Relegation Looms

Leigh travelled to play on the amazing 3G pitch at Burnage yesterday and to be perfectly honest, the artificial surface seemed to suit their nimble backs. Food for thought, maybe?

The back division was tweeked with Osian Griffiths coming in to play scrum half, Alex Leadbetter was moved out to fly half and Rob Drake was pushed out a bit wider, to undertake the 12 role and it all worked very well. The ball certainly zipped along the line and created more space for the backs to work with.

Leigh had the better of the early exchanges but it was Burnage who scored first, when their No 8 crashed through a couple of tacklers, for a converted try after seven minutes.

Leigh came back strongly and threw the ball about brilliantly, causing Burnage to really scramble in defence to keep them out but Burnage managed to break away twice more, before the break, to register converted tries, which took the teams off at half time with Burnage leading by 21 points to nil.

Leigh came out firing on all cylinders after half time and a fantastic break by Alex Leadbetter put the supporting Jimmy Wilkinson over for an excellent try, under the Burnage sticks, which was converted by Rob Drake.

A well struck, Rob Drake, penalty, from forty-five metres, added another three points to the Leigh tally in the 46th minute. Burnage, however, extended their lead through a penalty in the 65th minute and then added two, breakaway, converted tries whilst Leigh were down to fourteen men, for ten minutes, following an indiscretion by one of the forwards.

The final nail in the Leigh coffin came in the final minute, when Burnage got over the Leigh line again for another converted try.

Final score Burnage 45 Leigh 10.

Any casual observer seeing the above score-line would assume that this was an emphatic victory for Burnage but the score belies the truth, in that Leigh gave it their all and really pushed Burnage hard throughout the full eighty minutes.

The determination and tenacity of the team cannot be denied with the backs especially standing out yesterday. The new combination could well prove to be effective.

The Burnage Officials awarded Man of the Match to Rob Drake for his outstanding performance but Alex Leadbetter and Jack Burdon also caught the eye for their non-stop efforts.

Next week, Leigh entertain third placed Northwich at Hand Lane, kick off 3 p.m.