2007 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 60 LONDON SKOLARS 22

Leigh Centurions 60 London Skolars 22
Dave Parkinson from Hilton Park

Northern Rail Cup holders Leigh secured safe passage to the knock out stages of this season’s competition following an eleven try victory over plucky London Skolars who ran in four tries of their own.

Speaking in the wake of the victory, Football Manager Darren Shaw said, “I think they all worked well in the first half off the back of two very good front-row forwards. I thought Dana came back strong for us and with Warren they work very well together. Our width today was a lot better off dummy half and our passing a lot more fluent.”

“In the second half we lacked a fair bit of urgency to get on the ball when we made the error. We failed to do it and they scored tries off the back of it which was disappointing.”

Leigh opened their account after five minutes when an attack took them inside the visitors twenty. Chris Hill then collected a scrappy pass before breaking free of defensive shackles to score.

The Centurions stretched this early advantage to a match-winning 32-0 lead after just 24 minutes with further tries from Leroy Rivett, Martin Ainscough (two), Miles Greenwood and David Alstead while Adam Hughes booted four goals. The pick of those touchdowns was Aincough’s second. Warren Stevens broke on halfway before linking with the stand-off who in turn found Hughes and the big centre handed back on the inside for Ainscough to scoot over from twenty-five metres.

Skolars replied gamely with top notch defence from Johnny Williams - hauling down a rampant Hughes, then a four man tackle on Dana Wilson under the posts.

Eventually, the visitors worked a classy try after 34 minutes when Steve Green offloaded superbly and Paul Thorman beat all comers to the line. Jamie Nowland converted but Leigh weren’t done and when winger Williams was forced to catch a swirling kick and step into touch, the Centurions turned the screw. Ainscough and Aaron Heremaia moved the ball wide and Alstead cut back on the angle to secure a 38-6 advantage.

Early tries from Tommy Grundy and Greenwood threatened a runaway victory for the hosts but London dug deep with Nowland twice tackling back to deny tries from his opposite number.

After 52 minutes, the visitors grabbed their second try when Greenwood spilled a routine punt from Thorman. Skolars were first to react when Green collected the error and set off on an arcing 30 metre run that took him to a try in the corner.

Within minutes, Grundy ran strong and true off Heremaia’s pass to take Leigh past the half century but London refused to buckle. Another handling error gifted the Skolars possession and Frank Reid ran on before Dave Brown arrived in support.

For the next few minutes London remained on top before a scrum move brought Alstead into play once more and the former Swinton three-quarter vaulted between ailing defenders to claim his hat-trick, allowing Hughes to boot his eighth goal from eleven attempts.

Still the defiant Skolars weren’t done and when Nowland cleverly took the ball from Hughes in a one-on-one tackle, he ran forty metres before laying a try on a plate for hard-working team-mate Gareth Honor.

Just before the end Nowland, who also kicked three goals, was put on report for a suspected high tackle on Chris Hill.

London Skolars boss Latham Tawhai said “During the first half we struggled to get out of our half, Leigh have some good players with a lot of skill and they scored some good tries. We tried to simplify things a little bit in the second half and I asked for a little bit more effort from the boys and I’m proud of our second half effort. We were in danger at one stage of the score getting away from us quite substantially but we put a bit of pressure on Leigh and forced them into errors.”

Gamestar: Aaron Heremaia – at the heart of the fluent passing, he laid on five on the Centurions eleven tries and just edged two score team-mate Martin Ainscough and props Dana Wilson and Warren Stevens.

Gamebreaker: The fourth try after just 17 minutes when Greenwood ran a superb line to score off the wide passing of Ainscough and Heremaia. At 20-0 there was only one winner.

Match Facts

Leigh:
1. Miles Greenwood
2. Rob Smyth
3. David Alstead
4. Adam Hughes
5. Leroy Rivett
6. Martin Ainscough
7. Aaron Heremaia
8. Warren Stevens
9. John Clough
10. Dana Wilson
11. Chris Hill
12. Tommy Grundy
13. Anthony Stewart
SUBS: (All Used)
14. Sam Butterworth
15. Danny Speakman
16. Tim Jonkers
17. John Cookson

Tries: Hill (5), Rivett (11), Ainscough (15, 24), Greenwood (17, 48), Alstead (22, 38, 66), Grundy (42, 55).
Goals: Hughes 8/11.

Skolars:
1. Ashley Tozer
2. Corey Simms
3. Chris Shears
4. Steve Green
5. Johnny Williams
6. Jamie Nowland
7. Paul Thorman
8. Martin Benson
9. Gareth Honor
10. Richard Louw
11. Mike Castle
12. Jake Kerr
13. Lydan Maitua
SUBS: (All Used)
14. Frank Reid
15. Kirt Pitman
16. Dave Brown
17. Warren Heilig

Tries: Thorman (34), Green (52), Brown (57), Honor (71)
Goals: Nowland 3/4

On Report – Nowland (78 – suspected high tackle)

Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington)
Penalties: 5-6
Half-time: 38-6
Full-time: 60-22
Attendance: 1,277.

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:
Leigh: Aaron Heremaia.
London: Jamie Nowland.

Scoring Sequence:
6-0; 10-0; 16-0; 20-0; 26-0; 32-0; 32-6; 38-6; 42-6; 48-6; 48-10; 54-10; 54-16; 60-16; 60-22.