2nd XV
Matches
Sat 13 Dec 2014  ·  County Courier Services Division 2 North
Sedgley Park 3
12
19
Leigh RUFC
2nd XV
Mayren double scuppers Sedgley!

Mayren double scuppers Sedgley!

Tony Trumble23 Dec 2014 - 09:14
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100% record maintained despite losing 'hard nosed' Hunter.

Report kindly written and submitted by Alex Middleton-Adams.

Leigh travelled to Sedgley Park in terrible conditions with a bare 15 players for what was always going to be a difficult away day against a team who they only squeaked past 24-20 earlier in the season.

Leigh started the brighter with their much younger team stretching the Sedgley defence on a number of occasions. The deadlock was broken when Skipper Mayren powered over from 10 yards to score under the sticks. Elliot Ryan added the simple conversion. Leigh’s early dominance continued and after repelling a strong Sedgley attack, the pack worked their way back up the field for Mayren to chip over, collect his own kick and race clear from 30 yards to score his 2nd of the day. Conversion again added by Ryan.

At this point Leigh looked to be coasting but following a disallowed try Sedgley got their tails up and came back into the game strongly. Leigh’s cause was not helped when Prop Dan Hunter decided to use his face to block an opposition boot and after staggering around the pitch for 5 minutes not knowing what day it was, he decided enough was enough and went to cuddle up under 15 warm up jackets for the remainder of the match. Half time, 14-0 to the visitors.

With only 14 Leigh players now on the pitch, Sedgley’s experienced pack started to exert some dominance and after a series of strong runs they broke the Leigh defence with an unconverted try. However this comeback was to be relatively short lived when following a mistake in midfield, Fly half Griffiths kicked the ball into the corner for Carney to outstrip his opposition winger and pounce on the loose ball right on the touchline for an unconverted try. 19-5.

At this point Leigh started to make silly mistakes and instead of playing safe tried to run the ball from their own 22 which resulted in a knock on. From the subsequent scrum Sedgley’s pack again battered the Leigh line and scored a well worked converted try through their Hooker. 19-12. This set us up for an entertaining last 20 minutes, not least when the referee collided with one of the Sedgley players and broke his nose in the process.

Some astute tactical kicking from Griffiths and Middleton-Adams kept Sedgley pinned back in their own 22 for the remainder of the game as Leigh tried to grind out a result. Although slightly boring, this tactic was working like a dream until Griffiths got bored in the last play of the game and decided to put on a wonder play across the backline. Needless to say, young Osh wouldn’t have pulled this move off in Summer Rugby, never mind in mid December in the hail stone. From the loose pass, Sedgley fly hacked the ball 40 yards up field threatening one last attack but Leigh managed to scramble back and avert the danger. Full time 19-12 to the visitors.

Despite the conditions, the game was played in the right spirits by both teams and 14 man Leigh probably deserved their victory on the day. A victory that sees them remain unbeaten in the League or Cup this season with 14 wins from 14. Big thanks go to winger Scotty and Centre Stef Sale who stepped up from the 3rd team to help out and credit to Sale who managed to stay completely clean despite the mudbath the pitch finished up in.

Match details

Match date

Sat 13 Dec 2014

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

County Courier Services Division 2 North
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Club Sponsor - Wilbraham