Leigh's semi KO

LEIGH visited Manchester in the semi-final of the Lancashire Cup in blustery conditions at Cheadle Hulme.

In the early stages of the game, despite playing into the strong wind, Leigh were territorially dominant and took an early lead with a Fisher penalty.

The well drilled Manchester pack, however, began to take control and a series of driving mauls took them to the Leigh line. Despite stout defence from the visitors, Manchester eventually forced over in the corner for a 5-3 lead. The same tactics were repeated and when Leigh failed to clear, the home side claimed a second try.

With the stiff breeze behind them, Manchester were able to pin Leigh on the defensive and the pressure produced a further push-over try and conversion for a 17-3 half time lead.

After the re-start, it was Leigh's turn to exert pressure on the home side. They were, however, unable to convert the pressure into points, despite going close on several occasions. A Manchester break-away led to a penalty for a 20-3 lead.

Leigh introduced a number of substitutions in an attempt to change the pattern of play but were thwarted by Manchesters dominance in the line-outs, and critical handling errors at crucial stages. Fisher converted a second penalty for Leigh, but despite several break-away chances, they were unable to add to their score.

Trafford MV 5 Leigh Hawks 25

On one of the most dismal of days, and certainly the worst pitch, Leigh surprised everyone by playing their best rugby of the season. A surging break by the excellent Ryan Jones lead to a ball moved out wide for Krause to score the first of a brace.

The conditions deteriorated with a strong wind adding to the torrential rain, and Trafford to their credit used this to their advantage with some good strategic kicking, then using their much bigger forwards to pin Leigh back and scored a much deserved try.

The second half was a different story, with the wind at their backs, Leigh's handling improved with some excellent off the cuff rugby. A blind break by skipper Greenwood saw him feed Waterworth to go in at the corner, and another strong running move up field lead to Heywood crossing the line. From the kick off, Baxter fed Krause who burst through tackles to feed the supporting Vernell who kicked ahead cleverly and beat the cover to the line to score an excellent team try. Krause completed the scoring late on.

Tofts 10 Montel Carrington 6

The Tofts got their revenge for an away defeat earlier in the season against a strong and youthful Montel side. Some very fussy refereeing saw Leigh go two penalties behind in the early exchanges.

The second half saw the Tofts excellent back row combine to put Lawrinson over for the game's only try. Porteous added the conversion to give Leigh the lead. It was now a question of simply grinding out a result and the Tofts forwards, led by Man of the Match Riley, were up to the task. A late penalty from captain Yates completed the scoring.

Warrington Colts 0 Leigh Colts 25

Leigh stayed in contention with the leaders after a fine win at local rivals Warrington. Leigh took command and were quickly on the score sheet when Shaun Battersby scored wide right. Then a great ball from Aaron Sudell freed Ryan Barker to score wide left. The same player then kicked a penalty to give Leigh a 13-point lead at the interval.

Warrington used the wind in the second period, but Leigh defended strongly. Warrington fell further behind when Roy Grundy took a quick tap to score by the posts. Barker converted. Leigh completed the scoring when an overlap was created for Tom Flannery to score.

Leigh U15s 31 Blackburn 10

Leigh U13s 5 Wrexham U13s 43

The larger Wrexham team took the game to Leigh and despite some good tackling Leigh could not keep the visitors out. Although Wrexham were building up a big score, Leigh continued to put in the effort with good tackling from Parkinson, Leake and Fiendly. Riley and Boyle took some excellent line-out ball but the poor conditions made handling difficult and the backs could not find the line. The last 15 minutes saw Leighs best passage of play, despite being 43 points down, as they gave everything attacking the Welsh line.

Leigh U12s 20 Aspull U12s 10

This was an excellent display of rugby from both teams. Neither gave any quarter, however after some inspired ball handling Leigh were the first to score. Aspull attacked like a team possessed, smashing into the Leigh defences again and again, only to see the doors closed by some superb defensive tackling and rucking from the Leigh pack. Aspull did manage to breach the Leigh lines on two occasions either side of half-time, but their spirit was somewhat dampened when their forwards were held-up over the line by more superb defending from Leigh.

The try scorers were Joe Harrison, Keiron Grundy, Scott Owen and Jonathan Grimshaw.

Tyldesley U10s 0 Leigh U10s 40

Tyldesley were no match for a well-drilled Leigh squad, and it wasnt long before the Leigh tide washed away all of the Tyldesley defences. With ball-handling and tackling skills that wouldnt be out of place in a senior team.The Tyldesley squad never gave up, and acquitted themselves well, but were no match for a determined Leigh team.

Tyldesley U9s 5 Leigh U9s 25

The half-back partnership of Lloyd and Fleet was the main difference between these two local sides as they opened up Tyldesley time and time again giving good ball for Williams, Unsworth, Paine and Wilkinson to run with. Good defence from Ranson, Parr, Browning and Thorpe kept Tyldesley at bay.

Leigh's tries came from Thomas Lloyd 2, James Wilkinson 2 and Sam Peet. Top Tackler was Connor Davies and Man of the Match was shared between Sam Peet and Thomas Lloyd.

Tyldesley U8s 20 Leigh U8s 45

In a bruising local derby Leighs mixture of U8s and U7s put on a brave defensive display in conditions suited to fast flowing rugby. Man of the Match was shared between Jacob Gannon and Adam Lamb, Most Improved Player was shared between Elizabeth Farley and Jonathan Thorpe.