Wigan Warriors returned to the Super League summit with a vital victory against local rivals Leigh Leopards, but it was arguably the manner of the triumph which would have offered more encouragement than the result for the reigning champions.

Back-to-back defeats coupled with an underwhelming victory against Huddersfield last Thursday left some wondering if Matt Peet’s side had potentially started to falter after a season during which they have already won the World Club Challenge and the Challenge Cup, establishing themselves as club rugby league’s premiere side.

With the star duo Jai Field and Bevan French both unavailable here, the prospect of a Leigh win for the first time at Wigan since 1982 felt eminently possible, particularly given the Warriors’ recent form. But they were much the stronger of the two sides in a one-sided first half in which they established a 22-0 advantage by half-time.

Leigh, who remain in the hunt to make the playoffs themselves, were much improved after the break but the damage had been done. They must now bridge a five-point gap between themselves and the top six in the remaining seven rounds of the season.

Whether they can do that depends on which version of this Leopards side turns up. After the break they were enterprising in attack and strong defensively against the world champions, but before that they were dreadful. That said, Wigan settled any nerves over their own recent performances early on here.

They opened the scoring after six minutes when Junior Nsemba forced his way through some weak Leigh defending to break the deadlock, and the Leopards’ woes worsened as the first half continued. With their key full-back, Matt Moylan, visibly not fully fit Wigan took fully advantage.

A clever move again involving Nsemba led to Jake Wardle’s try making it 10-0 and while the half briefly evened itself out the contest felt as though it was settled in the six minutes leading up to half-time, when two more Warriors tries put Wigan effectively out of sight. First, Adam Keighran broke free to touch down before Patrick Mago forced his way over the line.

Moylan was withdrawn at half-time, clearly off the pace, but the Leopards did improve significantly after half-time. They scored the first try of the second half when Lachlan Lam broke away to touch down under pressure and had one or two more half-chances gone the Leopards’ way there could have been the real prospect of a comeback on the cards.

But Leigh had always left themselves with too much to do. Wigan did dip in performance level in the second half but the one try they did score, courtesy of the young forward Harvie Hill, was enough to put a real buffer between the sides again.

And despite not being at their best for the past month, Wigan are now once again two points clear at the top with seven games remaining. The treble remains firmly on the cards in 2024.