate Mark Hilton's 10 years with the Wolves, Warrington clearly took the game seriously. They started with a first choice pack and went on to completely dominate the first half, building up a 22-4 lead.

More benefit

While the Wolves will rightly point out they were generally well below full strength, it's likely Leigh will get more benefit from the game than they will.

Admittedly there were lots of negatives in Leigh's play, particularly their poor defence up the middle and on the left flank, but they can take great heart from the many positives.

Second rower Wilkes looks a handy signing. He ran intelligently off John Duffy's crafty passes and always looked capable of breaking the line. When he and Andy Isherwood were on the field together, they had the makings of a dangerous second row combination.

Leigh always looked capable of breaking the Wolves down when Duffy was on the field, but the outside backs rarely got any decent running chances.

However, it was the youthful promise of the likes of James Taylor, Mike Govin, Tommy Grundy, Adam Bibey and Kieron Maddocks that will give Leigh most satisfaction.

Teenager Taylor is no respecter of reputation. It didn't matter who ran at him, the slightly built second rower repeatedly cut them down with his textbook tackling style. He was on the field for less than half an hour, but he made a massive impact.

Govin and Grundy, Warrington Academy players themselves until a few weeks ago, were prominent in the second half while Maddocks, usually a hooker, got himself heavily involved despite filling in on the wing for a long spell. Bibey continues to make good progress as a front rower and will be pushing for senior recognition before too long.

Warrington always had the upper hand and, given the benefit of two early tries, won comfortably enough.

Dean Gaskell and Brent Grose touched down inside the first 12 minutes and Nick Owen added both conversions. Duffy had the Wolves stretched at times and when he flicked a kick over the top off his right boot, Danny Halliwell followed up to score.

Bright spot

It was the only bright spot for Halliwell who had the sort of afternoon he'll quickly want to forget. His defence was exposed several times, none moreso than just before half time when Grose spun away from his attempted tackle to go in for his second try of the game. When Ben Westwood but Gaskell across again, the Wolves had an 18-point advantage at half time.

Maddocks' long break at the start of the second half set up the position for Grundy to show good strength to force his way over under the posts, Govin converted.

A mistake behind his own line by Mark McCulley presented Gaskell with his third and 10 minutes from time Gary Hulse scrambled over on all-fours after only being half stopped by Heath Cruckshank.

Right on the stoke of full time Duffy was twice involved in the move that brought Dave Alstead a try close enough to the posts for Govin to convert.

Wilderspool line-ups

Warrington: Owen; Varkulis, Grose, Westwood, Gaskell; Hulse, Durbin; Stevens, Gleeson, Hilton, Noone, Wainwright, Clarke. Subs: Roberts, J.Pickersgill, M.Clarke, McGovern, Berry, S.Pickersgill, Ashton, Pitt.

Leigh: McCulley; Alstead, Maden, Halliwell, Irabor; Coates, Duffy; Fairhurst, McConnell, Cruckshank, Wilkes, Isherwood, Blackwood. Subs: Taylor, Grundy, Cragg, Maddocks, Callan, Govin, Larder, Bibey.

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Mirfield).

Attendance: 2,934.