LEIGH CENTURIONS 50
SWINTON LIONS 0
Dave Parkinson at the Coliseum; Boxing Day 2006.
Leigh Centurions first hit out of the pre-season saw Darren Shaw’s new look team run win a convincing victory over National League Two Grand Finalists Swinton Lions. In total the Centurions scored nine tries with Adam Hughes kicking seven goals to leave Shaw fairly happy with the performance.
“It was a good exercise.” He said, “We played some good stuff with the ball at times but it was the defence that really made me happy. I said at halftime that I wasn’t really bothered what we’d done in attack but I really wanted to see it nil at full-time and they did the job.”
Like with many pre-season games, the constant switching of personnel took some continuity away from the encounter, particularly as Leigh rotated twenty-one players and Swinton twenty-four.
In spite of this, Leigh roared into action first. New-boy Anthony Stewart finished quick hands over on the right in the second minute. Hughes tagged on the extras.
With Chris Hough a usual inspiration in midfield, the Lions almost hit back when wing Lepani Soro burst one tackle from a tap penalty but loose hands from former Wigan fullback Mark Brocklehurst saw Chris Campbell tackled into touch.
Leigh made rapid progress downfield with Chris Hill stepping into a hole before Adam Hughes supported. Swinton responded well to bring the move to an end but when Aaron Heremaia and another newcomer, Sam Butterworth combined after ten minutes, Butterworth stepped into an opening and finished from twenty metres.
Three minutes later, the Centurions had their third try when Chris Hill sliced through with ease from Heremaia’s slight of hand. Then with 18 minutes played, Paul Rowley, Butterworth and Danny Speakman all combined for Stewart to stride in for his second.
Again the Lions went close when a low kick from Hough saw Butterworth just beat Wayne English to hack the ball dead.
After 31 minutes an allegation of biting on former Swinton wing David Alstead went on report. The game entered a scrappy phase before halftime with only Gareth Pemberton punctuating an improved defensive effort with a 35th minute touchdown.
Trailing 28-0 at the interval, Swinton attacked with renewed vigour with Leroy Rivett and Miles Greenwood both forced into evasive action to prevent tries in the opening ten minutes of the half.
Leigh struck again after 52 minutes when former Widnes prospect Martin Ainscough broke and Pemberton was at his shoulder to accept the scoring pass. Another high speed move five minutes later, this time from a scrum saw the Centurions increase their lead further. Ainscough and Greenwood were both involved before returning Rob Smyth dived in at the corner for Hughes to make it 40-0.
Thirteen minutes from the end Swinton saw a try chalked off following promising approach play and four minutes later the Centurions showed them how it was done when Hughes drifted infield and laid the ball off superbly for Butterworth to grab his second try.
From the restart, Leigh took a couple of tackles and moved the ball to the left where Ainscough dummied and sped into an opening for Rowley to finish from 35 metres. Fittingly, the half century was brought up by Hughes and there was one more chance as a sublime chip from Butterworth stood up but Chris Hill’s ensuing kick would not do the same with Alstead and Greenwood chasing through.
Despite the severity of the score line, Swinton coach Paul Kidd was not too disheartened, “I think we know now, where we are and where we need to go.”
“We’ve done approximately an hour with ball in hand so I’m not reading too much into it. It was a good blow out for us. We know where we’ve got to improve.”
Gamebreaker: Leigh’s whirlwind start – 4 tries in 18 minutes knocked the stuffing out of Swinton.
Game star: Sam Butterworth – just shaded Chris Hill and Aaron Heremaia with an effervescent display.
Game Stats
CENTURIONS
1. Leroy Rivett
2. Rob Smyth
3. Anthony Stewart
4. Adam Hughes
5. David Alstead
6. Sam Butterworth
7. Aaron Heremaia
8. Warren Stevens
9. Paul Rowley
10. John Hill
11. Chris Hill
12. Tommy Grundy
13. Danny Speakman
SUBS (ALL USED)
14. Miles Greenwood
15. Martin Ainscough
16. John Boland
17. Dana Wilson
Gareth Pemberton
Darryl Kay
Danny Meekin
Linford Benjamin
Tries: Stewart 2 (2, 18), Butterworth 2 (10, 71), Chris Hill (13), Pemberton 2 (35, 52), Smyth (57), Rowley (74).
Goals: Hughes 7/9.
Swinton:
1. Mark Brocklehurst
2. Chris Campbell
3. Matt Sheen
4. Darren Woods
5. Lepani Soro
6. Anthony Aldcroft
7. Chris Hough
8. Bruce Johnson
9. Liam McGovern
10. Rob Line
11. Matty Briers
12. Paul Alcock
13. John Walker
SUBS (ALL USED)
14. Craig Ashall
15. Lee Salisbury
16. Lee Marsh
17. Adam Sharples
Wayne English
Gareth Hayes
Chris Morley
Michael Smith
Danny Aboushakra
Sean Conway
Dave Newton
Referee: Peter Taberner (Wigan)
Penalties: 3-3
GLDO: 3-1
Attendance: 1,000 (approximate) no official figure announced.
Scoring Sequence:
6-0; 12-0; 18-0; 24-0; 28-0; 34-0; 40-0; 44-0; 50-0.
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