McNamara leads Leigh to victory over dad's Dragons
Ben McNamara (left) celebrates his try for Leigh Leopards against Catalans Dragons
- Published
Betfred Super League
Leigh (12) 26
Tries: Ipape, McNamara, O'Neill, Trout Goals: McNamara 5
Catalans (14) 24
Tries: Laguerre, Aispuro-Bichet, Smith, Keary Goals: Aispuro-Bichet 4
Ben McNamara's personal 14-point haul led a comeback win as Leigh Leopards beat his dad Steve's Catalans Dragons in the 2025 Magic Weekend opener.
McNamara scored a try and kicked five goals out of five after the Dragons had raced into an early lead through Matthieu Laguerre and Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet's brilliant solo effort.
Edwin Ipape and McNamara brought Leigh back to within two points at half-time and after Reimis Smith widened the margin once more, tries from Ethan O'Neill and Owen Trout, plus McNamara's perfect kicking record put Leigh in control.
Luke Keary, after his controversial remarks about Super League in midweek, scored a try to open up the game once more but Leigh held firm for a win that takes them second in Super League.
Both teams headed for St James' Park on the back of four consecutive wins which have taken both into top six contention and to next week's Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Catalans seemed to be the side carrying that form into this fixture as they opened a 12-point lead inside 16 minutes, with Laguerre leaping ahead of Josh Charnley to gather Theo Fages' chip and go over the line.
Exciting teenager Aispuro-Bichet, now starring at full-back for the French side, lit up the Newcastle venue by weaving through a questionable Leigh defence for another score, and he added both conversions to put his side in control.
Leigh finally woke up as Ipape span out of an attempted fifth tackle, just as another attack seemed to be fizzling out, and powered over between the posts.
Aispuro-Bichet's penalty again put space between the teams, but Leigh were back within two points by half-time as McNamara benefited from another Ipape charge and quick play-the-ball to dash over the line.
The momentum was clearly with Leigh as the teams emerged for the second half especially as Catalans' inspirational captain Ben Garcia failed to re-emerge after suffering an injury.
The Dragons extended their lead, however as Smith got up from his knees from an uncompleted tackle to score, but Aispuro-Bichet's conversion attempt hit the post, a miss that would prove costly.
Leigh took charge from that point on as Lachlan Lam's high kick was caught by O'Neill to score, with McNamara adding the extras and then a penalty to edge them ahead for the first time in the game.
With Trout adding another try and McNamara again accurate, Catalans suddenly needed two scores.
They could only manage one, as Keary gathered another Fages chip and swerved past the cover to score.
'Resilience and toughness' - Lam
Leigh head coach Adrian Lam said:
"We gave them a bit of a start early on in the game and when you're playing a team like Catalans it's the last thing you want to do.
"I was pleased with the resilience and toughness, being united to come back into the picture and score right on half-time which is a massive play for us.
"Those games with so many players being out, it definitely helps. I think it can bring the team together with a lot of new faces and a lot of changes, it certainly brings the team together."
Catalans head coach Steve McNamara said:
"I thought we played really poorly. You've got to give the opposition credit, they've got the job done and they've done that a few times now, found ways to do it.
"We missed that many tackles in the first half and made that many errors in the second half, we feel we've given that one away in some regards."
Leigh: Hodgson; McIntosh, Niu, Badrock, Charnley; McNamara, Lam; Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, O'Neill, Trout, Liu.
Interchanges: Wilde, Brogan, Davis, Dwyer.
Catalans: Aispuro-Bichet; Yaha, Laguerre, Smith, Cotric; Keary, Fages; Pangai Jr, Garcia, Bousquet, Sims, Whitehead, Partington.
Interchanges: Da Costa, Satae, Navarrete, Sironen.
Referee: Liam Moore.