2007 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 42 DEWSBURY RAMS 0

LEIGH CENTURIONS 42
DEWSBURY RAMS 0
Dave Parkinson at Hilton Park

Leigh Centurions ended their league campaign on a high, running eight tries past Dewsbury Rams to also secure their first home nilling of a team in 18 months. It bore stark contrast to the previous three meetings between the teams this season that had seen Dewsbury amass 93 points.

It was a commanding performance that Leigh Football Manager Darren Shaw has asked his Jekyll and Hyde troops to produce since a June victory in Whitehaven.

“I’ve been crying out for that sort of performance for ten months.” He said following the game.

“We defended our line with great passion. We asked for two things – attitude and commitment and we saw it in attack and defence.”

“We played with the confidence we have been missing. I’ll be honest - that is exactly how we have been training over previous weeks. Our completion wasn’t great in the first half but it was good enough to keep us in the game. We got off to a very good start and I asked them at half-time just to protect our line. Some of the urgency and scrambling to stop them was fantastic.”

Leigh’s quick-fire start brought two tries in five minutes. Aaron Heremaia was the architect for both. First he broke on the right before turning the ball inside for Leroy Rivett to score, then Ian Preece misjudged a bouncing ball following his lengthy kick and Miles Greenwood ran through to collect and canter over the line for his 16th try of the season.

Damian Couturier landed both goals and after the outstanding Anthony Stewart intercepted and ran 60 metres, a 17th minute penalty followed after Couturier was victim of an overzealous tackle. Four minutes later Darryl Kay grabbed his first try for Leigh as Heremaia, Chris Hough and Rivett all moved the ball following a blockbusting run from Mailangi Styles.

Rivett then saw a try disallowed for a forward pass and the Rams moved the length of the field in thrilling fashion. Jake Wilson supported a break initially started by Kevin Crouthers inside his own half. The youngster supported well and a try looked the only outcome before Dave Alstead overcame a twenty metre start to not only prevent the try but force an error.

A second break from Crouthers had Leigh on the back foot but the Rams were unable to capitalise and it was Leigh that grabbed a fourth try seconds from the interval.

Chris Giles supported intelligently, ducking beneath a tackler and fending another away following Heremaia’s pass. Again Couturier converted and the lead was 24-0.

Early in the second half Austin Buchanan had an opportunity but good defence from Stewart, Rivett and Hough put him in touch. Desperate Leigh defence then prevented a try by Keegan Hurst and when Couturier kicked through at the other end, Hough forced a drop out. From the position Leigh switched to the left with Couturier offloading for a flying Giles to sail over the line.

Heremaia converted and Leigh hit Dewsbury again after 62 minutes – Stewart fending past three players for his fifth try of the season.

For a few minutes, the game descended into madness. Andy Hobson was sinbinned for a high tackle after 64 minutes before Styles and Crouthers also saw yellow and the melee that followed was placed on report..

Nine minutes from the end Rivett raced past Buchanan but the game flared up once more when Joe Helme hit Sebastian Martins with a high tackle. Helme was dismissed and Martins had the final say, wrestling through for Leigh’s eighth and final try.

“It was a difficult game.” Admitted Rams boss Andy Kelly. “We were so disappointed last week at Doncaster and it left us with nothing at stake. We got nilled by a big margin today but I thought the lads put some resistance there - we weren’t good enough on the day.”

Speaking of the last quarter glut of penalties and incident Kelly said, “There are two teams in a game, the first flare-up was between two players and the penalty went to us. We didn’t instigate the melee. Both players were dispatched to the sinbin. We picked up a tackle where another player was in the sinbin and I think that was just procedure from the referee. Either way I’m not critical of Leigh and I’m not critical of the Dewsbury side. What you wouldn’t have wanted was a non-competitive game. I think that would have been more of an insult than something that had a bit of testosterone flying.”

GAME BREAKER: Good defence put Austin Buchanan in touch not far from the line, this was the Rams first chance of the second half and Leigh grew in confidence.

GAME STAR: Anthony Stewart was strong defensively and gave his opposite number nightmares all game.

MATCHFACTS:

Leigh:
1. Chris Giles
2. Leroy Rivett
3. Dave Alstead
4. Anthony Stewart
5. Miles Greenwood
6. Chris Hough
7. Aaron Heremaia
8. Matt Astley
9. Dave McConnell
10. Dana Wilson
11. Damian Couturier
12. Mailangi Styles
13. James Taylor
SUBS (All Used)
14. Adam Rudd
15. Darryl Kay
16. Chris Hill
17. Sebastian Martins

Tries: Rivett (3, 71), Greenwood (6), Kay (21), Giles (39, 58), Stewart (62), Martins (80).
Goals: Couturier 4/5, Heremaia 1/2, Hough 0/2.
Sin-bin: Styles (67 – fighting)
On Report: Melee following Styles and Crouthers altercation (67)

Dewsbury:
1. Ian Preece
2. Bryn Powell
3. Chris Hall
4. Danny Maun
5. Austin Buchanan
6. Josh Weeden
7. Dean Lawford
8. Andy Hobson
9. Liam Finn
10. Joe Helme
11. Kevin Crouthers
12. Martin Robinson
13. Alex Bretherton
SUBS (All Used)
14. Luke Haigh
15. Rob Kelly
16. Jake Wilson
17. Keegan Hirst

Tries:
Goals:
Sin-bin: Hobson (64 – high tackle), Crouthers (67 – fighting)
On Report: Melee following Styles and Crouthers altercation (67)
Dismissed: Helme (79 – high tackle).

Referee: Mr Ronnie Laughton
Penalties: 10-6
Half-time: 24-0
Attendance: 1,359

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:
Leigh: Tony Stewart
Dewsbury: Kevin Crouthers

Scoring Sequence:
6-0; 12-0; 14-0; 18-0; 24-0; 30-0; 34-0; 38-0; 42-0.