COACH Leo Epifania refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his York Wasps side hammered 48-6 by Leigh at Huntington Stadium yesterday.

The Wasps were always the major underdogs, with Leigh being one of the favourites for the Northern Ford Premiership title and a side which put 168 points passed them in two games last season.

But despite suffering an inauspicious start to the match - going 12-0 down within three minutes and 30-0 down after 25 - the Wasps fought back and in the end did not really deserve to lose by such a margin.

"I think the scoreline was not a true reflection of the effort we put in," Epifania said.

"It's perhaps more an indication of the difference in standards between the teams. But I can't be that disappointed because there were stages that I was quite happy with."

The Centurions' team is full of Super League experience, while many of their players have come from the strong academies at Wigan and St Helens.

"To be honest I don't want to accept the result," said Epifania, who put the heavy defeat down to individual errors rather than a bad team showing.

"There were a lot of times when they scored tries against us simply because of individual lapses. It's not like it was a bad team performance.

"Leigh have probably got players who would not have such lapses but we have players who sometimes have a concentration lapse in defence and, bang, there's a try.

"Rugby league always comes down to your defence. If you can't keep them from scoring tries it puts pressure on you to have to score more at the other end and in turn it affects your attacking game. If we'd defended better our attack would have been better."

The wind also played a major factor in the first half with Leigh and their kicks benefiting early on.

"I was hoping we could keep their scoreline down more and give ourselves at least an opportunity in the second half," said Epifania.

"But they took advantage of the wind, and there's also that difference in standard. All round they are a strong team."

The Wasps remain at the foot of the NFP table with seven straight defeats, but Epifania added: "I thought we were quite good with the ball and we made good yards every time. We still made a few errors but I thought we used the ball quite well."

Updated: 09:05 Monday, February 04, 2002