Super League: Leigh Leopards 18-14 Warrington Wolves

The match was a dress rehearsal for the Challenge Cup semi-final on May 11, but Wolves also knew that a victory would move them above their local rivals following a run of four wins from their previous five games.

The loss of playmaker George Williams, who had surgery on an ankle injury on Thursday, hit the Wolves badly, and in stark contrast the mercurial Lam was at the heart of everything for the home side at Leigh Sports Village.

He created chance after chance in the first half, but Halton spilled the ball after being set up by the Papua New Guinea international, who also teed up David Armstrong to touch down, and then dribbled the ball over for what looked like another score, only for both to be disallowed for infringements by team-mates following video reviews.

Zane Musgrove was held up over the line at the other end, and it seemed that Marc Sneyd’s early penalty was going to provide the only points of a tight first half.

Lam summoned one last piece of magic to change that, as he stepped through a gap and then flipped the pass up in the tackle for Ipape to go over the line and give Leigh the half-time lead.

Lam then came up with a neat delayed pass to send O’Neill racing over the line, and as the Warrington defence kept a careful eye on their tormentor, it left room for his half-back partner Gareth O’Brien to send Halton over and make it 18-2 as O’Brien converted all three tries.

Warrington dug deep and when Sneyd unexpectedly kicked the ball through on the fifth tackle, Toby King dashed in to register their first try.

Then Matt Dufty made a sharp break and sent Matty Ashton over, and with Sneyd converting both tries they were suddenly within sight of a win, only for Leigh to shut up shop.