Taking advantage of promotion rivals Featherstone Rovers not playing until tomorrow evening, Adrian Lam’s side made it three victories in eight days to head into top spot.
They showed no sign of the fatigue which may have been expected, scoring 18 points in both halves without conceding at the other end.
Perhaps a sign of the test that they had anticipated from a Halifax side which sat 4th ahead of kick-off, Adrian Lam’s side opted to kick for two points when given a penalty 10 metres out seven minutes in.
Krisnan Inu converted with no problems asked, but that that point, not many would have thought the sides would be poles apart come full time.
At times throughout, visitors Fax asked questions of the Leythers’ defence without ever forcing the cause. It took the hosts 17 minutes to secure their first try of the afternoon though, winger Blake Ferguson on the scoresheet again.
Scoring in each of his first four games for the Centurions, Australian Ferguson looks to have put any previous troubles behind him. Ironically, ‘Bad Boys’ played out over the tannoy in error after he added another try soon after.
Edwin Ipape is another newfound favourite amongst the Leigh faithful. Winning the Ray French trophy in last week’s 1895 Cup final win over Featherstone Rovers, the Papua New Guinean received a hero’s welcome when he came on as an interchange.
Making a trademark lung-bursting run and heading for the line, Ipape instantly caused Fax issues. He then had to help his team out in defence, seeing out a set of six which the visitors began just 20 metres out.
At the other end prior to the half time hooter, Wigan Warriors loanee James McDonnell had been held up over the line. Leigh weren’t to be denied a second time though, Ben Reynolds touching down over the all-important white line.
Only some last-ditch defence prevented Lam’s men from adding to their tally soon after the restart, ex-Leigh forward Matty Gee forced off after dragging Reynolds back from the line.
Scrum half Reynolds is the Centurions’ seventh-highest ever points scorer, and did eventually get over for a try on 47 minutes.
Halifax then went close, themselves held up over the line before Leigh’s Inu got ten minutes in the sin-bin from referee Rob Hicks following a high tackle. That came amidst a quite scrappy period for both sides, neither able to make their chances count.
Ata Hingano changed that on 61 minutes, cruising over with Halifax giving him all of the space and time in the world to do so.
Just one more try was to follow, that coming eight minutes from time via centre Nene Macdonald. The second division’s top scorer, Macdonald found himself in space to touch the ball down following some swift hands to switch the ball across to him in the left corner.
Having now racked up a 10th consecutive win in all competitions, up next for Leigh is the big one. Featherstone come to town on Monday, June 13.
Whatever happens when the Rovers host Bradford Bulls tomorrow evening, Leigh could be top of the league with the same games played come the middle of the month. Only Fev have beaten them in the Championship so far this year, that coming away from home back in Round 2.
Halifax meanwhile travel to Whitehaven’s LEL Arena on Sunday, June 12. Now sat 5th, improvement will be needed if Simon Grix’s side are to be successful up in Cumbria.
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]]>On their quest for promotion from the Betfred Championship, the Centurions have now won 11 league games in a row as well as picking up the 1895 Cup along the way in defeating Featherstone Rovers last weekend.
Up in Cumbria, Lam’s side were pegged back from leading 18-4 at the interval to trail 28-24 with just seven minutes remaining. Blake Ferguson eventually restored parity with the winning try, though Barrow’s Jarrod Sammut missed a penalty conversion in the closing stages which would have drawn them back level.
“Having belief in each other is what got us through today,” said Lam whose side can ill-afford any slip-ups if they are to pip Featherstone to the league title.
“They led with ten minutes to go but I always thought that we’d get that back, it was just a matter of believing in ourselves for me.
“In the set after they scored to go in front, I thought that was our best defensive set. For that, I’m really proud of them.”
Papua New Guinean Lam also admitted that he thought a short turnaround had played a part in the slackness on show from his side at times.
Beating Fev in that 1895 Cup final last Saturday, the Leythers rotated their lineup quite heavily with another test on the horizon in just three days’ time as Halifax Panthers visit the Leigh Sports Village.
