2008 Season Reports: LEIGH 26 DEWSBURY 2

LEIGH CENTURIONS 26
DEWSBURY RAMS 2
DAVE PARKINSON at Hilton Park

Dewsbury coach Andy Kelly described the performance of his team as “mediocre”. That would be a fitting description of a game that won’t linger long in anyone’s memory. For Leigh however, it was a start and proved a welcome fillip in the wake of opening defeats to Salford and Widnes.

The Rams opened scoring with an 8th minute Patrick Walker penalty after Leigh had been caught offside. The Centurions responded with a couple of breaks from Adam Rudd, Steve Maden and Dennis Moran while Ian Watson saw a 12th minute touchdown disallowed for obstruction. Two minutes later Moran’s 30 metre surge bought a penalty and from the tap Dave McConnell, Moran and Watson opened the defence up for Aaron Smith to go over by the posts. Watson’s conversion made it 6-2 before the next opportunity fell to Dewsbury with Liam Finn opting to go at the defence. This brought a trysaver from James Taylor.

As Leigh advanced, Rams fullback Mark Field collected a spiralling Moran kick and just a moment later the Dewsbury number one was in action at the other end of the field as he charged through a yawning hole in the defence to go over the try-line. Sadly for the Rams, Walker’s final pass was deemed forward and following the resulting scrum Field fell to the floor. The game was held up for four minutes before the former Wakefield player was carried from the field with a suspected reoccurrence of the leg injury that ruined his 2007.

“I don’t really think beyond the disallowed try and Mark Field’s injury we posed much threat.” Kelly said.

“I think we started feeling sorry for ourselves more than anything, and it reflected in the way we played. It looked like we just got through the remaining fifty minutes and played a passive role in a Leigh victory.”

“We’ve worked really hard in the first two games and come here with a lot of injuries and were a bit disrupted in how we had to select the side. After Mark’s injury I can only describe it as feeling sorry for ourselves but we can’t afford that emotion.”

Both Chris Langley and Liam Crawley went close for the Rams but it was Leigh that made the most of their chances to cross for two tries after 34 and 36 minutes respectively as first Dave Alstead crossed following quick work by Dennis Moran. Steve Maden then seared downfield and the ball was moved to the left for Rudd to send Nathan McAvoy over.

The second half began with Dewsbury threatening. Leigh were forced to defend back-to-back sets before Alstead’s well timed hit on Andrew Bostock forced a turnover. Although the Centurions struggled with cohesion after Dennis Moran hobbled from the field, they dominated possession for six minutes. The Rams defended manfully, conceding two drop-outs and also held McConnell up over the try-line before the Centurions found a scoring play - Chris Hill making space and then forcing through after quick distribution from McConnell.

A patched up Moran returned but it was that man McConnell who made the difference after McAvoy was halted short. From the play-the-ball, McConnell lunged and despite his legs going airborne, the hooker was able to plant the ball over the try-line for Watson to add his third goal of the afternoon. As the rain began to fall the Rams chances were washed away with Maden in particular coming up with a superb tackle on Austin Buchanan as the former Super League winger looked set to get away from the defence.

“There were some good individual performances.” Said Leigh boss Darren Shaw. “Dave McConnell went very well at nine and when we did look up we played alright and scored some decent tries. There are still a lot of things to work on. Personally I thought we should have scored a lot more. Our decision making in the second half was pretty poor. We looked very cohesive at times and not so much at others but our defence was good, we kept getting bodies in front of theirs.”

GAMEBREAKER: Once Chris Hill surged over to make it 18-2, there was no way back for the Rams.

GAMESTAR: Dave McConnell – always looked a cut above thanks to the work of his forward pack.

CENTURIONS
1 Steve Maden
2 Chris Giles
3 Nathan McAvoy
4 Toa Kohe-Love
5 Dave Alstead
6 Dennis Moran
7 Ian Watson
8 Chris Hill
9 Dave McConnell
10 Lee Doran
11 Adam Rudd
12 James Taylor
13 Aaron Smith
Subs (all used)
14 Mike Morrison
15 Mike Wainwright
16 John Hill
17 Kyle Neal

Tries: Smith (13), Alstead (34), McAvoy (36), Chris Hill (57), McConnell (62)
Goals: Watson 3/5
Field goal:
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

RAMS
1 Mark Field
2 Tom Colleran
3 Chris Langley
4 Andrew Bostock
5 Austin Buchanan
6 Patrick Walker
7 Liam Finn
8 Aaron Trinder
9 Richard Chapman
10 Joe Helme
11 Martin Robinson
12 Alex Bretherton
13 Tere Glassie
Subs (all used)
14 Luke Haigh
15 Ryan Glynn
16 David Rourke
17 Liam Crawley

Try: ()
Goals: Walker 1/1
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Centurions: Dave McConnell
Rams: Alex Bretherton

Penalty count: 11-13
Half-time: 14-2
Referee: Jamie Leahy
Attendance: 1849

SCORING SEQUENCE:
0-2; 6-2; 10-2; 14-2; 20-2; 26-2.