Wigan Warriors are still 'the team to beat', warns derby rival

That's the verdict of Leigh coach - and former Wigan hero - Adrian Lam, after watching his Leigh side well beaten in the 'Battle of the Borough' in midweek.

After the hard-fought win over Huddersfield last Thursday, that made it back-to-back wins for Wigan after successive losses to Hull FC and Warrington.

And Lam feels the Warriors - now back on top of Super League with seven rounds remaining - are still the benchmark for the rest of the competition.

"I would say they are still the team to beat," he said. "They've had a lot of success in the last 12 months or so, and there's no reason they can't continue to be favourites for the rest of this season."

Lam - whose side trailed 22-0 at the break on Tuesday - believes the fixture should have been played earlier in the year, rather than crammed into an already congested fixture list.

"It's always difficult to come here off a five-day turnaround, and a second away game," he said. "I don't know why the game wasn't played on that international weekend to be fair, that's the most common sense one for me.

"But we didn't start the game really well, we had an error the first time up at their end and that followed into a sin-bin.

"When you play Wigan at Wigan, you can't make errors and you've got to be disciplined, it's as simple as that. All of the tries in the first half were just soft actions, which really disappointed me. It's unacceptable."