He added, “It’s always a tough ask after a real high last weekend to come back and play well with such a short turnaround.
“We’ve had a plan for this weekend – like most clubs have – and we’ve picked seven new faces today who didn’t play in the final. We also had 10 positional changes today too.
“When you do that, there’s always going to be clunkiness, and I expected that. I just thought we had a really good 40 minutes, and then 40 that were really poor.”
Already detailing before the trip to Barrow how he wasn’t a fan of the Championship ‘double header’, the fixture list isn’t getting any easier for Leigh.
They’re on the road much more in the coming weeks with trips to both Workington Town and Whitehaven both lined up in the coming weeks.
“We’ve only got two games at home in the next six weeks, they’re the next two games,” said Lam
“We’ve got to make sure we absolutely nail them. We got the two points in the end here today, so we’ll take that and move on”.
After welcoming Halifax on Sunday, Leigh’s next match is the all-important one. Leaders Featherstone come to town on Monday, June 13 live in front of the Premier Sports cameras.
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Adrian Lam’s side raced into an 18-4 lead by half time at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium as their quest for promotion continued, but Barrow very much enjoyed the best of the second half.
The Raiders led with seven minutes remaining after a quite remarkable second period, but Blake Ferguson raced away for the winning try, Leigh eventually 30-28 victors.
Winner of the Ray French (Man of the Match) trophy last weekend as Leigh beat fellow promotion hopefuls Featherstone Rovers to win the 1895 Cup, Edwin Ipape was again on top form from the off.
He burst from the halfway line to score the first try of the match on nine minutes, scoring again in similar fashion 19 minutes later.
Sandwiched between them, winger Blake Ferguson – who scored four tries on debut last month – went over for his first ‘meat pie’ of the afternoon.
When Barrow broke through and scored through Brett Carter on the hooter, 18-4 the sides headed in.
At that stage, you felt the next try coming from the Raiders would turn it into a bit of a contest and it did exactly that.
Two minutes after the restart, debutant Connor Saunders – signed from a local amateur side – broke superbly and set up Luke Cresswell to get over.
Leigh did hit back four minutes later through James McDonnell and when Ben Reynolds – making his 150th career appearance – converted, the score pushed to 24-10 in the Centurions’ favour.
From there on though, it must be said that the Cumbrians’ performance was simply excellent while Leigh’s went the other way, becoming a shell of their former selves.
Quickfire tries from Tee Ritson and Jarrod Sammut took them to within two points, and after Leigh had passed up numerous chances to score themselves, Barrow went in again through Saunders.
The hosts’ own man of the match, Saunders had an excellent afternoon and went four points clear when Sammut converted.
Only an ill-executed pass looking to kill the game off allowed Leigh youngster Luis Roberts to intercept seven minutes from time, feeding veteran Ferguson. The winger raced clear, going in under the sticks so Reynolds could knock the two over.
Those two points proved the winning two in the end. Even in that remaining time, Sammut had chance to draw his team level, missing a penalty from roughly 30 metres out.
Leigh the winners on the day, but in truth, Barrow probably the side that will take more positives from the game.
The Raiders welcome Widnes Vikings to Cumbria on Sunday as part of the Championship’s double-header week. Improvement will be needed from Leigh the same day when Halifax Panthers visit the Leigh Sports Village.
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Flying over twice in the first half as the Red Devils overturned an early deficit, the 27-year-old then crossed 11 minutes from time with his strong partnership alongside centre Tim Lafai firmly on show.
The ex-Wigan Warriors man hasn’t featured on the international stage for more than five years, and was left out of Shaun Wane’s England side in last year’s game against the Combined Nations All Stars.
With another strong showing against the Tigers at the AJ Bell Stadium, he has surely now got himself at the very least back into Wane’s thoughts.
A former teammate of Burgess at Wigan, Ryan Hampshire crossed first to hand Castleford a third-minute lead. Lafai got the hosts back on level terms with Marc Sneyd excellent with the boot, and then came the Burgess double.
