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4 days ago
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Leigh Leopards confirmed a home tie in the opening round of the playoffs for both themselves and Leeds Rhinos after inflicting more misery on St Helens – who look anything but Super League Grand Final contenders at precisely the wrong time of the season.
Adrian Lam’s side have never finished inside the top four in Super League but they are now in pole position to claim third spot ahead of the playoffs starting in a fortnight’s time. They were far superior to the fifth-placed Saints, whose poor form against the better teams in the competition continued here with another insipid display.
They could only score two tries all evening, and both of those came when Leigh were temporarily down to 12 men. The result didn’t flatter Leigh, who look like bona fide Grand Final contenders. Should they beat Huddersfield next week, they will secure third place and a home tie against the team who finishes sixth.
St Helens, meanwhile, now have to travel to Leeds or Leigh depending on the results next week. Paul Wellens rotated his attack here once again in a bid to solve their problems against Super League’s elite sides, but they fell desperately short again. They appear to be real outsiders in the race for Old Trafford now.
The Saints’ latest attacking reshuffle yielded little in the way of clearcut opportunities for most of the first half. Just as was the case last week against Wigan, they were unable to muster up anything significant to trouble one of the competition’s best sides and by half-time, they again found themselves behind.
While the Saints’ attacking players struggled, Leigh’s most creative force did not. Lachlan Lam was by far the best player inside that opening 40 minutes, creating two tries of the highest order to move the Leopards into a commanding position. First, he toyed with the visitors’ line before unleashing a pinpoint pass for Bailey Hodgson to break free.
Hodgson would find the supporting Andy Badrock to break the deadlock and while Owen Trout’s effort five minutes later was disallowed for a double movement, it wouldn’t be long until they got the second try their efforts, and dominance deserved. It came through Lam again, whose assist for Keanan Brand’s score was his 40th of the season.
In response, there was almost nothing to write home about for the Saints, who were labouring at the other end with no joy. They thought they had scored through Curtis Sironen before that was ruled out for offside, and then with three minutes to go until the break, Leigh’s hooker, Edwin Ipape, was sin-binned for a high tackle.
But even with a man advantage, they couldn’t craft an opening in the moments before the interval. With Ipape off the field for a fair period after half-time, it was obvious the Saints had to produce something to haul themselves back into the contest.
However, whatever Wellens said at half-time had the desired impact as by the time Ipape returned to the field, his side had scored twice. Two crucial errors from Hodgson were decisive; first, he spilled a kick behind his own line and from the resulting drop-out, the Saints found the space for Kyle Feldt to cross.
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Then on the following set, Hodgson dropped another high ball and Harry Robertson benefited to cross. In the blink of an eye, Leigh’s 12-point lead had almost entirely been wiped out, with the Saints now trailing by just two. However, Ipape’s return after that second try settled the hosts down again.
And as the hour mark approached, Leigh struck a potentially decisive blow. Hodgson atoned for those earlier mistakes to get the hosts on the front foot before Umyla Hanley produced a world-class offload to put Jack Hughes over. Crucially, Gareth O’Brien converted to re-establish a two score lead.
Then, nine minutes later, Leigh put the contest beyond doubt as Ipape stormed through some fairly laughable defending from the visitors to afford O’Brien a straightforward conversion and open up a three-score lead.
And if there were any remaining doubts, they were firmly extinguished with four minutes left as another wonderful kick from Lam gave Owen Trout a simple finish to put the seal on another fine night for the Leopards.
