IT was a case of too little, too late for Saints who fell to their first defeat on Leigh soil since 1994, going down 24-16 to the Super League newcomer.

Although they created a sack full of chances in the second half, they were already chasing the game by then after a shocking first 40 minutes in which they were beaten hands down in all departments by a more energetic, aggressive and dynamic Centurions outfit.

Flaky Saints gave themselves a mountain to climb after being out-enthused, and out-muscled during a first half that had left them and the 3,000-strong travelling hordes shell-shocked.

Leigh were up for it from the off, running hard from deep, breaking tackles, offloading and spreading the ball.

Saints found it hard to live with what was being thrown at them, and it was particularly worrying to see their much-trumpeted front row turned over so easily with some soft contact allowing their opposites to make easy yards, win the collision and put them on a roll.

The writing was on the wall early on when, after having back-to-back sets on the Leigh line they came away with nothing despite Mark Percival and Luke Douglas both going close.

Emboldened by that Leigh countered, and did so with vigour with former Saint Atelea Vea storming through Theo Fages’ tackle to open the scoring.

Leigh doubled the lead moments later when Micky Higham’s inside ball saw Gareth Hock smash through from close range.

Although Saints then had a spell of good field position, their execution let them down and when they finally did cross through Ryan Morgan, the referee pinged them for crossing.

Leigh went up to the other end of the field where Jamie Acton tore through to make it 18-0 after 30 minutes.

With Centurions’ tails up that score gave Saints a mountain to climb but just before the break they got a toe-hold into the rock face when crisp hands saw Percival send Swift over for a one-handed touchdown in the corner.

Trailing 18-4 at the break Saints started the second half much better, and with James Roby, who had come on for Tommy Lee in the latter part of the first half, piercing the line they started to ask more questions.

Nice play from Danny Richardson and Roby created a half chance for Dominique Peyroux, but also he spilled it.

Saints were on a roll though and dominated for 10 minutes until Roby finally breached the line on 56 minutes and, whether deserved or not, the game was back in the melting pot.

On the hour mark Leigh looked shattered but Saints could not make the most of it with Peyroux dropping another and Percival being held up.

Leigh had suddenly looked bedraggled, hanging on, but a lack of composure and some shaky execution let them off the hook.

There was plenty wrong with Saints' work with the ball and the Morgan-Makinson wing partnership at times appeared to be reading from a different page.

After being let off the hook, Leigh marched up the other end of the field assisted by a penalty. Once they got decent field position Higham, a player who left Saints 12 seasons ago, rolled back the years by scooting a fair distance from dummy half to effectively seal it.

Although Walmsley trundled over nine minutes from time, a combination of Saints’ ‘beat-the-clock’ rugby and a shred bit of game management from Josh Drinkwater saw Leigh secure their first Super League win since April 2005.

By that stage the magnificent travelling hordes, who had done so much to lift the team, were already heading the exits feeling utterly deflated after an underwhelming performance.