Leigh Centurions 62 Workington Town 12
Dave Parkinson at the Coliseum
Leigh Centurions booked a place in the Blackpool Northern Rail showpiece with a high-speed; eleven try semi-final success over brave Cumbrian visitors Workington Town.
“I was very happy with the performance.” Leigh boss Tony Benson said after the game. “Full credit to Workington, I thought they turned up with a good game and they played pretty hard. You could see the difference in levels there, in their fitness and probably technique and skill. With that aside I thought that our boys played exceptionally well. They looked well organised and played for each other.”
Leigh opened the score in the third minute after Town had conceded a penalty for holding down. Paul Rowley was creator holding the pass long enough for Carl Forber to get over. Workington replied in the form of Liam Campbell after some smart interplay between Shaun Lunt and Jamie Beaumont.
Leigh were soon on the charge again however, inspired by the returning Michael Govin. He ran across the face of the defence before Aaron Heremaia linked up on the inside to go under the sticks. Things went from bad to worse for Town as they temporarily lost Gary Purdham, then saw captain Neil Frazer sinbinned for holding down. It proved to be a costly spell for over worked Workington as first Taylor scored after Govin’s well timed pass; then Lee Greenwood put Heremaia over for his second try.
By this time the Cumbrians were out on their feet despite best efforts of Shaun Lunt and Jamie Beaumont. Two more tries came from Greenwood before the break. The first saw the Centurions top scorer take a Govin drop-off pass; the second as a result of Julian O’Neill’s break down the left, were both converted by Govin and the Centurions held a commanding 34-6 half-time advantage.
Workington drew first blood in the second half when Shaun Lunt broke from deep and Campbell supported for his second try, again converted by Kirkbride.
Leigh put pressure on their visitors and Paul Ballard was unlucky not to claim a debut try after 47 minutes thanks to O’Neill’s towering kick. Town however made an error during their next possession and Govin sent Dean Gaskell over in the corner.
Workington were penalised for offside from the restart and Leigh punished them when Rowley, Ricky Bibey and Warren Stevens combined to get Govin over for a try of his own after 51 minutes.
Govin made all the running again six minutes later for skipper Rowley to chip in with a try of his own, O’Neill brought up the half century with his conversion. Workington responded with a dogged stint in defence while hooker Lunt and stand-off Campbell were again Town’s best in attack. It was only delaying the inevitable as the Centurions cut loose in the final twelve minutes.
After Ballard was held up in the corner, the Centurions spread play across the field for Govin and O’Neill to exchange passes and send Forber over for his second of the game.
Then, three minutes later, Scott Grix was rewarded for a busy performance with the final try as Rowley and Govin carved open the defence and Grix had too much pace for a valiant Andrew Beattie to contend with.
Speaking of the return of Michael Govin, back in the Leigh first team after a knee reconstruction, Benson said, “I think he went extremely well and I knew that was coming. Holding him back in 21s for three weeks is probably the best thing to happen to him. He’s built confidence and come into the game ready to play and he certainly played didn’t he?”
“It’s very exciting to make the Final. I hadn’t thought about it until after the game a finished. We have been struggling to put a team together and are still turning out reasonable performances and when you add those missing players in over the next few weeks it’s looking pretty exciting.”
Gamebreaker: Neil Frazer’s sinbinning after 19 minutes, the Centurions stepped up their efforts and took the game away from Workington right after.
Gamestar: Michael Govin – His first team seasonal debut and what a game! The stats speak for themselves. One try, six try assists and seven goals.
Game Stats:
Leigh Centurions
1 Scott Grix
2 Dean Gaskell
3 Carl Forber
4 Lee Greenwood
5 Paul Ballard
6 Michael Govin
7 Aaron Heremaia
8 Warren Stevens
9 Paul Rowley
10 Dana Wilson
11 James Taylor
12 Chris Hill
13 Gary Sykes
Subs (All Used)
14 Gareth Pemberton
15 Danny Speakman
16 Julian O’Neill
17 Ricky Bibey
Tries: Forber (2, 70) Heremaia (13, 26), Taylor (20), Greenwood (32, 38), Gaskell (49), Govin (51), Rowley (57), Grix (72).
Goals: Govin 7/9, O’Neill 2/2
Workington Town
1 Andrew Beattie
2 Martyn Wilson
3 Neil Frazer
4 Dexter Miller
5 Lee Tinnion
6 Liam Campbell
7 Stephen Kirkbride
8 Dean Vaughan
9 Shaun Lunt
10 Taani Lavulavu
11 Gary Purdham
12 Ryan Campbell
13 Jamie Beaumont
Subs (All Used)
14 Rob Lunt
15 Alan McGuinness
16 Dean Burgess
17 John Tuimaualuga
Tries: Liam Campbell (10, 42)
Goals: Kirkbride 2/2
Sinbinned: Frazer (19) Holding down.
Referee: Jamie Leahy
Penalties: 11-5
GLDO: 0-1
Attendance: 1,543.
Half-time: 34-6
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Man-of-the-Match:
Leigh: Michael Govin.
Workington: Shaun Lunt
Scoring Sequence:
4-0; 4-6; 10-6; 16-6; 22-6; 28-6; 34-6; 34-12; 38-12; 44-12; 50-12; 56-12; 62-12.
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