Josh Charnley shines for Leigh as woe deepens for winless Wakefield Trinity

Wakefield Trinity’s relegation worries were deepened further after a ninth successive defeat, this time against the promoted Leigh Leopards.

Trinity have been mainstays in Super League since 1999 but they look increasingly likely to be playing their rugby in the Championship in 2024, even at such an embryonic stage of the campaign. They are now eight points behind the Leopards, who continue to look at home after promotion last season, while Wakefield are setting records for all the wrong reasons. Their new head coach, Mark Applegarth, is under increasing pressure already, given not only their results but also the nature of them.

They have scored only 47 points in their first nine games, and 24 of those came on the opening night against Catalans. This was also the fifth time in nine games they have failed to score, a Super League record, and while they are only four points adrift of their nearest rivals in Hull FC and Castleford, the fact they cannot score enough points to even compete in games, let alone win them, suggests there is a bleak summer ahead.

The hosts’ problems were summed up perfectly inside the opening half-hour. They dominated in terms of both possession and territory but couldn’t unpick Leigh’s defence on a single occasion and when Josh Charnley broke to send Gareth O’Brien across and put Leigh ahead, it felt the writing was on the wall. That was then emphasised further as Ben Reynolds scored to make it 10-0 at the break. For a team with problems as big as Wakefield, that deficit felt sizeable.

And brutally, the gulf widened further after half-time. There was no shortage of effort from Trinity, but simply no guile whatsoever. Charnley’s break to send Lachlan Lam through and make it 16-0 all-but killed the