Jukes keen for Leigh to continue momentum against Workington

Leigh Centurions came through a tough encounter with Featherstone Rovers last week to keep up the pace at the top of the table, winning 16-12 at Leigh Sports Village.

And ahead of Sunday’s game with Workington, Centurions coach Neil Jukes said: “I just thought it was about our energy, not so much our contact. It was about how we wanted to keep territory on the back of some decent kicks. It did have a ‘Middle Eight’ feel. It went set for set, with people not really chancing their arm and just trying to get through their sets and build territory. Fair play to Fev, every time we put them in a corner, they just brought it back and put us in a corner.

“In the first half we had two tries disallowed, we could have pulled away a little earlier but those were the calls we didn’t get and I’m glad we got in that arm wrestle and were the team that came out on top.

“In attack it wasn’t the shapes that the LSV are used to seeing, but I believe in the Middle Eight games we are going to have to go set for set in parts of the game and it’s important for us to keep getting victories.”

Workington lost 29-22 at home to Bradford Bulls last week and, but for a couple of questionable decisions, might have won the game according to coach Phil Veivers

“We matched them right across the park but there was not enough attention to detail on Adam O’Brien, who we spoke about last week,” he said. “We scored two tries after half-time and put ourselves in a commanding position. I was proud of their efforts but the consistency in our defence is just not there at the moment. All we can do is keep working hard at it.

“Leigh is a huge test this week, they’re very, good at home, they’ve got some very talented players with a lot of Super League experience. Their couple of recent acquisitions in Burns and Drinkwater will probably help them tick a little bit better. But we played 14 men against them on Easter Monday and were winning 18-16 with 20 minutes to go and just ran out of juice – that’s the same type of effort we need to put in this weekend.”

Wing Sam Forrester (fractured thumb) and second row Jarrad Stack (shoulder re-construction) are both out for the season while wing Brett Carter is doubtful with a shoulder problem.