Papua New Guinea hooker Edwin Ipape scored the crucial try as Leigh came from behind to stun Super League champions Wigan 18-8 on Friday night.

Jake Wardle’s early try and two Adam Keighran goals put the visitors 8-0 in front with 30 minutes remaining, but for the second time in three meetings this season, Leopards roared back with the final 18 points to clinch the win.

Centre Tesi Niu began the fightback before Man of Steel contender Ipape rounded off a superb team try.

And with 18 seconds remaining prop Owen Trout capped a memorable week, which included a first England call-up, with rampant Leigh’s third touchdown in front of a record Leigh Sports Village Super League crowd of 10,375.

Gareth O’Brien converted all three tries as Adrian Lam’s side leapfrogged Leeds back into third place.

Meanwhile, Wigan’s fourth defeat of the campaign leaves them still four points behind leaders and Challenge Cup winners Hull KR.

The visitors had made the perfect start after five minutes when Wardle stepped inside two defenders to touch down, while Leopards second-rower Frankie Halton had a try ruled out by video referee Chris Kendall before Josh Charnley’s sprint for glory was stopped by Jai Field.

Keighran’s 36th-minute penalty brought Wigan their only other points of a breathless and brutal first period, and with rain falling at the start of the second half, 8-0 looked a useful advantage.

However, 10 minutes after the restart, Leigh hit back. Ipape and Lam combined and Niu dummied to Charnley before darting over himself.

And it was no surprise when Leigh gained a winning lead 12 minutes from time. A superb handling move eventually saw Keanan Brand and Umyla Hanley link for Ipape to jubilantly score between the posts, while Trout scored a final try for the home team.

Warrington play-off hopes alive with scrappy win over Salford

Warrington kept their Super League play-off hopes alive but were made to scrap for an 24-12 win over basement boys Salford.

Matt Dufty’s early try seemed to suggest Salford, beaten 58-0 by St Helens on Sunday, were on for another hiding, but after Ethan Ryan’s try, two penalties from Chris Hankinson gave them a shock 8-6 lead.

James Harrison went over to put Warrington back on top before half-time, but Hankinson kicked a much-improved Salford level again before Josh Thewlis scored the decisive try just after the hour and Stefan Ratchford made sure late on against his former club.

Jake Thewlis went close to getting Warrington off the mark four minutes in, just failing to get the ball down in the corner, but there was no argument three minutes later as a neat reverse pass from George Williams left Dufty with time and space to go over.

An energised Salford responded well, aided by a number of handling errors from the visitors. Salford had already let three good opportunities go before Josh Thewlis lost the ball in his own territory and the hosts quickly shifted it right for Ryan to barge his way over in the corner 23 minutes in.

Hankinson missed the conversion but, as the Wolves mistakes piled up, penalties allowed him to kick Salford into an 8-6 lead nine minutes before the break.

Their advantage would only last three minutes as Warrington again found a way of cracking open the centre of the Salford line, with a quick offload from Ben Currie leaving Harrison with the easy task of touching down in space.

Former Salford man Sam Stone, booed relentlessly by home fans after his acrimonious departure earlier in the year, was the next Warrington man to concede a penalty early in the second half, allowing Hankinson to cut the deficit to two.

Dufty was stopped inches short of the line as Warrington tried to take advantage of the gap left with Salford skipper Ryan Brierley down injured and tensions started to rise as scuffles broke out between the players more than once.

Salford were piling on the pressure and it told as Hankinson levelled it with another penalty and Wolves frustration continued as another poor pass from Williams wasted a scoring opportunity.

But they had shifted the momentum of the game and made it count on the hour, with Josh Thewlis diving on to Dufty’s bouncing kick to score in the corner, though Sneyd could not make the difficult conversion.

Salford thought they had a quick response as Esan Marsters pounced on a dropped ball from Jake Thewlis to touch down, but referee Liam Rush had spotted a tackle in the air from Ryan.

Sneyd then kicked a penalty to pad Warrington’s lead and Salford’s chance at victory was gone when Ratchford capitalised on a drop from Marsters late on.

Sky Sports will again show every game of Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.