Taking advantage of a ‘six again’ call from referee Liam Moore, the Greater Manchester outfit surged forward with the winger taking the ball out on that far left touchline and stepping back inside to finish.
The step was made with such ease that many inside the stadium and watching on TV didn’t appreciate just how difficult it was to do so quickly.
Ten minutes later, in what was the last action of the first half, Burgess then got his second which pulled his side away from Cas on the scoreline.
This time around, Derrell Olpherts spilled the ball inside his own half and Salford again pushed back on down the left with the winger crossing.
With another Sneyd conversion to match, that had the Red Devils 16-6 up at the interval.
Cas came out the blocks quicker and limited Burgess’ opportunities in the early stages at the restart.
His treble should’ve been complete 53 minutes in and would’ve been only for a remarkable last-ditch tackle by Hampshire.
Deon Cross finished off a superb breakaway not long after though following a two-pointer from Sneyd, and even when the video ref awarded a Tigers try 18 minutes from time, Salford never really looked in danger of folding.
Any faint chances faded away when Adam Milner got sin-binned and three minutes later, Burgess rounded off the scoring with his hat-trick. Lafai flicked the pass out in nice fashion disguised and there was the winger to dive over.
30-14 to Salford it ended, Burgess re-igniting calls for him to get back into the international fold, and the Red Devils are rising.
They sit ninth, outside of the top six, while Cas occupy the final play-off spot but could slip out of the all-important rankings if Hull KR get a result against Catalans Dragons.
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As we tick over the halfway point in the Super League season, hosts Salford sit ninth, four points outside the top six. Meanwhile, Cas occupy sixth – and the final play-off – spot sat on 12 points heading into their trip to Greater Manchester.
For all clubs, ending the season in with a chance of reaching the illustrious Grand Final is of course the ambition if not the aim, but now is the time to build up a head of steam and secure a place in the play-offs.
Both of tonight’s side have gone through rough patches already this term with Cas winning just one of their opening six matches and Salford losing five in a row recently.
However, both got the win last time out and another two points tonight really could be a catalyst for the remainder of the campaign and how the pair fare. Given the standings at present, it’s fair to say that defeat tonight for Salford could dispel their hopes of a top-six finish for good.
Similarly, defeat for Castleford could easily see them drop out of the top six by the end of the weekend with Hull KR sat on the same points and breathing down their necks.
Both clubs appointed new head coaches ahead of this season, though neither are any strangers to the sport of rugby league.
Ex-hooker Paul Rowley now heads up Salford having played for and managed hometown club Leigh Centurions. He also played for both Halifax and Huddersfield Giants before making the transition into coaching.
Following his departure from Leigh in 2016, Rowley went onto head up Canadian outfit Toronto Wolfpack, and after three years out of the game, he returned with Salford in a ‘Head of Rugby Development’ role. Rowley then stepped up to the plate when Richard Marshall left his position at the Red Devils’ head coach at the end of last season.
In the opposing dugout tonight meanwhile is someone with even more experience at Super League level in Lee Radford.
Like Rowley, Radford played for his hometown team in Hull FC on two separate occasions before eventually taking up the head coach role at the MKM Stadium in 2014. There for six years, Radford was memorably handed his P45 live on Sky Sports straight after a defeat to Warrington Wolves in March 2020.
A short spell with American expansion team Dallas Jackals followed before he took up the reigns across Yorkshire with Cas.
Before this season, the pair had only met once on the touchline previously in a pre-season friendly ahead of the 2017 season. At that stage, Rowley’s Toronto were about to join League 1 while Radford’s Hull were preparing for another top-flight campaign. Remarkably, the Super League side – at home – only won by six points (26-20).
With their freshly-ironed shirts getting their first outing, the two head coaches met on the touchline in the opening round this year.
It was Rowley who got off to a flying start – inflicting a first defeat on home turf on Radford – at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle with his Red Devils running out 26-16 winners.
