Super League: Hull FC 16-24 Leigh - Josh Charnley runs in hat-trick as Leopards win again

England winger Josh Charnley's treble took his tally of Super League tries to 211

Prolific winger Josh Charnley ran in his first Leigh Leopards hat-trick as the promoted Super League side won for the third time in six games in 2023.

Charnley scored two first-half tries to help earn a 16-6 interval lead.

But, after Hull rallied in the second half from 22-6 down to score two of their three tries, Ben Reynolds' second penalty - to make it four successful kicks - closed the door on the hosts.

After starting well, Tony Smith's Hull have now suffered four straight losses.

In-form Charnley has now run in eight tries this season to go level with fellow wingers Tom Johnstone (Catalans Dragons) and Liam Marshall (Wigan) as joint top Super League try scorers.

His tally of Super League tries for hometown club Wigan, Warrington and now Leigh stands at 211 as he and fellow England wing Ryan Hall (228) head the pursuit of the great Danny McGuire's record of 247.

Teenager Davy Litten touched down in the corner for Hull's first try - his first in Super League

Leigh's latest win was built on a lightning start as Adrian Lam's side raced into a 16-point lead inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Kai O'Donnell raced onto a flat Lachlan Lam pass to score a simple try, before the half-back orchestrated a quickfire double for Charnley.

Hull rallied and, after Jake Clifford had a try chalked off for obstruction, from Brad Dwyer's defence-splitting pass, Davy Litten latched onto the loose ball to race in at the right corner for his first Super League try.

The hosts had Ligi Sao sin-binned for a high tackle just before the break but, although Reynolds missed the resulting penalty, he did add one 10 minutes into the second half.

Charnley then completed his hat-trick, seconds after seeing Sao go to the bin for a second time, just six minutes after coming back on.

Hull responded well to set up a nervy finish as Clifford went in under the posts after some individual brilliance from Andre Savelio, and Liam Sutcliffe also scored to cut the gap further.

But Clifford missed the conversion and, when Hull were penalised for an accidental offside from the resulting restart, Reynolds added a further penalty to put Leigh crucially two scores ahead and send most of the 10,952 crowd streaming out.

Who's next?

Adrian Lam's Leigh - and his clutch of fellow Wigan old boys - face a home derby against the Warriors on Thursday.

Hull face a tough task next Sunday at Daryl Powell's Warrington, who boast a 100% winning record.

Leigh boss Adrian Lam:

"It's always a tough place to come and play but we started really well and managed it well. I'm really proud of the group.

"We completed at around 90 per cent in the first half and only made four errors in the whole game which was brilliant. It's something we've worked really hard on.

"Josh Charnley has started the season off on fire. We've been moving the ball around a lot. And Lachlan [Lam's son] has looked really slick all year.

"We've worked hard to get his confidence back and he's certainly showing that class, but he's still a long way from his best."

Hull boss Tony Smith:

"It's disappointing. It took us way too long to build anything in the game. We've got to stop allowing opponents to hurt us before we do something about it.

"It's consistency. That's the big challenge, but we have to get out of this habit of starting slow and not adjusting to what our opponents are doing.

"We knew what they would try and do to us but for us to succumb to what they wanted to do was frustrating. It reflects how our season has been, starting slow and coming home to give ourselves a chance."

"We lost the penalty count 11-5 and two sin-binnings at home tells me our discipline is appalling. That is self-inflicted. We're hurting ourselves. We simply need to be better than that."

Hull FC: Hoy; Swift, Tuimavave, Sutcliffe, Litten; Lovodua, Clifford; Brown, Dwyer, Satae, Savelio, Griffin, Fash.

Interchanges: Cator, Sao, Scott, Taylor.

Sin-bin: Sao (39, 55)

Leigh: O'Brien; Briscoe, Hardaker, Leutele, Charnley; Reynolds, Lam; Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, Shorrocks, O'Donnell, Asiata.

Interchanges: Nakubuwai, Seumanufagai, Holmes, Davis.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

Attendance: 10,952.

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