LEIGH LEOPARDS 62 BATLEY BULLDOGS 4
DAVE PARKINSON, Leigh Sports Village, Sunday
LEIGH advanced to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with a twelve-try success over brave but diminished Batley.
Umyla Hanley, Keanan Brand and Lachlan Lam all scored braces as the Leopards proved far too strong for their Championship opposition.
With Adrian Lam naming close to his strongest team, a Bulldogs group already struggling under the weight of injuries was further weakened when they lost Luke Blake in the warm-up, as Michael Ward started and Luca Atkinson moved up from 18th man.
Despite this Batley started brightly and a surging run from Ollie Greensmith helped get them on the front foot, but when David Armstrong dropped a testing kick from former Leigh halfback Josh Woods, the Bulldogs were penalised for encroaching the ten metres.
Leigh then went down the ground through Isaac Liu and moved the ball right, where Hanley sailed through untouched to get the Leopards rolling.
Batley tried their best to hold firm with some determined chasing, but when Darnell McIntosh ran strongly in the centre of the field and linked with Brand, the latter took on all comers to finish from 50 metres.
Ben McNamara goaled – his first of seven successful kicks – and just two minutes later a flying finish in the left corner came at a cost for McIntosh, who injured a shoulder in the process and played no further part.
Batley asked a couple of questions of the Leigh defence with Robbie Butterworth going close and a tricky Woods kick being gathered in by Owen Trout.
Leigh then put the ball left with Bailey Hodgson putting Lam clear with a dubious pass for their fourth score.
The fifth followed at the end of the next set as Armstrong burst down the wing and his inside pass had Tesi Niu running under the posts.
Matt Davis had only been on the field for a couple of minutes when he supported a break from Hanley to add to their tally.
Then with the final rugby of the half, Edwin Ipape broke away and Lam supported to run to the posts and make it 36-0 at half-time.
Batley had some good pressure on the Leigh line at the start of the new half but when Hanley pouched a Ben White kick, he went the full length of the field for his second try.
Brand soon followed from a set scrum move for his own brace as the Leopards showed little mercy.
A brilliant 40/20 kick from Woods gave Batley some position and Butterworth got on the outside of Hanley to open their account after 63 minutes.
But Leigh responded with Lam sending Andy Badrock through a hole in the defence to bring up the half-century of points.
Inside the final five minutes the Leopards stepped things up again, as Davis picked up from dummy-half with Aaron Pene at his shoulder to cross under the posts.
And with the last play of the game, Louis Brogan slipped a perfect pass for Trout to go over and send the bulk of the crowd home happy.
GAMESTAR: Lachlan Lam had a hand in may of the Leopards tries and showed his class throughout.
GAMEBREAKER: Matt Davis’ try in the 31st minute took any chance of a fightback away from the Bulldogs.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: A 100-metre try from Umyla Hanley after taking Ben White’s cross-field kick straight after half-time.
MATCHFACTS
LEOPARDS
1 David Armstrong
2 Darnell McIntosh
3 Tesi Niu
4 Umyla Hanley
18 Keanan Brand
22 Ben McNamara
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Owen Trout
9 Edwin Ipape
14 Aaron Pene
20 Ethan O’Neill
21 Andy Badrock
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
16 Matt Davis
17 Brad Dwyer
19 Louis Brogan
24 Bailey Hodgson
18th man (not used)
23 Nathan Wilde
Also in 21-man squad
12 Jack Hughes
15 Alec Tuitavake
29 AJ Towse
Tries: Hanley (6, 42), Brand (14, 52), McIntosh (16), Lam (25, 39), Niu (27), Davis (31), Badrock (68), Pene (75), Trout (80)
Goals: McIntosh 0/1, McNamara 7/11
BULLDOGS
1 Robbie Butterworth
19 Jack Render
2 Joe Burton
26 Alfie Dean
5 Elliot Kear
6 Ben White
7 Josh Woods
14 Brandon Moore
9 Alistair Leak
16 Michael Ward
3 Ollie Greensmith
21 Kieren Hepworth
– Eliot Peposhi
Subs (all used)
22 Luca Atkinson
23 Jonah Parsons
20 Paul Chitakunye
– Sam Marshall
Also in 20-man squad
4 Joe Arundel
13 James Brown
17 Luke Blake
Tries: Butterworth (63)
Goals: Woods 0/1
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 14-0, 18-0, 24-0, 30-0, 36-0; 42-0, 46-0, 46-4, 50-4, 56-4, 62-4
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Leopards: Lachlan Lam; Bulldogs: Ollie Greensmith
Penalty count: 6-5
Half-time: 36-0
Referee: Liam Rush
Attendance: 4,717