2006 Season Reports: LEIGH 30 ROCHDALE 16

LEIGH CENTURIONS 30

ROCHDALE HORNETS 16
Dave Parkinson from the Coliseum.

Leigh Centurions got back to winning ways with a hard fought 30-16 victory over Rochdale Hornets after a fiery encounter at the Coliseum saw two players red carded and an incident that led to Hornets Craig Robinson being carried off.

“It was a battle.” Said Leigh boss Tony Benson, “I think the team that wanted to win it more came back.”

“It was very important for us to win back the credibility of the fans. We owed them a win after last week. In the first half we wanted things to happen and in the second we decided that we had beaten better teams with twelve men and we could do this. It started to turn in the second half and as soon as it did we were away.”

With so many links between the teams, it was always likely to provide confrontation, yet the Hornets started well with wide passing between Dave McConnell, Matt Firth and Craig Dean stretching the Leigh defence.

One such play saw dynamic second row and skipper Andrew Gorski cross after 4 minutes but Kevin King was unable to convert.

Leigh pulled two points back moments later when Chris Hill was tackled high and Julian O’Neill tagged on the first of seven goals.

At this stage Leigh were piling pressure on their visitors and when Aaron Heremaia forced Mark McCully to lose possession, the Centurions moved up to secure a drop out.

From the kick, Leigh attacked and Paul Rowley won a penalty from former understudy McConnell. Once more O’Neill converted and the scores were locked.

Leigh saw another opportunity go their way on 17 minutes when O’Neill kicked and Dean Gaskell collected but Hornets tackled back and Lee Patterson put the wingman in touch. Two minutes later, former Leigh junior Richard Varkulis was held up over the line. Another Gorski run threatened the Centurions rearguard and Leigh conceded a penalty; King converting to nudge the visitors in front.

Rochdale continued to pile forward. Chris Giles was hauled down close to the line and Gorski was again stopped short. An incident on the half hour mark saw Leigh placed on report for a late tackle on Robinson and the former Wakefield junior was carried off following a six minute stoppage.

That incident left Hornets coach Darren Abram seething at the final whistle. “It was skulduggery. I was disgusted. To hit someone so late is disgusting. Craig Robinson is like a whirlwind, one of those players that loves the environment out there and to have him taken out is very disappointing.”

Hornets received the penalty but no specific player was picked out by referee Ian Smith.

King missed with the goal attempt and another good run from Gorski was quickly followed by Richard Moore’s dismissal for a late tackle on John Pickersgill.

“It was a dumb thing to do, I must say and we’re disappointed.” Benson commented. “I don’t go bagging players but it could have cost us the game.”

Almost immediately Rochdale made their advantage count when a four pass play saw King cross in the corner. Former Leigh winger Mark McCully could not convert but the Hornets looked capable of victory.

The hosts built momentum at the start of the second half. Although Leigh failed to score and Giles broke from deep, Matt Sturm turned over possession and it was the last time Hornets touched the ball for 8 minutes.

In that time, Leigh turned the game around. First O’Neill broke the line and the supporting Gary Sykes crossed for the first of a hat-trick. Then three minutes later a swirling O’Neill bomb caught Giles in two minds and Sykes sailed through to score.

The stand-off was again in the thick of things when McConnell was given his marching orders for a late tackle. O’Neill kicked the resulting penalty before Hornets rallied. After Phil Cantillon’s sprightly run, Phil Hasty claimed a debut try, kicking ahead and collecting the rebound off the post to cut the Centurion lead to just two points.

From the restart, O’Neill found the dead ball line and Leigh turned the screw when Rowley ran from acting half and switched play cleverly for Carl Forber to juggle and touchdown after 66 minutes.

Hornets went on the attack with ten minutes remaining but another low kick from Hasty was well taken by Heremaia.

Sykes completed Leigh’s second half recovery with the final try on 78 minutes and O’Neill completed his 100% record with the boot.

“We’ll look at the video and take lots of positives from today.” Abram said, “I was left with two players suffering concussion and the fact I could not change two big men cost us the game.”


Gamebreaker: Forber’s try after 66 minutes gave the Centurions a winning lead.
Gamestar: Gary Sykes – Really came up with a great game and the three tries were just reward for a lot of effort.

Match Facts:

CENTURIONS
1 Scott Grix
2 Dean Gaskell
3 Adam Hughes
4 Carl Forber
5 Lee Greenwood
6 Julian O’Neill
7 Aaron Heremaia
8 Ricky Bibey
9 Paul Rowley
10 Dana Wilson
11 James Taylor
12 Chris Hill
13 Gary Sykes
SUBS
14 Gareth Pemberton
15 John Cookson
16 Richard Moore
17 Warren Stevens

TRIES: Sykes (44, 47, 78), Forber (66)
GOALS: O’Neill 7/7
On-Report – Unspecified – (30 Late tackle)
Sent-off – Richard Moore (33 High tackle)

HORNETS
1 Chris Giles
2 Mark McCully
3 Richard Varkulis
4 Kevin King
5 Lee Patterson
6 Matt Firth
7 Craig Dean
8 John Pickersgill
9 Dave McConnell
10 Matt Sturm
11 Andrew Gorski
12 Lee Doran
13 Tommy Goulden
SUBS
14 Phil Hasty
15 Craig Robinson
16 Phil Cantillon
17 Paul Norman

TRIES: Gorski (4), King (37), Hasty (63).
GOALS: King 1/2, McCully 1/2.
Sent-off – Dave McConnell (54 Late tackle)

Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham)
Penalties: 8-11
GLDO: 1-4
Attendance: 1,936
Half-time: 4-10

Scoring Sequence:
0-4; 2-4 ; 4-4 ; 4-6 ; 4-10; 10-10; 16-10; 18-10; 18-16; 24-16; 30-16.
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:

CENTURIONS: Gary Sykes
HORNETS: Andrew Gorski