2005 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 20 ST HELENS 27

LEIGH CENTURIONS 20
ST HELENS 27

Dave Parkinson from The Coliseum.

The Centurions are now all but relegated to National League One following a narrow home defeat to their Grand Final chasing visitors in an absorbing game. But Leigh will bow out of the engage Super League with all guns blazing following this heartening home display which included a hat-trick from centre Danny Halliwell and witnessed important two-try contributions from St Helens threequarters Darren Albert and Jamie Lyon.

In many respects this was the Centurions best game of the season; a fact not lost on Leigh boss Darren Abram.

“I just asked my lads to forget everything that’s gone on, play with their hearts, play with some passion and pride.” He said. “I’m satisfied. It’s my home town club and I wanted a big performance. I wanted a big coaching effort and the lads have done what I’ve asked and given me that. I couldn’t have asked for any more from any of them.”

With scrum-half John Duffy returning from a stomach bug, the Centurion attack took on a far more energetic look than seven days earlier; but even this was forced to change after the early loss to injury of halfback Phil Jones. The Centurions grabbed a lead after four minutes following a ball steal on halfway from Mark Leafa. Leigh moved things wide quickly for Jones to prise an opening and only good cover defence from Saints denied Ben Cooper.

Again the Centurions stretched their visitors and John Wilshere passed long for Duffy to put a bobbing kick in behind Willie Talau for Danny Halliwell to grab the first of a fine treble. Wilshere converted and although St Helens responded when Vinnie Anderson passed basket-ball style to get Albert in at the corner; Leigh were still on top in midfield with Craig Stapleton, Richard Marshall and Robbie Mears well to the fore.

On the back of a penalty, Leigh advanced upfield before Halliwell snared his second try following elusive movement from Wilshere. Duffy’s long pass created space and the centre sold Ade Gardner a big dummy before crashing over at the end of the first quarter.

Four minutes later the vocal home crowd erupted again when Halliwell swooped on an expert short kick from Duffy but Wilshere’s attempted conversion agonisingly hit the posts and bounced out.

Things were definitely not going to plan for Daniel Anderson’s Saints and star players Keiron Cunningham and Jamie Lyon both took the field after 33 minutes. Despite the sinbinning of Jon Wilkin, the appearance of the international duo galvanised the Saints efforts. Ninety seconds later Mears suffered the same fate as referee Ian Smith tired of deliberate slowing tactics by both teams.

Saints revelled in the extra space and Jason Hooper dragged them to within six points following a lofted pass from the ruck by Cunningham. Lyon could not convert and Leigh hit the dressing rooms with a 14-8 half time advantage.

The second half started in hard-hitting style with a crunching tackle from Jason Kent on Vinnie Anderson that forced the Kiwi international from the field to catch his breath back.

Saints showed greater urgency early on and forced a drop out before a forward pass from Talau to Ian Hardman was brought back. Visiting fans did not have to wait long however and Albert scorched 50 metres to the line for his second after 46 minutes.

In previous games this may have signalled a collapse in the Leigh ranks. Not on this night as the Duffy-inspired Centurions replied with a try by their talisman halfback after 51 minutes. Wilshere converted to again nudge the Centurions ahead.

The lead lasted just two minutes before Cunningham and Wilkin linked in midfield and Jamie Lyon sped through the middle and round Wilshere to score under the posts.

Leigh were further hampered by game ending injuries to Cooper and Halliwell and St Helens gradually wore the Centurions down.

Gardner thought he had clinched the game for Saints with a startling 60 metre break from his own half but Maden dramatically brought him down twenty metres out. St Helens then settled things down and Wilkin gave them the lead for the first time, nine minutes from the end with a smartly taken field goal.

Two minutes later Wilshere spilled a towering bomb on his own line amid calls for obstruction and from the possession Lyon breezed past 3 defenders to score his second game-clinching try before completing the scoring with the difficult conversion.

Relieved Saints coach Anderson said “It just shows the quality of the competition. We probably started off out of pace and attitude which might not be acceptable for every game we play. It didn’t take us long before we proverbially had our pants pulled down and we had to fight tooth and nail. I don’t know what it was. It was a combination of many things, least of all that Leigh were outstanding. They were very, very good. They stuck it to us, their execution was solid and they didn’t make many mistakes.”

Gamebreaker: Jamie Lyon’s second try, seven minutes from the end sealed a flattering victory for St Helens.

Gamestar: Jamie Lyon’s contributions this season have seen him hit the headlines and he just edged team mate Jon Wilkin and the industry of Leigh’s John Duffy in attack and defence.

Top Tackle: Steve Maden’s flying effort from behind to deny Ade Gardner a try after 70 minutes.

GAME STATS

LEIGH:
24 John Wilshere
14 Steve Maden
1 Ben Cooper (facial cuts 62)
6 Danny Halliwell (leg injury 55)
19 Rob Smyth
9 Phil Jones (knee ligaments 5)
2 John Duffy
4 Darren Fleary
32 Robbie Mears
20 Craig Stapleton
15 Richard Marshall
13 Mark Leafa
10 Jason Kent
SUBS (ALL USED)
21 Matt Sturm
31 Warren Stevens
18 Paul Rowley
8 Rob Jackson

Tries: Halliwell (4, 21, 24), Duffy (51)
Goals: Wilshere 2/4.

ST HELENS
20 Ian Hardman
5 Darren Albert
27 Vinnie Anderson
4 Willie Talau
2 Ade Gardner
26 Scott Moore
6 Jason Hooper
8 Nick Fozzard
21 James Roby
19 James Graham
11 Lee Gilmour
15 Mike Bennett
12 Jon Wilkin
SUBS (ALL USED)
3 Jamie Lyon
24 Maurie Fa’asavalu
9 Keiron Cunningham
16 Keith Mason

Tries: Albert (15, 46), Hooper (38), Lyon (54, 73)
Goals: Hooper 0/1, Lyon 3/4, Wilkin 1 FG.

Attendance: 5,142
Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham)
Penalties: 6-9
Half-time score: 14-8

Scoring Sequence:

6-0; 6-4; 10-4; 14-4; 14-8; 14-14; 20-14; 20-20; 20-21; 20-27