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CENTURIONS TOO GOOD FOR THE LIONS

09 September 2018

Swinton Lions’s hopes of survival took a dent as Leigh Centurions showed their strength at Leigh Sports Village.

 

Loose forward Andy Thornley scored against his former club Leigh Centurions

Leigh Centurions 54-10 Swinton Lions

Swinton suffered a heavy defeat at Leigh Sports Village despite a strong first half display, which leaves the Lions still five points from potential safety.

Swinton were without the injured Rhodri Lloyd who injured his shoulder as Joe Brown moved into the centres to accommodate Ryan Gray, making his Lions debut on the left wing.

Leigh caught the Lions cold running in three tries in the opening ten minutes with Kevin Larroyer scoring after five minutes following a couple of Lions handling errors and Ben Reynolds converting.

The second try was a very costly one for both sides when Drew Hutchinson launched a high ball towards the posts and both Reynolds and George Tyson jumped in the air for the ball only to clash heads as Reynolds fell over the try line to score under the posts. As Nick Gregson added the simple conversion both players had to be helped off the field by medics with blood flowing.

The Centurions cheered on by their home support went further ahead after too many missed tackles allowed Jordan Walne to score the next with Gregson again adding the conversion.

The Lions hit back on fifteen minutes when they forced a goal line drop out and from the pressure Rob Fairclough and Josh Woods combined to send Kyle Shelford in for the try on the left but Fairclough could not convert.

Sensing some momentum, the Lions attacked soon after the restart when Woods fed Gray down the left and he drew Ricky Bailey before passing to Andy Thornley who raced away to score and claim his fiftieth point for the Lions. Fairclough was on target with the boot.

Sam Peet then added the Centurions fourth try seven minutes before the break and Gregson again converted.

Tyson returned with a stitched head just before the break and Mike Butt had a try cancelled out by the referee just before the break after the touch judge appeared to be happy with the touchdown.

The Lions made a strong start to the second half but the Centurions defence held strong and after all the pressure they broke away and scored with Drew Hutchinson touching down and the returning Reynolds adding the conversion.

Fairclough was despatched to the sin bin on fifty seven minutes and Centurions added two more tries while he was off with Greg Richards and Larroyer going over and Reynolds converted both.

Fairclough returned but the Centurions juggernaut continued to hit the Lions defence with Richards going over for his second and in the dying minutes Bradley Whelan added the last try with Reynolds converting both.

Ian Rigg reporting from Leigh Sports Village

MATCH FACTS

TEAMS

LIONS: 7. Jack Hansen, 5. Mike Butt, 32. Joe Brown, 4. George Tyson, 16. Ryan Gray, 30. Rob Fairclough, 31. Josh Woods, 8. Andy Bracek, 9. Luke Waterworth, 35. Paul Wood, 10. Andy Thornley, 17. Kyle Shelford, 25. Will Hope.  

SUBS: (All Used) 15. Ben Austin, 34. Josh Ganson, 14. Hayden Hansen, 36. Paddy Jones

Tries: Shelford (15), Thornley (17)    Goals: Fairclough 1/2 

 

CENTURIONS: 6. Ben Reynolds, 22. Ricky Bailey, 5. Rhys Evans, 2. Matty Dawson-Jones, 25. Illias Bergal, 21. Nick Gregson, 7. Drew Hutchinson, 20. Greg Richards, 30. Micky Higham, 32. Adam Walne, 11. Kevin Larroyer, 24. Jack Blackbrough, 35. Jordan Walne. SUBS: (All Used) 33. Josh Johnson, 37. Sam Peet, 26. Jordan Dezaria, 42. Bradley Whelan

Tries: Larroyer (5,63), Reynolds (8), J.Walne (10), Peet (33), Hutchinson (47), Richards (59,69), Whelan (78)

Goals: Reynolds 6/6 , Gregson 3/3

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas    Pens: 4-6    HT: 24-10    Att: 2757 

 

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