Batley Bulldogs and Doncaster RL suffer Grand Final heartache at hands of Leigh Centurions and Swinton Lions

The star-studded Centurions were the hottest of favourites after winning all but one of their 27 matches of the regular season and, as expected, they had too much pace and power for their part-time opponents from Yorkshire as they eased to a44-12 victory.

Winger Krisnan Inu led the points spree with two tries and six goals from seven attempts as Leigh, relegated from Super League at the end of 2021, bounced back at the first attempt in former Wigan boss Adrian Lam’s first season in charge.

It completed a hat-trick of trophies for the Centurions, who lifted the 1895 Cup as well as the League Leaders Shield.

Lam’s men racked up 1,306 points, which included 100 in a match against York, and totalled 116 in two fixtures with the Bulldogs – but they met some stern initial resistance this time from Craig Lingard’s bravehearts.

Batley, who finished fifth at the end of the regular season, battled to the end and their perseverance paid off with tries from Dale Morton and Adam Gledhill, to the delight of Lingard.

Lingard feared the worst when his side conceded two quickfire tries in the first five minutes of the second half to trail 30-0 but could not have been more proud of them in the end.

“It had the potential to get away from us but, as they’ve done all year, they showed resilience and hard work and determination again and they came back stronger towards the end of the game,” he said.

“I can’t ask any more. Nobody wants to lose by 30 or 40 points but this team have been battering teams all the way through the season and we certainly didn’t roll over.

“The effort they put in was just phenomenal, they worked their blood to water.”

Batley survived an early scare when impressive second rower Sam Stone strode through their defence, only to be brought back for obstruction. However, they gifted their opponents the opening try in the 15th minute as half-back Lachlan Lam swooped on a dropped ball by winger Morton 30 metres from his own line.

Inu kicked the first of his six conversions and, as Leigh turned up the pressure, both Ed Chamberlain and Edwin Ipape were held up over the line and Inu fumbled the ball as a try beckoned.

Their gritty defence gave the 1,000 Batley fans plenty to cheer but there was a feeling of inevitability in the last 10 minutes of the first half as a tenuous 6-0 lead became a comfortable 18-0 advantage to the hosts.

Former Huddersfield second rower Joe Wardle squeezed a pass out of the tackle for Inu to go over and then crashed over himself courtesy of a short ball from the influential Lam.

Any prospect of a fightback from Batley was snuffed out within a minute of the second half when full-back Caleb Aekins sprinted 80 metres for a solo try after collecting Tom Gilmore’s kick and shortly afterwards put half-back Joe Mellor over for another in the 250th match of his career. Nene MacDonald took the Centurions’ tally to six but Batley gained reward for their perseverance on the hour when Morton was the first to reach Gilmore’s kick to the Leigh line and Gilmore converted.

Normal service was resumed, with Inu swatting off defenders to score his second try and substitute Kai O’Donnell went over for the Centurions’ eighth. Well beaten but never bowed, Batley fought to the end and they had the satisfaction of completing the scoring when prop Gledhill forced his way over from close range and Gilmore kicked his second conversion.

There was also Grand Final heartache for Doncaster as they went down 16-10 to Swinton Lions in the League One showpiece.

Doncaster can be proud though of their season’s efforts, and a performance full of heart and character in the promotion showdown.

Richard Horne’s Doncaster struck first at Heywood Road through the familiar sight of Jason Tali crashing over from close range.

Many had predicted a tight contest and that’s exactly how it was, with Swinton scoring the next pointsas Jordan Case scrambled over underneath the posts.

Connor Robinson kicked a penalty for Doncaster shortly before the break which levelled the final at 6-6 heading into the interval.

Horne’s Dons would regain the lead on 52 minutes when Joseph Fella got a pass away for Tom Halliday who picked up and ground the ball close to the touchline.

Having had an earlier try chalked off for obstruction, Swinton’s Nick Gregson turned provider, feeding Mitch Cox on his outside to put the home side back ahead.

Doncaster did all they could to take the lead but Swinton eventually sealed victory and promotion on the hooter with a try from Jack Hansen.