Leigh furious over blackout

The Northern Ford Premiership side, Leigh, claim that they should be awarded the two points from their fixture at Hull Kingston Rovers on Sunday, despite it being abandoned because of a floodlight failure 11 minutes into the second half.

The Northern Ford Premiership side, Leigh, claim that they should be awarded the two points from their fixture at Hull Kingston Rovers on Sunday, despite it being abandoned because of a floodlight failure 11 minutes into the second half.

Leigh were leading 14-2 at the time and argue that their victory should stand, because the abandonment was the fault of Rovers and their electrical system. "We are asking for the points, because we were well in control of the game," said their chairman, Mike Nolan. "Obviously we will abide by the League's decision, but we are not happy that the situation was allowed to happen. If there was a doubt over the lights we should have kicked off at two o'clock."

There were angry scenes at Craven Park when the referee, Stuart Cummings, took the two sides off the field because of fears over players' safety when all four floodlight pylons were reduced to less than half their normal power. After a 15-minute delay, the game was called off, only for full power to return shortly afterwards. The Leigh coach, Paul Terzis, accused the home club of "incompetence".

However, the Rovers chairman, Don Robinson, hit back saying: "We spent a lot of money upgrading our floodlights in November and we expected them to be alright."

The Rugby League has called for full reports from the two clubs and the referee before deciding whether the match will have to be replayed. However, there is no by-law decreeing at what point the result in an abandoned match should be allowed to stand. Past custom and practice has been that, if an hour has been played and the result looks clear-cut, the scoreline stood.

On that basis, Leigh look certain to have to travel to Humberside for a replay. "Once we have read what everybody has to say about the situation, we will consider our position with regard to whether the fixture should be replayed or not," said the RFL's operations manager, Nigel Wood.

Wigan have signed three young players with extensive rugby league pedigrees for the coming season: James Coyle, the son of a former Wigan scrum-half, Bernard, and the grandson of another, Bernard Snr, and Harrison Hansen and David Allen, the sons of the former Swinton players, Shane Hansen and John Allen.