LANCASHIRE TROPHY SEMI-FINAL

LANCASHIRE TROPHY SEMI-FINAL

LITTLEBOROUGH RUFC 18---22 LEIGH RUFC

Leigh may well salvage some success from a difficult season as their injury ravaged forwards, and their exciting young back division secured a dogged win under the shadows of the M62 motorway.

Things began badly for Leigh when their experienced back-row Graham Robinson limped off with an ankle injury to be replaced by Paul Trumble.
Leigh quickly put this behind them as early pressure was rewarded with a penalty from Elliott Ryan. The home side quickly responded with a try after good passing by the backs.
Leigh hit back when Rob Drake created the overlap for full-back Jimmy Wilkinson to race clear and send in Elliott Ryan who converted his own try. The forwards provided the next score as prop Matt Newton was awarded the try on the back of a driving maul. A late penalty for Littleborough saw Leigh lead 15- 10 at the break.

Leigh made mistakes and allowed the home side to gain ascendency at the start of the second stanza. This led to an unconverted try to bring the sides level.
The game now followed a see-saw period with both sides gaining territory.
However the game was decided by an outstanding try. Littleborough kicked deep into Leigh territory, but the ball was run back with interest, and Jimmy Wilkinson dummied, then straightened to leave the last two defenders grasping thin air as he scored by the posts to give Ryan the easy conversion.

Leigh then seemed to be drawn into a period of indiscipline, which could prove costly on other days, as Paul Trumble and Ross Shepherd both spent time in the bin.
However the Leigh defence remained secure, and a Littleborough penalty was to prove the last score of the match.

On a tough day special mention must be made of the contributions of David Penn, Chris Cowley and Chris Morgan in the forwards, and the counter attacking of Jimmy Wilkinson from full-back.