King Vuniyayawa crossed for his first try in a Salford shirt while Marc Sneyd hit three second half two-pointers with his boot to seal the victory. Derell Olpherts was the main man for the Tigers, scoring two tries on the day.
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That their ninth consecutive win in the Betfred Championship, Lam’s side still trail unbeaten league leaders Featherstone Rovers by a point with both sides giving everything for promotion up to Super League.
There’s also an 1895 cup final against the Rovers to come later this month, and while delighted with the result at Batley, Lam remained level-headed post-match.
“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, I’ve got to keep reminding myself and the group of that. We’re looking for improvements every week at training, ticking off boxes, and the last two weeks have been at another level for us so we’re getting there.
“There’s still a long way to go though, and we’ve got to make sure that we respect the process.
“The Gods of Rugby League – I’ve been involved in the sport for a long time – and the minute that you disrespect the process, it comes back to bite you. We’ve got to make sure that we stay true to the process.
“We’ve got to keep our feet grounded and keep working hard.”
Earlier this season, Batley managed to take a point off table toppers Fev, drawing 20-20. That point is still the only one dropped by Brian McDermott’s side, and the Rovers boss was at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium to watch his counterparts Leigh stick 52 points on that same Bulldogs team.
Leythers boss Lam had high praise for his free-flowing side, with Tom Amone and Edwin Ipape his ‘standouts’.
“At half time, we’d completed [our sets] at 90% which is international level. In the second half it was at 85% and in rugby terms, that’s big game mentality.
“I thought it was an 80-minute performance, one of our strongest this year so far. Apart from the simple game plan and being disciplined in everything that we did, the highlight was nilling them.
“They didn’t look like scoring with all respect to Batley, and I can’t remember any sort of threat being there which is credit to our defensive work. I thought that was awesome.”
While Batley were self-admittedly lacklustre as Bulldogs boss Craig Lingard told Premier Sports, there’s no doubting that Leigh’s performance was close to perfect for the vast majority of the contest.
The Centurions ran in nine tries with winger Keanan Brand sealing a first half hat-trick and the only disappointment for their fans will be that Australian Blake Ferguson didn’t make his debut, as some were expecting.
Lam confirmed that he had only made the decision in the 24 hours prior to the Monday night game but revealed that winger Ferguson’s first appearance isn’t too long away.
“I had a decision to make yesterday and at the last minute, I just thought that it wasn’t worth risking it.
“He’ll play on Sunday though, he’ll definitely be in the 17. It’s great that he’s going to be added to the team along with Chris Green who’s on the mend now [broken arm] too.
“I don’t know where I’m going to fit Blake to be honest, that’s the hardest part of rugby league management. I’ve outlined the plans to the players with clear communication though.”
Leigh will again go into the game as heavy favourites on Sunday, bolstered even further by the result at Batley.
In truth, there won’t be many second division games that the Centurions don’t come out on top in this season as one of the league’s only full-time sides.
Every game is about getting the job done and they did that in style at Batley, it’s more about building up a head of steam for when the games against Featherstone come around.
Onto the next one for Lam’s men.
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Live in front of the Premier Sports cameras, Adrian Lam’s side comfortably got the job done to earn the two points, though remain second behind leaders Featherstone Rovers whose boss Brian McDermott was also present at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium. The pair meet in the 1895 cup final on May 28.
In a blistering first half performance which saw Keanan Brand rack up a hat-trick of tries, Leigh racked up 28 points before adding a further 24 to that tally in the second half, all without conceding any at the other end.
It must be said that for large periods at the beginning of both halves, Leigh didn’t click nor find that crucial last pass to break through the line.
In fact, it took them 15 first half minutes to open the scoring, though from there on it became a complete whitewash against a Batley side who had headed into the contest unbeaten in five and occupying a play-off spot.
Winger Brand hit twice in quick succession to get things started, both diving finishes in at the corner. His partnership with full-back Caleb Aekins was on show for all to see, ruthless near the line.
