“It’s hard to…” – Leigh Leopards boss explains Salford defeat

As the Super League Rivals Round progressed, two local rivals collided as Salford Red Devils hosted the Leigh Leopards.

The two sides served up a spectacular clash last Easter and were looking to do so again as both go in search of a spot in the Super League play-offs.

Both though came into the game in contrasting form with Salford coming into the game after back to back defeats to Wigan Warriors and Hull KR in the Challenge Cup whilst Leigh ended their disappointing start with wins over Hull FC and Featherstone Rovers in the Challenge Cup.

It was a special day for Ryan Brierley on his 300th appearance but he got no special treatment. He was held back early on resulting in a yellow card for Lachlan Lam and a penalty that Marc Sneyd turned into a 2-0 lead.

Brierley was then on hand to dummy over after quick hands and a quick ruck as Salford’s attack impressed.

Leigh did hit back with another try for Umyla Hanley in this terrific run of form. That made it 8-4. But Brierley kept on celebrating his big day taking the ball on the inside to score a lovely try to make it 14-4. The tries kept coming and Salford extended their lead further. Ethan Ryan scored in the corner after good work from Marc Sneyd and Tim Lafai.

Just before the break though Ryan Brierley was sin binned for the same offence that saw Lam sent off for 10 minutes and Leigh used the moment to trim the deficit with a penalty making it 20-6 at halftime.

Despite starting the second half down a man, Salford scored first with Marc Sneyd finding his way to the line to make it 26-6.

Leigh gave themselves hope as a lovely move sent Ed Chamberlain through a gap and he turned the ball inside for Lachlan Lam to score.

That gave Leigh hope but it became more tangible when they made it 26-16 with a massive cut out pass from Matt Moylan sending Hanley over for a second.

However, the game was settled by a second try for Ethan Ryan but Hanley would score one more try after he took a lovely kick to score his second hat-trick in two weeks.

Leigh Leopards boss reflects on defeat

Speaking to the club’s official website after the game, Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam reflected on what is going wrong at the club at the moment.

He said: “When you have two thirds of your salary cap sitting in the row in front of me, and looking through them it’s hard to watch the game.

“But you know we have to keep working hard as a group I know things will turn around but we can’t be sitting and waiting for those players to come back as well but players have been getting opportunities and players like Umyla Hanley have taken it with open arms. That’s his second hat-trick.”