Rugby League: Leigh Centurions 68 - 10 Rochdale Hornets

Rochdale Hornets fell to their third straight defeat on Sunday, as they were well-beaten by Leigh Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village.

Hornest coach Alan Kilshaw handed Alex Gaskell his debut on the wing, while Joe Taira returned to the forward pack to give the middles a welcome boost. Dec Kay was back at fullback, and Dec Patton came into the halves from Warrington Wolves.

The Centurions looked to have opened their account after just five minutes when Nathan Mason was held up over the line, before Ben Crooks broke down the left edge and had Craig Hall in support, only for his pass to be forward.

Soon after Hall made amends when he raced over straight from a scrum to post the first points of the game.

Deon Cross brilliantly halted Ricky Bailey as he dragged the winger into touch by the scruff of his neck, although he only denied the inevitable as Ben Reynolds finished off.

A Reynolds kick caused trouble for Kay, the bounce beating the fullback before he recovered well to concede a goal-line drop-out, which then led to Leigh’s third try of the game as Jamie Acton barged his way over from close range.

Hornets then had their best spell of the first half, forcing a drop-out of their own, before Kay fired a pass to Rob Massam who had the try line beckoning, however the winger couldn’t take the ball at pace.

Another set on the Leigh line built pressure, before Kay’s pass was intercepted by Rhys Evans, with the Centurions wide man racing the length of the field.

On the half hour mark Leigh hit the 30 point mark when Harrison Hansen proved too strong from close range.

With five minutes of the half remaining Hornets got off the mark, Patton’ s grubber was chased down by Lewis Hatton under the posts.

There was still time for another Leigh score; a delayed pass put Jack Owens through the line, and his kick to the corner sat up perfectly for Ricky Bailey to cross. A sixth goal from Reynolds gave Leigh a 36-6 lead at the break.

Hornets scored the first points of the second half when Massam broke down the left edge and offloaded to Ben Moores, with Kay racing over in support.

Head injuries to both Lewis Palfrey and Patton led to Hornets being disjointed in attack as they were without a halfback on the field.

Leigh capitalised with Bailey muscling over for his second off the back of two penalties.

Both sides were on a team warning, which led to Taira spending 10 minutes in the sin bin for holding down.

In the time they had a man advantage Leigh posted 24 points, with their first try in that period coming from Acton, who went over from close range again.

Hall had his double when he was too strong for Gaskell on the left edge, before Reynolds also picked up a brace nine minutes from time.

Liam Hood scored the penultimate try of the game from dummy half, moments before Taira returned to the field of play.

The scoring was rounded off by Owens with the final play of the game.

Rochdale Hornets: Dec Kay, Alex Gaskell, Earl Hurst, Deon Cross, Rob Massam, Lewis Palfrey, Dec Patton, Joe Taira, Ben Moores, Luke Adamson, Toby Adamson, Lee Mitchell, Gary Middlehurst. 
Interchanges: Dec Gregory, Lewis Hatton, Pat Moran, Billy Brickhill.
Tries: Hatton (35), Kay (46) 
Goals: Patton 1/1, Palfrey 0/1

Leigh Centurions: Jack Owens, Ricky Bailey, Ben Crooks, Craig Hall, Rhys Evans, Ben Reynolds, Drew Hutchinson, Nathan Mason, Liam Hood, Jamie Acton, Harrison Hansen, Bodene Thompson, Jordan Thompson. 
​Interchanges: Micky Higham, Greg Richards, Larne Patrick, Kyle Lovett.
Tries: Hall (8, 69), Reynolds (14, 71), Acton (18, 65), Evans (26), Hansen (30), Bailey (38, 57), Hood (73), Owens (79) 
Goals: Reynolds 10/12

Attendance: 3,144