Aaron Smith then forced his way over after a good dummy from Ben Reynolds had gained the Centurions some metres, with Krisnan Inu almost perfect with the conversions on the night, missing just once.
Brand completed his hat-trick and there was still time in the opening 40 minutes for Edwin Ipape to barrage his way over, simply running through an opponent to touch the ball down.
28-0 up at the interval, the contest was already over, but Batley came out at the restart and were on top in the early stages.
Some early pressure saw them held up over the line before forcing a drop out from the visitors, but it was at that point their attacking threat diminished when Luke Hooley dropped a clanger in knocking on straight from the kick.
Typical of the opening 15 minutes of the second half from both sides, that mistake felt very much the moment that Leigh secured a ‘nilling’ of their West Yorkshire counterparts.
Papua New Guinean Nene MacDonald uncharacteristically didn’t end up on the scoresheet, though forced a drop out which again saw an error – Mark Ioane spilling the ball.
Eventually, Leigh did get themselves another try through Joe Mellor on 57 minutes, opening the floodgates oncemore. Joe Wardle and Inu then both got over the line before Ipape rounded it off with the pick of the bunch five minutes from time.
Picking the ball up on the halfway line, he showed lightning pace to breeze through a now weary Bulldogs defence, swan diving over between the sticks bang in front of the travelling Leigh faithful.
Very much job done for the Leythers who welcome Workington Town to the Leigh Sports Village on Sunday (May 22). Batley meanwhile play host to relegation-threatened London Broncos on the same afternoon.
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]]>Adrian Lam’s men have featured on the channel’s Monday night slot five times already this season – including once in the Challenge Cup – with an 80% success rate.
The only time that they’ve not ended up on the winning side so far in the Championship season came in the opening Premier Sports game of the campaign, losing to nearest promotion rivals Featherstone Rovers.
That defeat still separates the two sides at the top of the table with Fev top, and Leigh playing catch-up.
Victory at Batley tonight is – as ever – a must, though is far from a guarantee with the Yorkshire outfit fifth in the league table with a game in hand on all of those around them.
The Bulldogs have had a two-week hiatus due to not being involved in any cup competition, but won away at Workington Town in their last outing on May 1 and are currently unbeaten in their last five, coming out on top in four of those.
Leigh meanwhile are on a five-game winning run heading into the contest at the Fox’s Biscuit Stadium, conceding only a combined total of 24 points across all of those games.
Last time out, the Centurions beat Sheffield Eagles to qualify for the final of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, set to be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against – who else? – Featherstone.
With Leigh a full-time outfit and Batley still part-time, memorable matches between these two are hard to come by in recent times and are generally weighted the way you’d expect them to be.
That said, the Bulldogs did get the better of tonight’s opponents in 2016 with a narrow two-point win at home in the opening match of the Championship season. Remarkably, Leigh recovered from that losing start to go on and get promotion up to Super League.
Batley seemingly are always involved in the Centurions’ memorable moments when it comes to promotion seasons, and in 2004 it happened on the final day of the league season.
Needing a win to be crowned champions of what was then known as National League One, the Leythers shot into a 23-6 lead midway through the second half, but Batley mounted a comeback.
Clawing their way back to 23-22, the hosts then dropped a howler straight from Leigh’s kick off with ex-Centurion Sean Richardson spilling the ball on his own line and allowing the visitors to put the winning try on the board.
The exciting news for Leigh fans is that they’re almost back up to full strength and the club has confirmed that Blake Ferguson may make his debut tonight.
Australian winger Ferguson joined the Centurions at the end of next month though has been working on getting up to full fitness since. Mark Ioane meanwhile could return against Batley with the only notable absentee Chris Green who has been out since that defeat to Featherstone in Round 2.
The man to look out for in the Batley line up tonight will be half-back Tom Gilmore who spent from 2012 to 2019 with Widnes Vikings, making plenty of Super League appearances in the process.
Gilmore has also previously been a part of the England Knights performance squad at international level.
