LEIGH boss Paul Rowley bemoaned the downside of pre season warm-up matches as a nine-try defeat was compounded by a double first half injury blow, writes Trevor Baxter.

And while centre Greg Worthington will be fit for the Kingstone Press Championship opener at Batley Bulldogs, Centurions expect to be without full-back Gregg McNally for at least the first month of the season.

Leigh Journal:

McNally (above) tore medial knee ligaments while Worthington suffered concussion and needed stitches in the same incident; the duo trying to stop winger Gene Ormsby scoring the first of his hat-trick of tries.

But even without a back line re-shuffle, the Championship side would still have struggled to contain an impressive Wire outfit in this testimonial match for versatile stalwart, Simon Grix.

“There was a lot of swapping and changing but such is life,” said Rowley, forced to name a squad without injured Rangi Chase (hip) and Willie Tonga (knee). Harrison Hansen and Reni Maitua were ineligible.

"Warrington were really good and we learned plenty from and plenty to work on,” said Rowley.

“We only dropped one set in the first half so there are a lot of positives to take out of it, certainly with the ball.

"We were just so vulnerable on the edges defensively. There was a bit of that in the Wigan game.

"There was probably an attitude thing there as well which we will fix up. It was a disappointing score line for sure."

On McNally’s injury Rowley admitted: “It will need assessing but it doesn’t look too good. Initial thoughts are a grade two tear which is six or seven weeks.”

Rowley also confirmed Willie Tonga won’t make the trip to Mount Pleasant on February 7 after a knee operation will sideline him for six weeks.

Leigh Journal:

On the plus side Ryan Brierley came through an hour of his comeback game unscathed. By then Warrington had scored eight of their touchdowns, only missing a half century of points due to the average goal kicking of Kurt Gidley and Chris Sandow.

And a run of 46 unanswered points came after Adam Higson swooped in the corner to put Leigh in front after five minutes. Warrington, with a first time half back pairing of Gidley and Sandow, were only behind for six minutes until 2014 Man of Steel, Daryl Clark, sent over Ashton Sims for Gidley to convert.

Warrington, denied the services of Stefan Ratchford, Matty Russell, Ryan Bailey, James Laithwaite and Aussie prop, Mitchell Dodds, crossed the line four more times before the break through Ormsby, Rhys Evans, Gidley and Tom Lineham.

There was no way back in a feisty game that referee James Child, at times, struggled to control. Ormsby raced over four minutes after the re-start, impressive second rower, Ben Currie, showed an even more impressive turn of speed to add try number seven after 53 minutes before Kevin Penny and Ormsby rounded off the scoring.

Leigh enjoyed their best spell in the closing 15 minutes but couldn’t reward the noisy ‘Leyther Army’ with a consolation try.

Teams:

Penny; Ormsby, Evans, Atkins, Lineham; Gidley, Sandow; Hill, Clark, Sims, Currie, Hughes, Westwood; Subs (all used): Westerman, Dwyer, King, Wheeler, Patton, Julien, Cox, Philbin.

Tries: Sims (11), Ormsby (15, 44, 63), Evans (24), Gidley (27), Lineham (36), Currie (53), Penny (61)

Goals: Gidley 3/5; Sandow 2/4

Leigh:

McNally; Higson, Worthington, Armstrong, Pownall; Ridyard, Brierley; Moimoi, Higham, Weston, Dixon, Hock, Paterson; Subs (all used): Foster, Emmitt, Kay, Acton, Spencer, Hopkins, Harper.

Tries: Higson (5)

Goals: Ridyard 0/1

Referee: James Child

Half-tine:28-4

Attendance: 4963