2007 Season Reports: LEIGH 6 HALIFAX 18

LEIGH CENTURIONS 6 HALIFAX 18
Dave Parkinson at Hilton Park.

It was tough, it was honest; it was at times uncompromising. It was also Halifax’s fifth win of the season and a result that loosens the Centurions grip on fourth spot in the table.

In the Hilton Park gloom and rain, Halifax just had that extra know-how to defeat a hard-working but largely pedestrian Leigh.

The Centurions grabbed the lead in the fourth minute when Leroy Rivett somehow smuggled the ball out of a three man tackle to John Clough and he advanced to halfway before Aaron Heremaia supported to run 50 metres for a self converted try.

Richard Varkulis saw a try disallowed due to a forward pass in the 9th minute and both teams continued to test each other with Anthony Stewart forcing a drop out in the 18th minute and Ian Watson kicking a booming 40-20 at the end of the first quarter.

“I thought we started the game pretty poorly.” Admitted victorious Fax boss Martin Hall. “We were probably the second best team for the first twenty minutes. But I thought thereafter we dominated the game. I thought our defence was superb, and it had to because some decisions didn’t go our way and we had to face a bit of adversity there. The lads pulled through and I was really proud of the way we defended. We dug in when things weren’t going for us and I thought we thoroughly deserved to get the result.”

Leigh began to labour in midfield with only the powerful surges of Sebastian Martins lifting the home crowd and when James Taylor was forced from the field with injury after half an hour, Halifax really stepped things up.

Two tries in two minutes quickly turned a Leigh advantage into a four point deficit. Halifax loose forward Phil Joseph inspired both with quick passing down the right. First Varkulis powered down the touchline from 40 metres on 36 minutes, despite home calls for a forward pass. Graham Holroyd converted before the centre then turned try provider with a pass that incensed the Leigh support and allowed debutant Lee Patterson to open his Halifax account following his move from Rochdale.

The visitors hit the interval with a 10-6 advantage and after Phil Joseph forced a drop out after 43 minutes, Halifax looked good value to add to their lead before territorial advantage swung in the Centurions favour.

“We looked pretty clueless with ball in hand, especially in good ball areas.” Centurions Football Manager Darren Shaw said. “I felt we let ourselves down. We lacked a lot of creativity and general awareness. We could still be playing tomorrow and I don’t think we’d score with the way we were going about things. It was really disappointing.”

Despite having a wealth of possession, the hosts lacked both conviction and purpose before Leigh-born Sean Penkywicz came up with the pass to unlock the Centurions defence after 67 minutes. Frank Watene added the impetus and the former Dewsbury and Castleford forward touched down for his third try of the season. Holroyd converted and after Heremaia spilled the ball trying to add his second four pointer of the game, Fax advanced downfield with Stewart ending a rampaging run from former Leigh favourite Dave Larder. The Leigh centre held down too long and was fortunate not to earn a yellow card from referee Dave Merrick, but this allowed Holroyd to guarantee the three points with a straight forward penalty after 74 minutes.

GAMEBREAKER: Penkywicz pass to Watene that saw the big man cross under the posts. At 16-6 there looked only one winner.

GAMESTAR: Phil Joseph stood up to be counted and mixed strong defence and running with deft of hand throughout.

GAMESTATS:

LEIGH:
1 Miles Greenwood
2 Leroy Rivett
3 Adam Rudd
4 Anthony Stewart
5 Danny Halliwell
6 Sam Butterworth
7 Aaron Heremaia
8 Dana Wilson
9 John Clough
10 John Cookson
11 Mailangi Styles
12 Adam Thomas
13 James Taylor
SUBS (ALL USED)
14 Martin Ainscough
15 Gareth Pemberton
16 Chris Hill
17 Sebastian Martins

Try: Heremaia (4)
Goal: Heremaia 1/1.

HALIFAX:
1 Damien Gibson
2 Lee Patterson
3 Shad Royston
4 Richard Varkulis
5 Lee Greenwood
6 Graham Holroyd
7 Ian Watson
8 Paul Southern
9 Sean Penkywicz
10 Dave Wrench
11 Dave Larder
12 Paul Smith
13 Phil Joseph
SUBS (ALL PLAYED)
14 Sam Hoare
15 Andy Shickell
16 Danny Jones
17 Frank Watene

Tries: Varkulis (36), Patterson (38), Watene (67).
Goals: Holroyd 3/4

Referee: Dave Merrick
Penalties: 9-4
Attendance: 1,803
Half-time: 6-10

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:
Leigh: John Clough, Halifax: Phil Joseph.