ST HELENS 80 LEIGH LEOPARDS 0
KASEY SMITH, Totally Wicked Stadium, Saturday
ST HELENS were rampant as they inflicted a fifth straight – and club-record – defeat on a hapless Leigh.
Leigh were made to pay for a number of basic errors with the experienced Saints side taking full advantage to put the game to bed before the half-hour mark having scored six tries.
The Leopards will no doubt be frustrated by the ease with which they surrendered key territory which resulted in them having a mountain to climb after the opening ten minutes.
The Saints clearly identified the Leopards’ left edge as a key weakness, and Dani McGifford reaped the rewards after a series of slick attacking moves. In truth, the Saints outclassed their opponents across the park.
Amy Taylor, playing on loan against her parent club, looked dangerous with her high bombs, but Leigh could barely get near the Saints line, let alone test their defence.
Saints opened the scoring following their first venture into the Leopards half, from a high Jodie Cunningham kick that Becky Greenfield failed to collect. Direct from the scrum, quick hands from Cunningham, Caitlin Casey and Beri Salihi released McGifford to score in the left corner.
The home side quickly doubled their lead thanks to brilliant vision from Casey, who delivered a pinpoint diagonal kick to McGifford who broke through and offloaded to Rachel Woosey who scored.
Then McGifford weaved past both the winger and fullback to cross for her second try, extending the Saints’ lead to 16-0 after Luci McColm added a second successful conversion of ten on the day.
Another Leopards handling error paved the way for another Saints score and it was Darcy Stott who crashed over from close range.
A mistake at the play-the-ball allowed fullback Salihi to seize the moment as she burst through for the fifth try of the afternoon.
Some good work from Katie Mottershead released Rebecca Rotheram down the right edge and she played in Hollie Bawden who powered over just before the half-hour mark.
The Leopards were granted a big chance to respond just before the break when Salihi fumbled a Taylor high bomb but in the resulting set, nobody could get on the end of Taylor’s second high kick, as the Saints emerged unscathed.
In the second half, Saints further extended their advantage when McColm finished off another well-executed move.
Next on the scoresheet was Georgia Sutherland, who crashed over from close range.
McGifford completed her hat-trick on 53 minutes and hooker Katie Mottershead grabbed one of her own shortly after having broken through to score under the posts as Saints hit a half century, following McColm’s fifth conversion.
Cunningham got in on the act, scoring under the posts, and two tries for Phoebe Hook followed not long after.
McColm grabbed another and then Woosey got her second, a minute from time, to wrap up a huge win.
GAMESTAR: Hooker Katie Mottershead was dangerous out of dummy-half and she was a key player in the Saints’ attacks.
GAMEBREAKER: Darcy Stott’s try made it 22-0 inside the opening quarter and while there was a lot left to be played, it would have taken a monumental effort from Leigh to overturn the result.
MATCHFACTS
SAINTS
1 Beri Salihi
25 Dani McGifford
18 Rachel Woosey
23 Luci McColm
22 Rebecca Rotheram
13 Jodie Cunningham
17 Caitlin Casey
20 Erin McDonald
9 Katie Mottershead
16 Darcy Stott
12 Emily Rudge
29 Hollie Bawden
14 Naomi Williams
Subs (all used)
2 Phoebe Hook
8 Vicky Whitfield
15 Georgia Sutherland
19 Caitlin Maylor
Tries: McGifford (3, 12, 53), Woosey (8, 79), Stott (18), Salihi (25), Bawden (29), McColm (46, 75), Sutherland (48), Mottershead (57), Cunningham (63), Hook (66, 69)
Goals: McColm 10/15
LEOPARDS
5 Becky Greenfield
2 Toryn Blackwood
6 Rhianna Burke
11 Storm Cobain
28 Abi Johnston
24 Amy Taylor
32 Emma Knowles
8 Eleanor Dainty
9 Kate Howard
16 Lucy Johnson
20 Keli Morris
26 Hannah Roberts
27 Abby Latchford
Subs (all used)
10 Alice Fisher
14 Abi Gordon
25 Emily Baggaley
13 Grace Hill
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 16-0, 22-0, 26-0, 30-0; 34-0, 40-0, 44-0, 50-0, 56-0, 62-0, 68-0, 74-0, 80-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Women of the Match
Saints: Katie Mottershead; Leopards: Amy Taylor
Penalty count: 2-2
Half-time: 30-0
Referee: Oliver Salmon