Manchester stutter at Leigh

Manchester visited Leigh for a Lancashire Cup fixture that renewed rivalry from the 2011 season when Manchester were the victors.

From the start, Leigh forwards were dominant pressing hard and securing a 'heel against the head' from a Manchester scrum to score a converted try. 7 nil to Leigh. From a passage of physical play that was sometimes bordering on foul play, Leigh again scored a second converted try following missed tackles by the visitors. Manchester came back strongly and following good forward and back play, the ball was picked up by Tom W to score in the corner. This left the half time score at 14 - 5.

The second half saw a change of referees with a home side coach taking control. Leigh repeated their dominance of the line out with some throws of questionable legality to the front of the line. From such a line out, Leigh's biggest forward ran in a try which was converted to leave the scoreline 21 - 5 to the home side.

As the game entered the final quarter, Manchester secured more possession but conceded turnovers too easily. However from a clean line out take, the ball that was quickly passed along the line and Tom W managed to score a second try that was converted by Tom J. In the final minutes, Manchester continued to press however they conceded possession too easily and this allowed Leigh to hold on for a revenge win.

Manchester boys can take some heart from this spirited display away from home against a physical Leigh side. For the future, they need to be more effective in securing and retaining possession from rucks and mauls and quickly spreading the ball wide (especially against physical opposition) and no doubt the tries will come!