Leigh forward dealt injury blow as Adrian Lam provides likely timeframe

Leigh prop Ben Nakubuwai is set for a spell on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury in their 34-6 defeat to Wigan, according to coach Adrian Lam.

The Fiji international limped off the field in the second half of Thursday night’s loss to Wigan in the Battle of the Borough.

Nakubuwai, who has played in all seven of Leigh’s games so far this season, is facing up to a month in the treatment room.

“I think it is a medial strain on his knee,” Lam told Love Rugby League.

“It doesn’t look good at the moment so it may be three or four weeks so we’ll have to see the outcome on Monday.”

Adrian Lam: We will learn lessons from Wigan defeat

The Leopards were only 10-6 behind at half-time. Wigan scored 24 unanswered points in the second half though to secure the win at the Leigh Sports Village.

Lam was disappointed with the full-time result, but says his side will use it as a learning curve.

Speaking after the game, Lam said: “I just said to them in the dressing room that tonight will help us.

“Part of this journey for us, there are different levels of improvement and understanding.

“We’ve been playing at a level thats probably where we are sitting in the table at the moment. I think we were joint fifth ahead of tonight but for us to be top four we need to aspire to play for 80 minutes and thats what the lesson was tonight. The intensity wasn’t what it has been all season and it is a good lesson for the group.

“If we want to keep improving as we desire to do, then we need to do it for 80 minutes.

“I thought there was plenty of energy. I thought some of the detailed stuff tonight was good as we’ve done all season so there were some positives from it but they are heartbroken in there. We put a lot of energy in but they took advantage of those moments at the end.”

Leigh’s milestone man

Leopards winger Tom Briscoe scored his 200th career try with Leigh’s only try of the match.

Briscoe said: “Very happy for him. He’s a senior player of our group so I’m pleased I got that tonight. He’s a champion guy, very popular with the rest of the group and speaks well too, so its great news for him.”

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