CATALANS DRAGONS 18 LEIGH LEOPARDS 33
RICKY WILBY, Stade Gilbert Brutus, Saturday

LEIGH scored three tries in the final 13 minutes to come from behind for a third consecutive win.

Leopard print was the order of the day as a huge travelling support descended on the south of France and they were left delighted with the way their side continued their revival.

It was a tale of the two veteran right wingers as both Josh Charnley and Tommy Makinson notched braces for their respective sides before the Leopards’ late flurry saw them run out eventual winners to keep in touch with the top six.

Leigh took the lead in the seventh minute after Catalans were adjudged to have hung onto an attacker for too long and Adam Cook slotted the penalty from 30 metres out.

That 2-0 advantage was doubled in the 14th minute when Cook added a second penalty from 20 metres out.

But Catalans responded with the first try as a remarkable short kick-off failed to make the ten but was collected by Leigh, so offering the Dragons a penalty.

With the resulting field position, Toby Sexton attacked the Leigh line and chipped ahead, collected the bouncing ball and touched down to the left of the posts before also converting.

Leigh levelled short of the half-hour mark when another penalty was slotted over by Cook after yet another ruck infringement by the Dragons.

From the restart Leigh marched up field with a break from Cook and though Umyla Hanley was halted by Darrélatour, the next play saw Leigh attack their right and Liam Horne found Charnley who raced around closer to the posts to touch down.

Cook missed the conversion to see the score remain 6-10 through to the break.

Leigh dominated the early stages of the second half and that paid dividends eight minutes in as the ball was sent to the right through Lachlan Lam and Cook and the Leopards stand-off’s wide pass found prolific try-scorer Charnley in acres of space to touch down.

Cook missed the touchline conversion attempt as their lead remained eight points.

Four minutes later, Catalans came back into the game, Ugo Tison darting away and breaking clear of the Leigh defence before drawing the fullback and offloading to the supporting Makinson who touched down to the right of the posts.
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The home side then moved back into the lead on the hour as a penalty gifted field position and a short-side play saw Charlie Staines throw a wide miss pass to allow Makinson to dive over again.

Sexton added both conversions to put his side 18-14 in front – but that’s as good as it got.

With 13 minutes remaining, a superb 40/20 from Cook allowed the Leopards to attack the Catalans line, and from short range Joe Ofahengaue charged over the top of Staines and Kruise Leeming to score under the posts.

Cook added the conversion to see the visitors take a two-point lead and they didn’t look back.

Leigh secured the win five minutes from time as Edwin Ipape offloaded metres from the line and Owen Trout collected the ball and dived over to score to the right of the posts, again converted by Cook.

Frankie Halton added the cherry to a well-iced cake with two minutes remaining, Lam sending the back-rower through a tired Catalans defence.

Cook added the conversion, then a field-goal with the final kick of the game for good measure.

GAMESTAR: Adam Cook was always a danger for the Leopards, great with the boot and continuously a threat with ball in hand.

GAMEBREAKER: Cook’s 40/20 snatched the momentum and set up the match-winning Joe Ofahengaue try.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Adam Cook’s break to set up Josh Charnley’s first-half try was a superb piece of play that broke the Catalans defence wide open.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Adam Cook (Leigh)
2 pts Toby Sexton (Catalans)
1 pt Joe Ofahengaue (Leigh)

MATCHFACTS

DRAGONS
1 Charlie Staines
2 Tommy Makinson
24 Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet
4 Solomona Faataape
28 Léo Darrélatour
6 Toby Sexton
7 Lewis Dodd
15 Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui
26 Ugo Tison
17 Romain Navarette
20 Zac Lipowicz
12 Ben Condon
10 Julian Bousquet
Subs (all used)
8 Tevita Satae
11 Franck Maria
16 Josh Allen
19 Kruise Leeming
18th man (not used)
18 Harvey Wilson
Also in 21-man squad
3 Nick Cotric
27 Clément Martin
30 Alexis Lis

Tries: Sexton (15), Makinson (52, 61)
Goals: Sexton 3/3

LEOPARDS
21 Gareth O’Brien
19 Innes Senior
3 Tesi Niu
4 Umyla Hanley
5 Josh Charnley
6 Adam Cook
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Joe Ofahengaue
9 Edwin Ipape
12 Owen Trout
11 Frankie Halton
15 Jacob Alick-Wiencke
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
1 David Armstrong
17 Liam Horne
22 Jack Hughes
25 Louis Brogan
18th man (not used)
20 AJ Towse
Also in 20-man-squad
2 Keanan Brand
28 Ryan Brown

Tries: Charnley (28, 48), Ofahengaue (68), Trout (74), Halton (78)
Goals: Cook 6/8
Field-goals: Cook (80)

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-2, 0-4, 6-4, 6-6, 6-10; 6-14, 12-14, 18-14, 18-20, 18-26, 18-32, 18-33

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Dragons: Toby Sexton; Leopards: Adam Cook

Penalty count: 5-7
Half-time: 6-10
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 9,597