 Into round five of the Super Eights Qualifiers and a crunch match at the Leigh Sports Village between the Centurions and the Giants. A win for Leigh would see them guaranteed Super League in 2017 but a loss would see the home side drop to third behind today's opponents.
Leigh were unchanged from the side who defeated Hull KR in round four, but the Giants were without Eorl Crabtree and Tom Symonds.
It was a large and expectant Leigh crowd hoping for a momentous game on a sunny afternoon.
The game was just fifty-two seconds old when Greg Worthington took advantage of the Giants being forced to drop out from the kick off as the ball was moved wide left for the Leigh centre to drag two tacklers over the line with him. Ridyard kicked the extras from wide for the best of possible starts.
On six minutes the Centurions were in again, for the second time out wide left where Matty Dawson found a small overlap down the left wing to end a nice passing move and dive in at the corner. Ridyard was once again accurate to kick a difficult conversion from the touchline for 12-0.
On twelve minutes the Giants were stunned again, again down the left wing, where Dawson got his second taking a bullet pass and diving over the line. Ridyard had his eye in and landed another touchline conversion for 18-0. It was nothing short of a sensational start.
On sixteen the Giants opened their account after two quick penalties in their favour. Playing the ball five metres from the line Danny Brough passed to Michael Lawrence to cross by the left upright. Brough kicked the conversion and the Giants were up and running.
On twenty-three the margin was narrowed further when Aaron Murphy was at the end of a five man passing move to slide over in the left corner. Brough dropped his attempted conversion short of the uprights leaving his side still trailing by eight points.
But it was just brief respite for the Giants.
On twenty-six Danny Brough threw a loose pass which was intercepted by Martyn Ridyard who went ninety-five metres, wrong-footing Leroy Cudjoe in the process to come back inside and score under the posts. Ridyard converted his own try for 24-10.
Dawson completed his hat-trick on thirty-one when he leapt over the Giants defence to ground by the corner flag off a Liam Hood pass. Ridyard made another touchline conversion for 30-10.
On thirty-four it was Leigh's sixth try of what was turning into a monumental and historical afternoon. A Ridyard grubber was collected by Corey Paterson who brushed off the tackler to ground. When Ridyard kicked his sixth of the afternoon it was 36-10 and the centurions were scoring at a rate of a point a minute.
After the half-time hooter sounded, and keeping the ball alive through a dozen pairs of hands, Ridyard took a final pass to push his way over the line for his second. His conversion made it 42-10 at the break, and gave the Centurions scrum-half a personal total of twenty-two points.
Eight minutes into the second half and the Centurions extended their lead when Mitch Brown broke the defensive line and went under the sticks to score. Ridyard added one of his easiest conversions of the afternoon to put his side thirty-eight points ahead.
The Giants found some go-forward which saw Jake Connor juggle a kick through before grounding under the posts and Danny Brough kicked the extras for 48-16.
On sixty-two Leroy Cudjoe muscled his way to the line and Danny Brough added the two points, as Leigh seemingly eased off the gas with job done. Two minutes later and Cudjoe got a second and when Brough converted the margin was down to twenty points at 48-28.
On sixty-nine Jamie Ellis found his way to the line and despite crossing on his back he managed to ground the ball above his head. Brough kicked the conversion and the gap was down to fourteen points. It was now all one-way traffic in favour of the Giants.
With four minutes left the margin was down to eight points when Jamie Ellis grounded a kick through behind the sticks and Brough kicked the extra two. Leigh were tiring fast and we're now giving their supporters a nervous last few minutes with a 48-40 lead.
A scrappy last few minutes saw Leigh hold on for a famous, if somewhat nervous, win which guarantees them Super League in 2017, along with the Leeds Rhinos. This was just what Leigh set out to do at the start of the season and they have achieved it with two games to spare.
The Giants are right back in trouble, despite maintaining third place, and have Leeds and Hull KR left to play over the next two rounds for their place in Super League.
Centurions: McNally, Higson, Worthington (T), Brown (T), Dawson (3T), Ridyard (2T, 8G), Drinkwater, Hock, Higham, Weston, Maitua, Paterson (T), Tickle. Subs: Hood, Hansen, Hopkins, Dixon.
Giants: Connor (T), McGillvary, Cudjoe (2T), Wardle, Murphy (T), Brough (5G), Ellis (2T), Ikahihifo, Hinchcliffe, Huby, Ta'ai, Lawrence (T), Roberts. Subs: Leeming, Rapira, Johnson, Mason.
Referee: Rob Hicks.
Attendance: |
