Hunslet Hawks...6

Leigh Centurions...50 T

HE enormous gulf between the NFP front-runners and the division's cellar-dwellers showed no sign of narrowing as the Centurions only needed to be at half pace to rattle up another half-century of points.

A young Hawks side, still wet behind the ears, might have been enthusiastic early on, but once Leigh had made the breakthrough it was a question of how many, not how.

Leigh could hardly have wished for a better weekend. Main contenders Dewsbury and Keighley were both beaten, leaving the Centurions five points clear of second place and six clear of third.

And another 50 points lifts their overall accumulation to 615 in 15 games - an average of 41 per game. If they keep that rate going over the second half of the season, Leigh will become one of the few clubs to pass 1000 points in a league season.

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hey added 10 tries to their tally on Sunday and given the postage-stamp sized pitch, it was a miracle they managed to achieve even that. The Hawks narrowed the playing surface to its absolute minimum, leading to a game that was cluttered and cramped. It was like playing in a strait-jacket.

The dimensions certainly suited the Hawks whose sole objective was damage limitation. For 16 minutes they succeeded as Leigh tried to avoid falling over each other and pierce a defensive line that only needed to stand line abreast to protect the width of the pitch!

"It was always going to be a win. It was just a matter of how we set about doing it," coach Paul Terzis said later. "We made a lot of changes before the game and during it. There was some experimentation, some of it came off, some didn't," he admitted.

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ith bigger fish to fry in the next few days, Terzis gave a breather to Michael Watts, Dave Bradbury and John Hamilton with Simon Baldwin held back until well into the second half. And there were notable performances from Willie Swann, Andy Leathem, Phil Kendrick and Tim Street to give Terzis plenty to think about come selection time this weekend.

"Yes, it's a nice position to be in," Terzis confirmed. "It just shows that competition for places is as keen as ever."

Opposite number David Plange didn't have such luxuries. Just two years ago the Hawks were in the Grand Final, now they are surviving on the young talent South Leeds invariably produces.

But enthusiasm only gets you so far. "You need skill as well and I think our first try showed that were are the most skilful team in the division," Terzis added.

You wouldn't get any argument from the stands who saw Leigh get the opening touchdown after an amazing passage of support play. Paul Anderson's bumping break up the right did the initial damage; Jason Johnson and Neil Turley carried it on and when Anderson threw out a telepathic reverse pass, Simon Svabic homed in and slithered in for a four-pointer.

Five minutes later Leigh doubled their lead. Hooker John Duffy scooted out of dummy half and even though his pass to Phil Kendrick looked a bit dodgy, the second rower strolled through a yawning gap for his first try.

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oubtless the Hawks would have been delighted with an 8-0 deficit at the break. But Leigh suddenly raised the tempo and by the break they'd really found their touch and taken the lead out to 20-0.

Against one of his former clubs, Swann was a growing influence. It was from a neat kick by the scrum-half that Hunslet knocked on and presented Leigh with another opening which ended with Chris Morley strolling clean through and round to the posts to give Svabic the first of five successful kicks.

From the re-start Leigh scored again. Swann collected 10 metres form his own line before launching Kendrick on a 60 metres rampage straight through the Hawks defence. He drew the full-back before Jason Johnson did the rest from 40 metres.

Just three minutes into the second half and Leigh had the scoreboard moving again. Street's typically powerful surge set up the position from where Svabic and Kendrick handled sweetly to get Kendrick in for his second at the corner.

Leigh were in full cry by now as the youthful Hawks side began to wilt.

Swann set up Leigh's next try when his pin-point crossfield bomb was plucked out of the sky by Dave Ingram to make it 28-0.

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ot long afterwards Street was bulldozing through again, this time Adam Bristow was the support player and his flicked pass sent Turley haring in for try number 30 for the season.

Tries were coming thick and fast and before the hour mark Martin Roden's reverse pass sent Dave Whittle plunging in for another six-pointer.

Kendrick rounded off a fine individual effort by breaking clear again and with the help of Johnson, Ingram went on to collect his second of the game.

Leigh clocked up 50 points for the fifth time this season when a quick tap penalty caught the Hawks out and Johnson went in at the flag.

The Centurions blotted their copy book in stoppage time when Neil Bradbrook chipped over the top, the ball squirmed away from Johnson and Mike Wainwright grabbed a try that Gareth Naylor converted. LEIGH: Turley; Ingram, Anderson, Bretherton, Jones; Svabic, Swann; Leathem, Duffy, Whittle, Kendrick, Bristow, Morley. Subs: Street (for Whittle 26), Baldwin (for Bristow 52), Johnson (for Jones 13), Roden (for Duffy 31), Duffy (for Turley 60), Leathem (for Svabic 72), Whittle (for Leathem 58).

HUNSLET: Raynor; Munton, Higgins, Wainwright, Dobson D; Coleman, Robinson; Banks, Howcroft, Morphet, Bradbrook, Ibbotson, Adams. Subs: Naylor (for Banks 25), Heywood (for Munton 45), Henderson (for Ibbotson 37), Dobson N (for Coleman 11), Ibbotson (for Morphet 72), Banks (for Howcroft 59).

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Kendrick (2), Johnson (2), Ingram (2), Svabic, Turley, Morley, Whittle. Gls: Svabic (5).

Hunslet - Try: Wainwright. Gl: Naylor.

PENATLTIES FOR: Leigh 12, Hunslet 4.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 6, Hunslet 17.

REFEREE: Steve Nicholson (Whitehaven).

ATTENDANCE: 1274.