2004 Season Reports: LEIGH 46 HALIFAX 20

LEIGH CENTURIONS 46

HALIFAX 20
Dave Parkinson at The Coliseum

Leigh Centurions completed their Arriva Trains Cup group record with a 100 percent record after this comprehensive defeat of Halifax.

Leigh bossed things from the start with solid defence which forced a turnover from ‘Fax scrum-half Mark Moxon on the visitors first set of possession. Less than a minute later the Centurions led 6-0 courtesy of Paul Rowley after John Duffy ghosted through the middle and handed on to the ever supporting hooker.

Despite forcing Leigh to defend their line strongly, Halifax could not find a way through and former Centurion Alan Hadcroft was stopped short. In response Simon Knox and Heath Cruckshank worked the ball upfield and an inventive kick from Duffy added to pressure by Neil Turley, forced an error from Brad Attwood. Tommy Martyn then forced a drop out and finally the pressure told when Anthony Farrell was penalised for holding down in the tackle and Turley added the goal points for an 8-0 advantage.

Rowley created Leigh’s second as Danny Halliwell crashed over in the left corner after 15 minutes. Leigh were rampant and followed this with another four points on the opposite flank - Alstead scoring from a quality pass by Duffy.

On 28 minutes the Centurions seemingly put the game out of reach when a set move from a scrum worked saw Dan Potter stride through almost unopposed. Turley’s conversion made it 22-0 before two tries in three minutes threatened home supremacy. The first fell to Chris Norman after he showed good speed and acceleration to round Halliwell on the outside. A low kick then caught Turley unawares and Rikki Sheriffe touched down in the corner for Jon Roper to goal superbly.

Seconds from the interval Leigh restored their advantage and ultimately the game when Turley danced past two defenders to score under the posts after the Centurions had forced a turnover. Halifax coach Tony Anderson agreed that was the turning point.

“We turned the ball over on half-way and they scored again right on the buzzer. That was a bit of a killer.” He said.

Three minutes into the second half Leigh scored their sixth try – again Rowley scooting over in support of Duffy after a break and offload from Ian Knott. This seemed to fire the visitors and they added pressure on the back of good running from Farrell and sensible kicking in damp conditions from Moxon and Simon Grix. On 53 minutes Cantillon unlocked the Leigh defence with a delayed pass and prop David Bates dived under the posts for a converted try.

With improved spirit and resolve Halifax kept their line intact and battled with Leigh for 12 minutes before Mark McCully found the strength to hold off three defenders and score under the posts at a time when the game was entering a lull.

Impressive winger Sheriffe pulled a fourth try back with his second on 74 minutes after good work from Norman but it was only consolation as Leigh finished strongly. A superb 45 metre break by Turley looked set to bring the fullback another four points to his enormous Leigh tally but unselfishly he handed on for Duffy to complete the try-scoring before adding his 7th conversion from 9 attempts to close the score.

Winning coach Darren Abram revealed a change in game plan helped his team get away to a flyer. “We went into it with a different game plan in the first half and again it came to fruition – some excellent plays, some excellent line running from our props brought us the points on the board.” He said.

Halifax coach Anderson was happy with the effort but admitted the Centurions had taught his young side (containing 10 under-21 players) a lesson.

“We competed better over the last 50 minutes of the game but you can’t give any team a 22 point start. Leigh gave us a lesson in how to get repeat sets and we gave them penalties and field position. If we had started the game like we finished those last 50 minutes we might have been in there.” He said.

GAMEBREAKER: As called by Halifax boss Tony Anderson - Turley’s try on the stroke of half-time handed the Centurions an unassailable 18 point advantage.

GAMESTAR: Paul Rowley, was again a class above in his personal clash with Phil Cantillon and came up with two tries.



CENTURIONS

1 Neil Turley
2 Dave Alstead
3. Dan Potter
4 Danny Halliwell
5 Mark McCully
6 John Duffy
7 Tommy Martyn
8 Simon Knox
9 Paul Rowley
10 Heath Cruckshank
11 Andy Isherwood
12 Oliver Wilkes
13 Ian Knott
Subs (all used)
14 Dave McConnell
15 Radney Bowker
16 Mike Callan
17 David Bradbury

Tries: Rowley (2, 43), Halliwell (15), Alstead (23), Potter (28), Turley (39), McCully (65), Duffy (77).
Goals: Turley 7/9.
Sinbinned –
Sent-off –

Halifax

1 Brad Attwood
2 Rikki Sheriffe
3 Chris Norman
4 Alan Hadcroft
5 Oli Marns
6 Simon Grix
7 Mark Moxon
8 Anthony Farrell
9 Phil Cantillon
10 David Bates
11 Jaymes Chapman
12 Ged Corcoran
13 Jon Roper
Subs (all used)
14 Scott Grix
15 Scott Law
16 Johnny Simpson
17 Gareth Matthews

Tries: Norman (32), Sheriffe (35, 74), Bates (53).
Goals: Roper 2/4
Sinbinned –
Sent-off –

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Leigh: Paul Rowley
Halifax: Anthony Farrell

Penalty count: 5-6
Half-time: 28-10
Referee: Robert Connolly (Wigan)
Attendance: 2,563
Scoring sequence: 6-0, 8-0,12-0,16-0, 22-0, 22-4, 22-10, 28-10 (HT) 34-10, 34-16, 40-16, 40-20, 46-20 (FT)