Our reporter Ben Olawumi will be in position at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium for the 7:45PM kick-off to bring you live coverage. You can follow him on Twitter – @OlawumiJourno
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Securing their own Premier League status prior to the trip to Goodison Park, the fixture list was always going to play out with the Bees having a say in the relegation shake up.
Beating Everton, the Londoners now host Leeds United on the final day of the season with the Yorkshire outfit still very much in need of points to seal top-flight survival, though Frank won’t let his team drop down a gear as he confirmed post-match on Merseyside.
“A lot of so-called experts talked about us being on holiday and not having anything to fight for, but I think that we need to – first and foremost – be very professional and want to win every single game for the Brentford fans, but also, I think that it’s very important to show respect to the league.
“We’ll do everything that we can because if I was in that situation then I’d expect the same.
“It’s not about Everton or Burnley or Leeds [for us]. If we can finish in the top 10 then that’s remarkable and as far as I know, there’s a few quid to gain for the club if you finish higher. It’s so important to understand that we need to do our very best to win.
“Maybe after ten years in the Premier League, you don’t care whether you finish in 11th (where Brentford currently are) or ninth, but for us every game is a cup final.”
Looking ahead to that Leeds game, Frank spoke highly of the Yorkshire outfit, but re-affirmed his and his team’s position, adding: “I think that Leeds are one of the biggest clubs in the country and they should be in the Premier League.
“Of course, I can’t say that I want them [in the Premier League] more than Everton or Burnley. We just have to fight to win on Sunday and we will see who will be there [in the top flight] next season.”
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]]>Winning 1-0 and on top at the time, the Toffees were denied a penalty 18 minutes in when Richarlison had his shirt pulled inside the box by Bees defender Kristoffer Ajer. Seconds later with the visitors clearing their lines, young Blues centre back Jarrad Branthwaite brought down Ivan Toney as the last man and subsequently received a red card from referee Michael Oliver.
Speaking post-match, Blues boss Lampard – who has already been charged by the Football Association for his comments after last month’s Merseyside derby defeat to Liverpool – was far from pleased.
“It was a penalty. It’s a clear shirt pull and a foul in the box. If you’re asking for Richarlison to go down for it, then you’re asking people to fall on the floor.
“The most frustrating thing for me is to have to come out and speak about it because I’m fed up of speaking about it.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the referees because they do one of the toughest jobs, but the reality is that we’ve been on the bad end of a lot of decisions this season.
“It’s hard because I have to represent the club and represent the fans that come here to support us. Small margins can affect our position and I do believe that a penalty on the shirt pull today means it maybe goes 2-0 to us, and we still have 11 men. I think we all know how that game then goes.”
In what turned out to be another disappointing afternoon for the hosts in a torrid season, they did get a penalty in first half added time as Richarlison was brought down by Mads Bech Sorensen.
The Brentford man was already on a booking but received no further punishment from referee Oliver, another decision which Lampard – as many in the ground – thought was wrong.
2-1 up with Brazilian Richarlison converting from 12 yards out, the Toffees conceded twice in two second-half minutes to go 3-2 down.
Remarkably, there was to be another low point for Everton with Salomon Rondon also seeing a straight red from Oliver just four minutes after coming on as a substitute late on.
Lampard had no qualms with that sending off, a lunging challenge by the Venezuelan on Brentford’s third goalscorer – and eventual match winner – Rico Henry.
However, on the initial incident which led to 19-year-old Branthwaite’s marching orders, the boss added:
“There’s no point in it [speaking to Oliver post-match].
“When I spoke about what happened at Anfield [in April], I wasn’t speaking about Stuart Attwell and I wasn’t speaking about individuals, I was speaking about pressure situations and how they can change people.
“Today for me it was pretty clear that shirt pull is a foul anywhere else on the pitch. This ‘clear and obvious’ phrase [in relation to VAR] is nonsense because the decision is either right or wrong.”
With survival in their own hands, Lampard’s side have two huge games to come next week. First, they welcome Crystal Palace to Goodison Park on Thursday (May 19) before ending the campaign away at Arsenal on Sunday (May 22).
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