2008 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 42 SHEFFIELD EAGLES 22

LEIGH CENTURIONS 42
SHEFFIELD EAGLES 22

By Dave Parkinson.

Leigh Centurions edged the battle for fourth place in National League One with two late tries denying Sheffield Eagles a bonus point.

In a stop-start affair that yielded 24 penalties, Leigh grabbed the first try when Dave McConnell twisted over from close range after 11 minutes for Ian Watson to convert.

The Eagles responded with a breathtaking counter attack six minutes later when Rob Worrincy cut loose from Watson’s kick. After evading Watson, he raced down the right, outstripping three defenders before offloading to James Ford who then had a clear run to the posts from 50 metres. Johnny Woodcock converted and two further penalties from the Eagles number one after Leigh had been pinged for ball-stealing and offside increased the Sheffield advantage before close range tries by John Cookson and Dave Alstead handed the Centurions a narrow 16-10 lead.

Early in the second half Steve Maden finished in the corner to stretch Leigh’s advantage but Sheffield responded with enthusiasm and vigour. After driving to the line, Eagles were then able to sucker-punch the Leigh defence when Grant Edwards plunged over by the posts with Woodcock tagging on the simple conversion. Alstead scored a second a converted try after 63 minutes following a pressured offload by Damien Reid and the Centurions grabbed another when Ian Mort stepped over two minutes later.

Back came the Eagles and six minutes from the end they scored a deserved third try. Quick play from Dominic Brambani and Brendon Lindsay released Woodcock from a scrum and he then added his 5th goal to set up a grandstand finish before Adam Higson and Lee Doran got through the Eagles line in the closing seconds for Ian Watson convert and take away any chance of points.

Following the game Eagles head coach Mark Aston was less than impressed by the performance of referee Craig Halloran and he didn’t hold back.

“I thought it was a very stop-start game.” He said. “There were a lot of penalties and I thought the merry whistleblower in the middle determined how quickly it was played, how slow it was played and it was just very frustrating. We were disappointed with ourselves and the outcome. I can look at my players, [Leigh coach] Neil Kelly will look at his and I think someone needs to look at the men who referee these games.”

He continued, “There was nothing between the teams at the start. It was always going to be a tough ask for us to come to Leigh today and come away with anything but we were in the game at 10-6, then got back into the game in the second half after we had just scored to make it 16-20. Credit to Leigh, they scored some good tries at the end. They can play, there’s no doubt about that, but we are disappointed that away from home, again we haven’t hit the spots we wanted to hit.”

“We’ve now got a weekend off and then we push on. It doesn’t help when you play a week and miss a week. This is something that the league need to address. I didn’t get continuity, I didn’t get the consistency. One week we are playing, the next week there’s nothing. You might say go further in the cup competitions but not everyone can do that. We lack that consistency and I think you saw that in this game.”


LEIGH: Mort, Maden, Woodcock, Kohe-Love, Alstead; Marsh, Watson; Morrison, McConnell, Price, Taylor, Doran, Smith.

Replacements: Higson, Stewart, Hill, Cookson.

Tries: McConnell (11), Cookson (35), Alstead (40, 63), Maden (42), Mort (65), Higson (79), Doran (80).
Goals: Watson 5/7, Mort 0/1.

SHEFFIELD: Woodcock, Mills, Ford, Reid, Worrincy; Lindsay, Brambani; Howieson, Hill, Rowe, Whitaker, Szostak, Hayes.

Replacements: McDonald, Buckenham, Edwards, Stringer.

Tries: Ford (17), Edwards (48), Woodcock (74).
Goals: Woodcock 5/5.

Referee: Mr C Halloran.
Penalties: 12-12
Attendance: 2,005.
Half-time score: 16-10 to Leigh.