Leigh 32 Sheffield 24: Eagles cruelly denied by leaders Centurions

Sheffield Eagles can consider themselves unlucky to come away from Leigh Sports Village with only a bonus point.

A superb second half from the visitors rocked Leigh with former Hull winger Scott Turner claiming a hat-trick. In fact, the Centurions were outscored by three tries to one in the second half as Mark Aston’s side almost completed a stunning comeback.

Leigh had built a 26-6 advantage at half-time, opening the scoring through Ryan Brierley before the Eagles responded. Andrew Henderson ran from dummy half and eventually linked with support after the ball bounced loose. Scott Turner was quickest to react and claimed his first try.

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Dominic Brambani struck the first of four goals but further Leigh scores by Bob Beswick, Chris Hankinson, Matthew Sarsfield and Sam Hopkins gave Sheffield a tall order at the break.

Despite being up against it at the start of the second half, Sheffield struck when Turner ran 80 metres for a breakaway score. Former Wakefield hooker James Davey then carved up the Centurions with a fine solo effort after 55 minutes.

The leaders were rocking eight minutes later when a clever Brambani kick was touched down by Turner and the Eagles looked capable of winning until the final seconds when a former Eagles connection combined with Sam Barlow sending Tom Armstrong between the posts for Brierley to add his fourth goal.

Leigh Centurions: McNally, Pownall, Hankinson, Armstrong, Kay; Beswick, Brierley; Spencer, Penkywicz, Acton, Sarsfield, Goulden, Barlow. Substitutes: Haggerty, Hopkins, Emmitt, Aspinwall.

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Sheffield Eagles: Laulu-Togagae, Turner, Yere, Straugheir, Taulapapa, Walker, Brambani; Battye, Henderson, Stringer, Garside, Hope, Knowles. Substitutes: Davey, Tagaloa, Aspinall, Gozalez-Trique

Referee: W Turley.