A tale of a Duck and two Drakes.

Leigh travelled to our respected adversaries, Hoylake, yesterday on the back of a very good win last week against Collegiate. Hopes were high for another convincing victory and the travelling Leigh supporters were not disappointed.

The game was a memorable one, for a couple of things, firstly, an incident on the stroke of half time when the referee was felled, after he was, unfortunately, struck on the head by the ball from a Leigh clearance kick as he hadn’t managed to ‘duck’. Thankfully, he recovered sufficiently to carry on and officiate for the remainder of the game.

Then secondly, by the sheer skill and mastery of the two Drake brothers, Rob and Jonny, who both had outstanding games yesterday.

Leigh got off to a fantastic start, in the first five minutes, when Jamie King again went over for their opening try, following good hands across the park. Rob Drake easily slotted the conversion.

This was quickly followed by an excellent break from Adam Tustin, who ripped the ball out of a maul, to breach the Hoylake defence. Alex Leadbetter was soon on his shoulder to take the pass and the ball was then swiftly shipped out to the right where debutant winger, Tom Johnson, continued the movement, before skillfully offloading to the supporting Jonny Drake, who went over for a well constructed try, which was converted by Rob Drake, in the twenty third minute.

Two minutes later, prop, Dan Hunter, got his name onto the score sheet for the second time in two weeks, when he romped over for another well worked try, which was again converted by Rob Drake.

Leigh continued to dominate proceedings for the remainder of the half and it was another piece of Rob Drake magic that created their final score, just before the break.

An excellent pass put his brother, Jonny, through a hole and he carried the ball well before offloading to Jamie King, before he, in turn, shipped the ball out to Eliot Liku, on the far right, for him to barge his way over, taking a couple of Hoylake defenders with him. Rob Drake again added the extras, this time brilliantly from near the touchline.

Half time Hoylake 0 Leigh 28.

The Hoylake team talk, at half time, must have been a good one because they came out of the blocks in the second half like a different team and they were soon on the score sheet through a converted try in the forty eighth minute.

An unconverted try was then added by Hoylake seven minutes later, whilst Leigh were down to fourteen men but Leigh seemed to re-gather their composure towards the end of the half to score two more remarkable tries in the last ten minutes.

The first one came from a sweeping movement that started about sixty metres out, with Alex Owens carrying the ball, before offloading to Alex Leadbetter, who found Rob Drake on his shoulder. Rob, in turn, fired out an inch perfect pass to Jamie King, for him to dive over wide-out on the left, for his second try of the match, which was a pleasure to behold. Rob Drake added yet another brilliant conversion from the touchline.

The second try came from a set piece play on the Hoylake 22. Jonny Drake took the ball to the defensive line, from a scrum, before cleverly finding his brother Rob on his inside, for him to skip under the Hoylake posts for a try, which he also easily converted.

Hoylake 12 Leigh 42.

Hoylake picked themselves up and courageously worked their way back down the pitch and were awarded a penalty try, following an infringement at a scrum, which rounded off the scoring for the day, with two minutes to go.

Final score Hoylake 19 Leigh 42.

An excellent performance again from the Leigh squad, with the two Drake brothers and Jamie King especially catching the eye.

No fixture next week but the week after, 2nd March, Leigh entertain top of the table side, Bowdon, at Hand Lane. K.O. 3 p.m. (PLEASE NOTE THAT K.O. TIMES IN MARCH TO THE END OF THE SEASON WILL REVERT TO 3 P.M.)