Leigh 50 Wigan Warriors 10.

Cory Paterson led the charge with a hat-trick as Leigh overwhelmed last season’s Grand Finalists with an impressive first hit out of 2017.

Centurions have made a happy habit of winning this ‘Battle of the Borough’ clash in recent seasons but never so emphatically.

Nine tries in total, with half-back Ben Reynolds accumulating 18 points, was a fair reflection of Leigh’s ultimate dominance against opponents fielding eight of their 2016 Old Trafford winning squad.

Granted Shaun Wane’s visitors became more youthful the longer the contest went on. But Wigan pride themselves on the quality of their young guns who on this occasion were well and truly silenced.

“I would have taken that score line before the game,” smiled coach Neil Jukes. There were a couple of nervous, new guys who wondered how the game was going to go.

“We were confident we had done as much as we could physically over pre season without breaking them.

“But the acid test was always going to come under fatigue. So, I tried to get each individual long minutes rather than 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off.

“We posted a lot of points when Wigan made a lot of changes. But there are still some good players coming through and it so it was important we didn’t try and be real flash about what we did.

“Wigan had some missing but they are still a good team. They have had similar teams and gone to places like Widnes and won.

“I won’t be looking to much into the changes. I just thought we were very good.”

The injury losses of Gregg McNally (ankle ligaments) and Adam Higson (rib cartilage) took the gloss of a great performance.

But there were more positives with excellent debuts from Glenn Stewart, Eloi Pelissier, James Green and two- try Ben Crooks.

“I thought Ben was brilliant and said to him after it’s not a bad first touch in your jersey going 80 metres for a try,” said Jukes of the ex Hull and Castleford centre’s early breakaway touch down.

Crooks’ touch down came with Leigh under the cosh and Wigan looked threatening early on, scoring tries from prodigal son Thomas Leuluai and centre Oliver Gildart.

But from 10-6 down, Leigh hit their straps and scored 44 unanswered points. At one stage in the second half they plundered six tries in 20 minutes as Warriors’ defence was torn to shreds.

Ex Catalans favourite Pelissier, Jamie Acton and James Clare touched down for Leigh’s remaining scores with Reynolds landing seven goals from nine attempts.

“I am really pleased and the group will get a lot of confidence from this performance,” added Jukes.

Leigh entertain Dewsbury on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) when the likes of skipper Micky Higham, Dayne Weston and most recent recruit, Lachlan Burr, are expected to feature.

Match stats: Leigh: Hampshire; Higson, Crooks, Brown, Dawson; Reynolds, Drinkwater; Hock, Hood, Maria, Paterson, Stewart, Hansen; subs (all used): Pelissier, Green, Acton, Hopkins, McNally, Vea, Tickle, Clare.

Tries: Crooks (3, 45), Paterson (25, 59, 78), Pelissier (50), Acton (56), Clare (63), Reynolds (65) Goals: Reynolds 7/9.

Wigan: Escare; T Davies, Gelling, Gildart, Marshall; Williams, Leuluai; Sutton, Powell, Nuuausala, C Farrell, M Davies, O’Loughlin; subs (all used): Shorrocks, Tierney, Navarette, Field, Bretherton, Ganson, Forsyth, Woods.

Tries: Leuluai (9), Gildart (11) Goals: Escare 1/2.

Referee: Gareth Hewer.

Attendance: 5,792.