Betfred Super League Round 18
Leopards Den, Friday 19 July 2024 (8:05pm)
Leigh Leopards 36-6 London Broncos
Leopards earned back-to-back home wins to reignite their play-off hopes with a seven try performance, all to different players, on a warm and sultry evening at the Leopards Den.
Lachlan Lam, celebrating his 100th career appearance, and skipper John Asiata were at the heart of most of the creative plays and Lam marked his milestone with a sparkling second half try.
Ricky Leutele was the sponsors’ Man of the Match and there was another superb display from the outstanding Kai O’Donnell.
Lacking Matt Moylan, rested as a precaution through a niggling injury, the suspended Edwin Ipape, and Aaron Pene, who failed a HIA last week, Leopards brought in Matt Davis, Louis Brogan and Josh Charnley, the latter returning after missing one game through injury. Zak Hardaker took over the kicking duties and switched to fullback.
Asiata three times opened up the Broncos defence as Leopards began in dominant fashion. Firstly, his precision lobbed kick to the right on the last tackle was pounced upon by Darnell McIntosh for his second try in as many games.
Asiata then sent the rampaging Tom Amone over by the side of the posts with a delicious short pass before combining with Lam on the left for Leutele to finish in incisive fashion.
The Broncos never gave up trying and defended with resolution though they had precious little good ball to pose an attacking threat. They restricted Leopards to just one more first half try as Lam’s inside ball sent O’Donnell on the charge and he unselfishly popped up a pass for Davis to complete the move, just seconds after coming on to the field.
It was a special moment for the Leopards number 15 who was playing against his brother Sam for the first time.
Leopards lacked much of their earlier fluency in a stop-start second half, but Leutele conjured up an opportunist try for Charnley with a sublime drilled kick to the corner. Charnley, as he always seems to do, was first to the ball and finished in the tightest of spaces.
Broncos got their reward for an evening of toil when Josh Rourke soared through the air to collect Josh Campagnolo’s kick and touch down for a converted try.
But Lam got the try his tireless efforts deserved when O’Donnell’s charge up the middle set up the momentum for Gareth O’Brien to send Lam over in the right corner.
Leopards’ commanding win was secured when Asiata, back for the final 15 minutes, and Lam combined and Jack Hughes raced over from an angled run.
Leopards
3 Zak Hardaker; 34 Darnell McIntosh, 24 Umyla Hanley, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Josh Charnley; 1 Gareth O’Brien, 7 Lachlan Lam; 8 Tom Amone, 33 Brad Dwyer, 10 Robbie Mulhern, 11 Kai O’Donnell, 16 Frankie Halton, 13 John Asiata (capt)
Bench:
17 Owen Trout, 12 Jack Hughes, 30 Louis Brogan, 15 Matt Davis. 18th player (not used) 14 Dan Norman
Tries:
McIntosh (4), Amone (11), Leutele (17), Davis (33), Charnley (50), Lam (64), Hughes (73)
Goals:
Hardaker 4/ 7
Broncos
23 Josh Rourke; 2 Lee Kershaw, 12 Than Natoli, 3 Jarred Bassett, 5 Iliess Macani; 20 Oli Leyland, 34 Ugo Tison; 8 Rob Butler, 9 Sam Davis, 19 Rhys Kennedy, 11 Will Lovell, 17 Sadiq Adebiyi, 15 Marcus Stock
Bench:
18 Emmanuel Waine, 10 Lewis Bienek, 13 Dean Parata, 6 Josh Campagnolo. 18th player: 29 Jacob Jones (not used)
Try: Rourke (61)
Goal: Leyland 1/ 1
Sin bin: Adebiyi (64) late tackle
Scoring sequence: 4-0, 10-0, 16-0, 22-0, 28-0 (ht)
28-6, 32-6, 36-6
Attendance: 6,657
Referee: Liam Rush; Touch judges: D Bowmer & P Brooke; Reserve referee: M Lynn; Match commissioner: P Taberner; Video referee: M Griffiths; Timekeeper: A Smith
Penalty count: 6-8
Match sponsor: Pier (UK) Ltd; Match ball sponsor: CatonLloyd Audio Visual Solutions; Match programme sponsor: NutraPreps; Champagne Moment sponsor: Belfor (awarded to Josh Charnley’s try). Man of the Match: Ricky Leutele
