It is 'as you were' at the top of the Championship after a high scoring Easter Monday which saw fifty-three tries across the six games, averaging almost nine tries per game.
This rounds victims for Leigh were Workington Town, and Bradford Bulls had a tricky looking trip to Dewsbury Rams. Third placed Sheffield were at Featherstone and London Broncos hosted Batley Bulldogs from their fourth spot.
The remaining two fixtures were at Halifax where Hunslet Hawks were looking to get into the top eight, and at Whitehaven where winless Doncaster were the visitors.
The 3,017 crowd at the Leigh Sports Village were treated to sixty points, fifty-four of which were notched up by their heroes, the Centurions. Penkywicz opened the scoring for Leigh and Forber levelled for Workington on ten, but it would be the visitors last score of the game as Leigh flexed their muscles with tries from Pencywicz (his second), Higson, Brierley, Kay, Hock (2), Platt and McNally. Ridyard kicked nine goals for a 54-6 win.
Second place Bradford Bulls had a bit of a scare when they made the short trip to Dewsbury to take on fifth placed Rams. Pitts and Uaisele's first half tries for Bradford were responded by a single Morton try on the half time hooter in front of a crowd of 4,068. Gaskell added another for Bradford for 16-6 before Smith reduced the margin to just four points after fifty-five. But tries from Shaw and Addy (2) sealed the points for the Bulls as all that Dewsbury could muster was a last minute Crookes consolation to narrow the margin to 16-30.
The 6pm kick off was at Featherstone where the Eagles were the visitors. It was a simple win for the third placed side who were 20-0 up by half time thanks to tries from Yere, Turner and Togagae. Yere and Taulapapa added two more four-pointers for the Eagles before Sharp got Featherstone's only points of the night. A Knowles drop-goal added insult to injury before Walker finished the Eagles six try haul for a 33-4 win.
Halifax RLFC lifted themselves to fifth with a 32-24 win in a hard fought game against Hunslet Hawks at the Shay. The lead changed hands three times in the first half after a Brown try game the home side the lead. Tries from Mulhern and Watson rested the lead for Hunslet before Taylor and Tyrer responded for Halifax for 20-12. Briscoe scored before the interval to narrow the gap to two points and it was Hunslet in the lead on fifty-eight when Finigan scored a converted try for 20-24. Two converted tries in the last seven minutes, from Murrell and Saltonstall grabbed a home win to delight the 'Fax contingent in the 1,540 crowd.
Fourth spot London continued their great run after a poor start to the season. Garside, Harrison and Hellewell, all converted by Naiqama, opened up an 18-0 lead by half time and despite a Hesketh try early in the second half Minichella made it 24-6 after fifty-two. Tries from Hesketh and Rettie reduced the margin to just six but a Thomas drop-goal for London on seventy-nine settled the home nerves and secured the points.
Bottom placed Doncaster's season isn't getting any better as they crashed to another defeat, this time away at Whitehaven. Calvert, Chamberlain, Hepi and McAvoy all scored for Whitehaven with just one Nicklas try in response from the visitors. McAvoy had added another for 'Haven before Fox and Reynolds scored for Donny to reduce the margin to 30-16. Chamberlain and Calvert both added their second tries of the game and Brocklebank added a drop goal to his six goals to seal a 41-16 win.
Next weekend sees some intriguing match-ups as the top four all clash. Bradford entertain the Broncos and Sheffield host Leigh. Halifax and Dewsbury will be looking to narrow the gap as they play Workington and Doncaster respectively.
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