Leigh Centurions February Recap

In its 2nd season the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup has a brand-new structure. Joining 17 championship teams will be 3 clubs from the National Conference League Premier Division, all for a second chance to reach a Wembley Final. West Hull, the current NCL champions, will join York Acorn and Under bank Rangers in the 1st Round draw, held in Cumbria on March 18. Similar to last year, 12 of the Betfred Championship clubs who entered the competition have all received a bye into the 2nd Round, where they will compete with 4 of the 1st Round winners. The 2nd Round is also going to be held on March 18 at Ullswater Heights Leisure Resort. This allows the competing clubs to have more time to plan fixtures.

It is confirmed that the dual-registration partnership between Leigh Centurions and St Helens will continue into the 2020 season. This partnership allows Saints players the opportunity to gain more playing experience in Championship rugby, as well as giving players from Leigh the chance to gain game time for the Saints’ Reserves side. Currently, Hilltop’s very own sponsored player Brad Holroyd, along with Andy Thornley and Sam Brooks, aided the Reserves with a win against Salford, before fellow Centurion Ryan Ince joined and took part in a Reserves’ victory over London Broncos.

Both Holroyd and Ince scored tries against the Broncos, helping the Saints to 2/2 wins. Leigh Head Coach John Duffy said: “It is good that we’ve been able to continue the partnership with St Helens this season. It has been great for some of our lads to get over there and in the games, they’ve played in already, they’ve been up against a lot of Super League quality players.”

Chief Executive Mike Rush (St Helens) is delighted to continue the partnership: “It’s a great opportunity for some of our younger lads to get some first team action in the Championship with a good, competitive side, which can only build their experience and hunger to play first team rugby.”

Leigh: McNally, Scott, I Thornley, Sa’u, Higson, Reynolds, Woods, Mason, Hood, Ioane, Hellewell, Glohe, Addy. Subs: Widlie, Thompson, Gerrard, Bienek

Sheffield Eagles: Makelim, McComb, Guzdek, Bower, Millar, Farrell, Thackeray, Dixon, Burns, Tagg, Davies, Farrell, Brown. Subs: Ward, Taylor, Burns, Broadbent

The Centurions racked up a massive 11 tries, including a hat-trick from Adam Higson in the first 17 minutes as they defeated Sheffield Eagles. In their first home game of the season, Leigh claimed a commanding lead with the score 26-0 at half-time, and it didn’t improve for the Sheffield Eagles with Leigh getting over the try line another 6 times in the second half. Centurions full-back Gregg McNally achieved huge milestone during the game, with a last-minute conversion taking him over a 1000 career points. Also, prop Mark Ioane became the 1500th player to represent the Leigh jersey, earning #HN1500. John Duffy, Leigh Head Coach said it was a job well done. He further explained: “It was a really professional performance from us. I’m enjoying the way we are going about our business at the minute.”

Leigh: McNally, Scott, I Thornley, Sa’u, Forsyth, Reynolds, Woods, Mason, Hood, Spencer, Hellewell, Glohe, Addy. Subs: Wildie, Thompson, Bienek, Gerrard

York: Sharp, Bass, Keinhorst, Salter, Wallis, Johnston, Marsh, Baldwinson, Jubb, Clarkson, Jordan-Roberts, Scott, Spears. Subs: Brining, Green, Stock, Teanby

Leigh Centurions made it 3 out of 3 wins for their championship season with a dominating 34-0 win over York City Knights. Duffy’s men went 10-0 up at the break thanks to 2 tries from winger Liam Forsyth who made his senior debut in place of injured Adam Higson. Half-backs Reynolds and Woods were key in Leigh’s win. York beat the Centurions both home and away last season.

Leigh Head Coach Duffy said this when reflecting on his team’s performance “It was a very solid performance, especially to keep a team as good as York to zero. We started a bit below standard, but we had a good chat about things at half-time and picking things up a bit and came away with the win.

The Centurions then turned their attention to their Challenge Cup 4th Round tie against Batley Bulldogs.

Leigh: Mullen, Shaw, I Thornley, Sa’u, Higson, Reynolds, Wildie, Gerrard, Hood, Ioane, Hellewell, Glohe, Addy. Subs: Spencer, Thompson, Brooks, Field

Batley: Scott, Reittie, Senior, Galbraith, Campbell, White, Hooley, Dupree, Leak, Everett, Manning, Tomlinson, Blagbrough. Subs: Ward, Taira, Lunt, Lilycrop

Leigh secured their place in the 5th Round of the Challenge Cup with a hard-fought win over Batley Bulldogs on Friday evening. After an impressive start to their season, the Centurions looked sharp from the get-go and gained the lead after just 4 minutes when Hood went over from dummy half and Reynolds added the 2-points. Dupree barged over the line from close range in the 15th minute to shorten the gap for the Bulldogs.

Only 18 minutes into the 2nd half Leigh added more points onto the scoreboard. Another 2 from Reynolds put the Centurions 24-points ahead. Moments later, Adam Higson went over in the corner, after a move straight from the training ground off the scrum. With the conditions deteriorating, Leigh went a man down and Batley took advantage and gain a try back, but it wasn’t to be enough

Leigh will now face Super League side Hull KR in the next stage of the Coral Challenge Cup for a second successive season.