More Charnley magic as Leigh Leopards march on with win over Hull FC

Sam Cook mode_comment0
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Two in-form teams faced off at the Leigh Sports Village tonight with visitors Hull FC setting up to face Leigh Leopards.

The Leopards are on a seven game winning streak, the best in Super League at present, and they’ve showed no signs of slowing down either.

As for Hull their victory over Warrington at Magic Weekend was one of the most impressive of the event.

They were on a run of form themselves with five wins from six with Jake Trueman having made a huge difference to their season.

He was named in the spine again alongside Jake Clifford and Tex Hoy with the returning skipper Carlos Tuimavave a boost in the centres.

As for Leigh they were without the suspended Ben Reynolds and Tom Nisbet but Kai O’Donnell had recovered from his injury to return to the Leopards’ pack.

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The early exchanges saw both sides waste territory but that deadlock was broken on the 10th minute when full-back Gareth O’Brien scored following a clever dummy.

Hardaker converted and then added a penalty to make it 8-0 just minutes later. Come the 20th minute Tom Briscoe added another on the right wing, stretching the lead to 12-0.

Hull fired back through Adam Swift before that man Josh Charnley scored his 17th try of the season after Hull gave them possession and territory.

Before the break Darnell McIntosh scored his own diving finish which Liam Sutcliffe converted, with Jake Clifford heading off with a HIA, to make the game 16-10 as the sides headed into the sheds.

Leigh took the opportunity to add a penalty when presented with a chance from in front of the sticks and Hardaker’s two points took the game to 18-10, and beyond one converted try.

Just five minutes later though they played a scrum from in front of the sticks and sent it wide to that man Josh Charnley again whose try meant that he went top of the charts for tries in the league.

The man who shone at Magic, Josh Griffin, powered over just ahead of the hour mark to bring it within one converted try and set up a grandstand final 20 minutes.

Adam Swift got close to levelling the game up but found himself forced into touch just feet short of scoring.

The game was put of FC’s reach when Joe Mellor broke in the 75th minute and scored under the posts to wrap up the win.

It marked eight in a row for Leigh and saw them progress further up the table into third, but level on points with both Warrington and Catalans and therefore technically tied for first.