Leigh 26-37 Catalans: Dragons regain winning thread

Match stats: Leigh 26-37 Catalans 

Leigh tries:  Naughton, Weston, McNally, Hopkins
Goals:  Reynolds (5)  

Catalans tries:  Thornley, Wiliame, Inu, Anderson, Myler, Gigot
Goals:  Walsh (6)
Drop goals:  Walsh   

Match report: Dragons back to form

Catalans Dragons ended a run of five games without a win with a 36-27 success over Leigh Centurions at the Sports Village.

Full-back Tony Gigot scored a try on his first appearance of the season after his ban for inappropriate behaviour towards an anti-doping officer was reduced from two years to three months earlier in the day.

The French side raced into a 28-2 lead after only 24 minutes with five tries, four of them converted by lively stand-off Luke Walsh.

Leigh fought back in the second half but left themselves with too much to do as they suffered a third successive defeat.

In the first ever Super League game between the sides, Iain Thornley gave the visitors a seventh minute lead, scooping up a loose pass to race away from the halfway line after Leigh had briefly led through Ben Reynolds' early penalty.

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The visitors continued to dominate with centres Brayden Wiliame and Krisnan Inu scoring within a minute of each other, exposing huge holes in the Centurions defence. Conversions from Walsh made it 16-2 to the visitors.

Leigh's problems got worse when they had Gareth Hock sin-binned for dissent in the 16th minute.

Down to 12 men, Centurions conceded two more tries. A smart break by Richie Myler was backed up by Louis Anderson, who stormed to the whitewash, then Myler himself raced through a big gap in the Leigh defence to score from close range.

With Walsh converting both effort, the Dragons were clocking more than a point a minute and led 28-2.

Leigh gave themselves something to build on when Curtis Naughton scored out wide on his home debut seven minutes before the break. Reynolds converted from touch to reduce the deficit to 20 points.

Neil Jukes' men made a determined start to the second half as they looked to mount a comeback and scored within four minutes of the restart.

Dayne Weston, who was only called into the squad because of the late withdrawal of James Green, powered over after taking Martyn Ridyard's short pass. Reynolds added the conversion.

The Dragons withstood an intense spell of Leigh pressure before effectively killing the game with a slick counter-attack with 14 minutes remaining.

Stand-off Walsh produced a superb disguised pass in the tackle to Gigot, who dived over in the corner. Walsh added the goal and also kicked a penalty moments later.

With five minutes remaining, Leigh full-back Gregg McNally capped his return from injury with a try as he followed up a Ridyard break. Reynolds kicked the conversion.

A Walsh drop goal two minutes from the end made it 20-37 before Sam Hopkins scored Leigh's fourth try with a powerful run, goaled again by Reynolds.

Match reaction

Catalan coach Laurent Frayssinous: "The first half was very good offensively and defensively. We were clinical with the ball and defensively we showed the right attitude. It was a pretty good performance.

"But on the negative side, Luke Burgess looks to have suffered a knee injury which doesn't look good. Also Jason Baitieri has already got a plaster on his wrist and it looks like it's broken.

"It was a tough game and hopefully we will have some troops back for next week. It was good to have Tony Gigot back - he is a great player and he will get better and better.

"Maybe we needed to be under pressure to perform and that's how good teams react."

Leigh coach Neil Jukes: "Our discipline was horrendous in the first half. In the second half we started showing up for each other but it showed how inconsistent we are.

"We are either really good or nowhere near the level which is acceptable in Super League. We are too hit and miss and have been for the past few weeks.

"All the guys are hurting but they will take it on the chin. I have told them all it was always going to be a tough season but we just have to keep working hard."