2007 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 32 ROCHDALE HORNETS 4

LEIGH CENTURIONS 32 ROCHDALE HORNETS 4
Dave Parkinson at Hilton Park.

Leigh put their disappointing exit from the Northern Rail Cup firmly behind them with a 32-4 home success over a Rochdale Hornets that were out-enthused by the Centurions young line-up in an often dour struggle.

Such is the changing culture at Hilton Park that two more players - Chad Isles and John Boland - were handed debuts, making it 21 debutants for the season.

“It was a little scrappy and a little bit dour.” Admitted Leigh’s Darren Shaw

“I said to the boys at half-time that someone has to grasp this game by the throat here because it was in the balance and no-one was really taking us forward. At the back-end we managed to score enough points and get the result which was the main thing.”

“The first ten, fifteen minutes of the second half was vital for us to get back on top.

“I still wasn’t comfortable until about 65-70 minutes unfortunately. I thought we had some good field position and just failed to convert it into tries or apply any pressure. On the positive signs, we had a very youthful side and I thought defensively we were a lot better, we scrambled quite well. We defended our line with a little more pride today. They only scored through a pretty scrappy try at the end. ”

After dominating the opening five minutes without reward Rochdale saw Leigh march upfield and former Hornet Sam Butterworth fired a pass left for Damien Couturier to score his 7th try of the season.

Although Couturier was unable to convert, he landed his next six kicks at goal including a conversion to Leigh’s next score when good running from Anthony Stewart created a delay in defence and Aaron Heremaia was able to race over directly from a scrum.

Hornets responded with a couple of decent breaks from Phil Hasty and Balou Fagborun but there was little to excite the crowd until the 29th minute when Miles Greenwood was twice involved on a set that started 30 metres from his own line and ended with the fullback being tackled high 15 metres away from Hornets line. Couturier added the penalty and 12-0 was how it remained at the break.

Both teams continued to test each other in the second half with Hornets again closest to scoring when Svabic engineered a move down the left and Fagborun was stopped on the line.

It was Leigh that grabbed an all important third score when individual brilliance, nifty footwork and pace took Sam Butterworth clear for his 3rd try of the season.

Trailing 18-0, the Hornets fashioned another scoring chance when Andrews hared away but his inside pass for Gary Hulse did not find the mark and Greenwood countered with a strong run. Tommy Goulden also conceded a penalty when in pursuit of a Hasty kick. Couturier then added his fourth goal after 73 minutes when Rochdale were penalised offside at a drop out.

Leigh finished strongly with tries from John Cookson and Stewart with Simon Baldwin’s consolation effort being sandwiched between the two.

Rochdale coach Darren Abram was at a loss to explain what was eventually a poor performance from his side, “It was very disappointing, we were very poor, probably the worst all year. I was very disappointed in the way we played.”

“We’ve had some good performances and I was hoping to build on the back of that and come here and get a win. It wasn’t to be and one to seventeen didn’t put their hand up and didn’t perform. As head coach, I take responsibility of that. When the players cross the line, I just have a few words with them before and at half-time to gee them up and get something out of them. Unfortunately today I couldn’t get anything out of them. There was nothing in there. The players are committed but it was one of those where I had no answers. It was just a poor performance all round. Attack, defence and lack of enthusiasm which is the frustrating and disappointing factor. Leigh were no great shakes they just had lots of enthusiasm and came forward and completed more than us.”

GAMESTAR: Miles Greenwood just edged the honours ahead of Anthony Stewart, James Taylor, Aaron Heremaia and Adam Rudd with a non-stop game of counter attacking from defence.

GAMEBREAKER: There was no way back once the reliable boot of Couturier put Leigh 20-0 to the good.

GAMESTATS

LEIGH:
1 Miles Greenwood
2 Leroy Rivett
3 Damien Couturier
4 Anthony Stewart
5 David Alstead
6 Martin Ainscough
7 Aaron Heremaia
8 Dana Wilson
9 Sam Butterworth
10 John Cookson
11 Adam Rudd
12 James Taylor
13 Mailangi Styles
SUBS (ALL USED)
14 Chad Isles
15 Adam Thomas
16 John Boland
17 Matt Astley

Tries: Couturier (5), Heremaia (13), Butterworth (54), Cookson (75), Stewart (80).
Goals: Couturier 6/7.

ROCHDALE:
1 Chris Giles
2 Eric Andrews
3 Lee Patterson
4 Kevin King
5 Balou Fagborun
6 Simon Svabic
7 Phil Hasty
8 Andrew Bailey
9 Wayne Corcoran
10 Byron Smith
11 Andrew Gorski
12 Simon Baldwin
13 Tommy Goulden
SUBS (ALL USED)
14 Gary Hulse
15 Iain Marsh
16 Mark Blanchard
17 Ryan Benjafield.

Try: Baldwin (77).
Goal: King 0/1.

Referee: Ronnie Laughton
Penalties: 5-4
Men-of-the-Match: Miles Greenwood (Leigh), Eric Andrews (Rochdale)
Half-time: 12-0
Attendance: 1,669.

Scoring Sequence:
4-0; 10-0; 12-0; 18-0; 20-0; 26-0; 26-4; 32-4.