Leigh hold on to clinch victory over 12-man Giants

Betfred Super League

Leigh (6) 20

Tries: McIntosh, O'Donnell, Hardaker Goals: Moylan 3, Hardaker

Huddersfield (4) 16

Tries: Wallis 2, Connor Goals: Connor 2

Leigh reignited their Super League play-off hopes as they finally broke down a tenacious Huddersfield defence to leapfrog their 12-man opponents in the table.

The Giants, who sacked head coach Ian Watson on Friday, had battled to keep the game level at 8-8 despite losing two players to injury, but then had Andre Savelio red-carded for a shoulder charge to the head of Robbie Mulhern just before the hour mark.

Lachlan Lam then set up Kai O’Donnell and Zak Hardaker to score in quick succession and, despite a late Giants reply through Elliot Wallis, the Leopards saw the game out.

Former Huddersfield man Darnell McIntosh had opened the scoring for Leigh, while Jake Connor converted his own try to bring the Giants level before Savelio’s dismissal proved decisive.

Under the guidance of Watson’s assistant Luke Robinson, the Giants started well, repeatedly punching holes in Leigh’s defence and gaining an early lead when Wallis finished off a move down the left with ease.

It took the Leopards some time to find their feet and, when they did, they were thwarted by either a wayward final pass or dogged Huddersfield defending, with Gareth O’Brien twice held up over the line.

Darnell McIntosh scored Leigh's opening try against his former club

The home side eventually drew level in the 27th minute, working the ball to the right from a scrum as Umyla Hanley set up McIntosh to score in the corner.

That galvanised Leigh, who finished the first half strongly, edging ahead through Matt Moylan’s kick in front of the posts following Harry Rushton’s high tackle on Aaron Pene – and they continued to apply pressure after the turnaround.

However, the Leopards gifted Huddersfield a second try when Pene’s careless lay-off deep inside Giants territory was seized by Jake Bibby, who launched the counter-attack and Tui Lolohea set up Connor to score.

A second Moylan penalty, awarded after a scuffle that left both sides temporarily reduced to 12 players with Chris Hill and Jack Hughes sin-binned - levelled the game again – but the dismissal of Savelio left Huddersfield a man short for the final quarter.

They briefly edged ahead when Connor kicked a penalty, but Lam released O’Donnell to race in under the posts and Hardaker touched down minutes later in the corner to extend the Leopards’ advantage to 10 points.

McIntosh was controversially denied a second, acrobatic score by the video referee – who then awarded Huddersfield a penalty try when Wallis was pulled back as he galloped onto Lolohea’s kick, but there was not enough time for the exhausted visitors to complete another comeback.

Referee Tom Grant showed a red card to Huddersfield's Andre Savelio just before the midway point in the second half

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:

“It’s a game you’ll look back on and just be grateful we got the two points. There were so many stops and starts, we couldn’t get into a rhythm and it was hard work, but I’ll take that – we needed a bit of luck to go our way.

“It was our first game back here for nearly two months so it was important that we won in front of the fans, albeit ugly – sometimes you’ve got to do that to get things rolling.

“It’s always a danger when you move the coach on, that the players will step up and Huddersfield were connected today. I thought they were courageous with what they had.

“Lachie Lam had some clever touches with the ball and that was about it. A big part was when Savelio got red-carded, I thought that was going to be it for them but then we gave away two penalties in a row straight after that to put us on our tryline.”

Huddersfield Giants’ caretaker head coach Luke Robinson:

“I feel like the fans watching can be proud of the effort the lads put in, albeit still disappointed that we lost the game. It’s about winning, but a bit of pride was restored at least.

“You’re not going to be able to change everything overnight, what I asked of them was just to play with a bit of heart and desire, to play for the badge.

“I can’t knock them, the amount of times it looked like Leigh were about to score and someone would scramble round the back and save a try.

“We went down to 12 men at one point, 11 men at another point and, with 17 minutes of the game to go I didn’t have any subs – there was nobody to bring on.”

Leigh: Moylan, Hanley, McIntosh, Leutele, Hardaker, O'Brien, Lam, Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, O'Donnell, Halton, Trout.

Interchanges: Pene, Asiata, Hughes, Dwyer.

Huddersfield: Connor, McGowan, Bibby, Halsall, Wallis, Lolohea, Clune, Hill, Milner, Greenwood, Hewitt, Rushton, Yates.

Interchanges: Golding, Wilson, Savelio, Rogers.

Referee: Tom Grant