Leigh claim 30-16 win over Huddersfield Giants
Giants failed to bounce back from defeat to Leeds last night
Leigh swept past struggling Huddersfield 30-16 to continue their climb up the Betfred Super League table.
The Leopards, who saw off York last week, took an early lead when AJ Towse went over in the corner. The try was initially ruled out for knock-on in the build-up, but the decision was overturned by the video referee.
The Giants were soon back on level terms, capitalising on a handling error in the Leigh defensive line before Adam Smith went over.
Leigh then stepped things up as Innes Senior barged through to score against his former club.
Lachlan Lam soon added another try, breaking through a weak Huddersfield line once more, and Adam Cook slotted the conversion from in front of the posts after the video referee had called a penalty.
Towse went over in the corner again before Huddersfield got a try back just ahead of half-time when Taane Milne dived in as Leigh went into the break with a 20-10 lead.
Leigh strengthened their hold on the match just before the hour when Josh Charnley – on his 400th career appearance – showed great agility to fly over down the right, colliding with the corner post on his way.
Charnley then powered over again with 20 minutes left after a quick tip on from Jack Hughes – taking his Super League try tally to 263, five short of Ryan Hall’s record – before Senior saw his late effort ruled out. The Giants broke clear to score a consolation from Jacob Gagai ahead of the hooter.
Leigh head coach Adrian Lam told Sky Sports: “Confidence has been down really and we just needed to win, and it is two in a row now, so that helps build confidence and that trust back in each other.
“It was definitely our best game this year, as in shape and executing what we have trained. We probably should have scored three or four more tries tonight, so that is heading in the right direction as well.”
Huddersfield interim head coach Liam Finn said: “Ultimately, defensively we concede too many off loads, and we lose too many contacts, and we are constantly being put on the back foot.
“We started the second half. We promise we got field position, but we didn’t take advantage of it.”