2008 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 22 CELTIC CRUSADERS 45

LEIGH CENTURIONS 22

CELTIC CRUSADERS 45
DAVE PARKINSON at Hilton Park

Celtic Crusaders eventually eased to their fifth National League win of the season at the expense of a gallant but outgunned Centurions team. The withdrawal of two players on the morning of the game, with illness affecting another all hampered Neil Kelly’s options and resulted in a debut for teenager Adam Higson along with call-ups for two other players who put in eighty minute stints for the Reserves twenty-four hours earlier.

“It was a patched up side and a big effort from those players who came in at short notice.” Kelly said. “I’ve got to say I was a little disappointed and this was in a period of the game in the first half when my patched up side wasn’t on the field and I just feel that we got disheartened by not getting a score and we’ve got to be a little bit tougher than that and we’ve got to recognise that when we are on top we’ve got to keep ourselves in that position. We really let Celtic Crusaders off the hook in that period.”

For the first twenty five minutes the game was almost exclusively the Centurions as they bossed field position, but despite a glut of possession they failed to add to a 4th minute Ian Watson penalty despite the best efforts of Lee Doran on the right and a typical Jack-in-the-box performance from Dennis Moran. A second penalty from Watson was missed after 14 minutes and gradually, Celtic were allowed back in to the game.

The visitors first meaningful attack came after 28 minutes when Damien Quinn put up a huge kick that was plucked out of the air and touched down by Luke Dyer. This went unconverted, as did the Crusaders next effort when Quinn was somehow allowed to plough through despite the attentions of a couple of defenders.

A third try followed for Celtic when former State of Origin player Josh Hannay slipped Watson’s tackle before linking with Dyer who judged the play perfectly for Tony Duggan to race away in support for the first of his treble. This time Mark Lennon converted and the Crusaders led 14-2. With time ticking down on the first half, Celtic came up with an error and Watson used Dale Cunniffe as a foil before James Taylor touched down.

The Centurions made a good start to the second half and weight of numbers stopped Chris Hill from scoring under the posts before Mark Roberts pounced on a mistake. Several tackles later, Watson ran the angle for Lee Marsh to bludgeon his way through to the line. At 14-10 it was game on but that is when the Crusaders began to move through the gears.

After Leigh coughed up possession from the restart, Quinn did all the running for Duggan to profit and Lennon added the second of six goals. The Centurions were penalised for being offside at the resumption and the Crusaders again marched upfield in conservative style before a last tackle play that resembled basketball moved through many hands and Hannay stepped the defence to then swerve past Moran and cross the line.

The game was all but safe five minutes later when approach work from Mark Dalle Cort created space for former Leigh wing Paul Ballard to score. This time Watson’s short restart came up trumps for Leigh with Doran claiming the ball. Later in the set Moran proved too clever for Celtic and Doran followed him to claim the Centurions third try, this time converted by Ian Mort.

Still the Crusaders weren’t finished however and a high speed move involving Dalle Cort and Duggan broke the line for Ballard to finish after 64 minutes, then ten minutes later the impressive Dalle Cort appeared down the right to link with Dyer before Duggan followed up to complete his hat-trick. Lennon added his 6th goal and there was still enough time for him to drop a cheeky goal – the first in the Crusaders history before Leigh finished strongly with Higson charging through for a debut try.

Celtic coach John Dixon said, “You give credit to Leigh they had a lot of field position and they were the better side territorially in the first half. We did a lot of defending. At halftime we were our own worst enemies. We turned over the ball far too frequently and we turned over far too many penalties. The task as a coach was to turn thoughts and processes into actions and that’s what we did in the second half.”

GAMEBREAKER: Three tries in nine minutes from Tony Duggan, Josh Hannay and Paul Ballard took the game from a 10-14 knife edge to a comfortable 10-32 advantage for the Crusaders. Then there was only one winner.

GAMESTAR: Neale Wyatt continued his excellent recent form with a solid running game and unstinting defence.

CENTURIONS
1 Dennis Moran
2 Chris Giles
3 Dale Cunniffe
4 Mark Roberts
5 Ian Mort
6 Lee Marsh
7 Ian Watson
8 Mike Morrison
9 Dave McConnell
10 Gareth Price
11 James Taylor
12 Lee Doran
13 Mike Wainwright
Subs (all used)
14 Adam Higson
15 Adam Thomas
16 Chris Hill
17 John Cookson

Tries: Taylor (40), Marsh (44), Doran (59), Higson (78)
Goals: Watson 1/3, Mort 2/2.
Field goal:
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

CRUSADERS
1 Tony Duggan
2 Paul Ballard
3 Josh Hannay
4 Mark Dalle Cort
5 Luke Dyer
6 Damien Quinn
7 Mark Lennon
8 Jordan James
9 Neil Budworth
10 Gareth Dean
11 Chris Beasley
12 Darren Mapp
13 Neale Wyatt
Subs (all used)
14 Ian Webster
15 Aaron Summers
16 Jamie I’Anson
17 David Tangata-Toa

Tries: Dyer (28), Quinn (34), Duggan (37, 48, 74), Hannay (52), Ballard (57, 64)
Goals: Lennon 6/8
Field Goals: Lennon 1.
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Centurions: Lee Doran
Crusaders: Neale Wyatt

Penalty count: 10-10
Half-time: 6-14
Referee: Gareth Hewer
Attendance: 2,503

SCORING SEQUENCE:
2-0, 2-4, 2-8, 2-14, 6-14; 10-14, 10-20, 10-26, 10-32, 16-32, 16-38, 16-44, 16-45, 22-45