Centurions come close to first win but are narrowly edged out by Hull KR

Leigh Centurions came agonisingly close to their first win of the Super League season, mounting a second-half comeback to go in front with 15 minutes remaining at the Leigh Sports Village, but Hull Kingston Rovers eventually came out on top with a 34-28 away win.

Looking to tighten the grip on their place in the play-off spots, KR were left shell-shocked just two minutes in as the Centurions went in front through Junior Sa’u, getting over the line in the corner at the first opportunity.

Craig Mullen missed that kick, but some invention with the boot soon after had Leigh thinking that they had doubled their advantage. Joe Mellor hammered the ball downfield and got onto the end of it in the in-goal area when a teammate smashed it forward again with a kick, but the video referee disallowed it for a knock-on when trying to ground it.

Had the game not been on television, that would have stood as the on-field decision from referee Chris Kendall was a try. With that warning scare, KR sprung into action and put pressure on the Leigh defence constantly.

Though the Centurions did well, the breakthrough eventually came through Kane Linnett, grounding having met a kick through into the in-goal area to level the scores. Former Leigh man Ben Crooks missed the conversion, but it didn’t take long for Rovers to push in front with another score.

A nice kick out to Hull’s right edge was palmed backwards by Brad Takairangi, and Greg Minkin was there in space to ghost in at the corner. Again, Crooks’ conversion was wide of the mark, but KR were in the lead.

It wasn’t long before that advantage got extended, not once but twice. Rowan Milnes’ break through the lines caught Leigh napping, allowing Shaun Kenny-Dowall to power over the line before Mikey Lewis went over after a contentious decision from Kendall.

Having defended resolutely on the line and preparing for the last tackle of a set, a Leigh player was down in front of the play of the ball, adjudged to have kicked it to prevent a quick restart from KR. A penalty was given, and from the resulting fresh set, it didn’t take long for Lewis to go over.

Crooks was successful with one of those two conversions to leave the scoreline at 18-4 in Hull’s favour with six minutes of the first-half remaining. After their good start, Leigh had offered little in the way of attack but importantly, they clawed a try back before Mullen’s breakthrough.

Having shifted the ball well to the left, the 23-year-old was in space to make a dash for the line and getting there in the end. He also converted but KR went into the interval leading 18-10.

Just five minutes after the restart, Albert Vete powered over for the Robins and many thought that was curtains for Leigh, especially after Crooks converted the kick.

Unlike in some of their other games this season, the Centurions weren’t ready to give in easily and were handed a lifeline when Vete was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes after what was a really poor shoulder charge. Laughing as he walked away from the challenge amidst a mini-melee around the man on the floor, a retrospective ban wouldn’t come as a surprise.

Almost instantly, the Leythers used that man-advantage to their strength and went in under the sticks through Adam Sidlow, converted by Mullen to reduce the deficit before another ill-disciplined high tackle from KR, Korbin Sims the guilty party this time.

The Robins didn’t learn and were down to 11 men for a brief period on the hour-mark as George Lawler was also sent to the bin for a high tackle on the line.

Leigh made it count as Sa’u took the ball out wide as he did for the opening try of the game and touched down to secure his brace while presenting Mullen to put the Centurions within two points of their opponents. A successful conversion did just that.

Even though Vete was back on, much to the disgruntlement of the Leigh fans in the North Stand at the LSV, he could do nothing to prevent the Leythers from completing a huge comeback through Sidlow’s second try sliding in under the posts.

Tony Smith’s Rovers were rattled, but they’re not in the play-off spots for nothing and possess real quality throughout the team which shone through just three minutes later to level the scores.

Skipper Kenny-Dowall took the ball well and made a dash for the line, powering through a small gap despite being under fire from numerous Centurions’ defenders.

Now back up to a full quota of 13, KR’s energy levels had been re-ignited, and they got the all-important winning try with seven minutes remaining through serial scorer Ryan Hall, though it didn’t come without controversy.

Milnes’ bomb kick up in the air wasn’t dealt with by Leigh, and in a matter of seconds, the ball had been shifted out to the left-wing for Hall to get in at the corner. Various moments in the move had been under scrutiny for a long time by the video referee, and it did look like there was a knock-on in there, but the try was eventually awarded.

Crooks converted, but Leigh weren’t done. They had one last surge forward in them and thought that they’d done enough to take it to golden point extra-time when Liam Hood grounded following an error from KR in trying to take Mellor’s kick. Unfortunately for the Centurions though, Hood was deemed offside from that kick, both by Kendall and the video referee.

They had fought valiantly for the vast majority of the game, but that was to be their final opportunity. Hull KR the winners in the end by six points, however, they had been pushed to the wire by Super League’s bottom club. For Leigh, that wait for their first win of the campaign goes on.

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