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The sides could change their league position as a result of their round five Super League XXIX clash as ninth placed Hull FC hosted a Leigh Leopards side who began the game in a disappointing tenth spot and without a win in their opening three fixtures of the season.
Tony Smith welcomed back several stars returning from injury and suspension while the Leigh side continues to look strong, despite the loss of Lachlan Lam and Tom Amone, and confound the pundits as to why they have not recorded any victories so far in this campaign.
The Black & Whites were slight favourites with the bookies but with Leigh commanding just a two-point start on the handicap coupon there was very little to choose between them for a Saturday afternoon encounter.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 16th Mar 2024 4:45 PM | Views : 1342 | Replies : 1 | READ MORE |
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Leigh Leopards were still seeking their first win of the season as they entered the fourth round of Super League XXIX with a game against a Leeds Rhinos side with their eyes on the top half of the table after a great win against the Catalans Dragons last time out.
The Rhinos were slight favourites with the bookies, but many pundits thought that it was too close to call with Leigh only getting a two-point start on the handicap coupon.
It was another week and another suspension for the Rhinos with James Bentley missing, but they did welcome back Mikolaj Oledzki, Leigh also made changes including the return of Tom Amone after a suspension, but they were still without John Asiata.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Fri 8th Mar 2024 9:58 PM | Views : 1809 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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The magic of the Challenge Cup has reached round two with the BBC choosing the clash between two sides from the National Conference First division with the relegated Leigh Miners Rangers and Stanningley poised for a classic trans-Pennine battle.
Jus six places separated the two sides at the end of the 2023 season with Leigh finishing third bottom and Stanningley fourth from the top of their respective leagues and despite having home advantage there was a real chance of an upset in favour of the side from Leeds.
Leigh Miners were the bookies favourites for the win in their home game at Twist Lane, with Stanningley having been given a twelve point start on the coupon.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 27th Jan 2024 2:03 PM | Views : 1835 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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Super League entered the knock-out stages with a play-off encounter between two sides who have had sensational seasons and exceeded all expectations as Hull KR played hosts to the cup winning Leigh Leopards at Craven Park with the winners going through to a game against one of the top two next weekend.
It was KR who finished the regular season in fourth spot, and they were handicapped by six points on the coupon against the side who felt hard done by when they narrowly lost to the Wigan Warriors last weekend to drop from fourth a swap places with their hosts on points difference.
The season would end for one of these two after what promised to be an intense eighty minutes as the two sides played out a re-run the Challenge Cup final.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Fri 29th Sep 2023 9:48 PM | Views : 3951 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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The final day of the season mathematics were not simple, either at the top of the table, or for the play off places.
SKY chose to send their cameras to the Leigh Sports Village where the Leopards hoped to spoil the party for their near neighbours and seal them a loss which could see them end the night in third spot.
Wigans superior points difference meant that so long as they beat Leigh by a point, and Catalans won by less than sixty-eight, and Saints won by less than one hundred and forty-one, then it would be the Warriors getting crowned as minor premiers by ten o’clock.
A loss and wins for Catalans and the Saints would drop them down into the spots for next week’s play-off games and throw away the luxury of a week off.
Leigh were also looking over their shoulders and knew that a heavy loss could open the doors for Hull KR to take fourth and a home game next weekend.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Fri 22nd Sep 2023 9:52 PM | Views : 4236 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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The engraver would be scratching a name onto the World-famous Challenge Cup which had not adorned it for the at least the last forty-two years as the Leigh Leopards took on Hull Kingston Rovers in the competition with one hundred and twenty-six years of history.
Leigh’s terrific recent form meant that they came into the game as narrow favourites over a Hull KR side who knew that this was their best chance of silverware in a season which has seen them hovering around the last of the Super League play-off places.
Wembley was filled with a lot of excited fans from both sides of the Pennines as two sides not used to the long journey south made a welcome change to the usual old guard who normally frequent this flagship occasion.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 12th Aug 2023 5:04 PM | Views : 5120 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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Leigh haven’t won at Headingley for thirty-nine years but sitting in second spot in the table, they sent a full-strength side over the Pennines, despite being within a week of a Challenge Cup Final appearance, optimistic for the win as they took on new look Leeds Rhinos side who will now have to see out the season without the game controlling Blake Austin who was released to the Castleford Tigers during the week.
Leeds had been made the favourites by the bookies, the Leopards getting a four-point start on the coupon, as those with a betting mind thought that the lure of a cup final berth would activate the ‘cup self-preservation’ mode amongst their leading players.
The loss would hurt the Rhinos much more than it would Leigh.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 6th Aug 2023 4:53 PM | Views : 4668 | Replies : 2 | READ MORE |
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A seemingly unstoppable Leigh Leopards side fresh from their cup victory over St Helens last weekend travelled the short distance to the DW Stadium to take on a Wigan Warriors side still smarting from their own cup exit at the hands of Hull KR.
A win for the home side would lift them level on points with their opponents but victory for Leigh would lift the, level with the Catalans Dragons in top place going into the final quarter of the season.
Wigan were the favourites with the bookies with the Leopards having been given an eight point start on the coupon, the Leopards underdogs to overcome a 40 year Wigan drought.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 29th Jul 2023 2:56 PM | Views : 4690 | Replies : 3 | READ MORE |
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It is thirty-nine years since a Leigh side travelled to Salford and came away with the points and despite Leigh being second in the table against seventh paced Salford, the bookies still thought that it would be the Red Devils who would win a close game as they gave the Leopards a two-point start on the handicap coupon.
A win for the home side would lift them back into the top six but it was the Leopards aspirations of the minor premiership which were on the line as they needed the two points to keep them in touch with the Catalans Dragons at the top of the table.
There had never been an ‘East Lancs Road’ derby with more to play for and less certainty as to who would emerge victorious.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 16th Jul 2023 4:44 PM | Views : 5107 | Replies : 12 | READ MORE |
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Few people gave Championship side York RLFC Knights any chance of making progress in the Challenge Cup as they welcomed high flying Super League side Leigh Leopards to the LNER Community Stadium.
York coach Andrew Henderson had a long injury list which left him without the services of half a dozen first team choices, while Leigh’s Adrian Lam could pick an almost unchanged side, although he was without the injured Edwin Ipape and Ricky Leutele.
The last time these two sides met was in the Championship play-offs at the end of last season when York were massacred by Leigh, the suspicion was that it would be a similar outcome in the last quarter final with a game against St Helens the prize for the winners.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 18th Jun 2023 6:54 PM | Views : 4317 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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After the closest of finishes to the Saturday of Magic Weekend, Sunday began with a fixture which promised to be more one sides as a Leigh Leopards side on fine form, and having beaten the league leaders last time out, took on the bottom side in Super League, the winless Wakefield Trinity.
Wakefield had been given an eighteen-point start on the handicap coupon and only the most one-eyed of Wakefield supporters would suggest any other outcome than a big Leopards win which would see Leigh up to fourth place in the table, and if the win was by more than twenty-nine points then they would be into third, above near neighbours Wigan.
The expectation was of one-way traffic, Wakefield needed a miracle.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 4th Jun 2023 2:02 PM | Views : 4437 | Replies : 1 | READ MORE |
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Seventh placed Leeds Rhinos had a tenth-round date over the Pennines with ninth placed Leigh Leopards with the home side knowing that a win by thirteen points or more would see them take the Rhinos ladder place while a win for the visitors would see them into the top five and depending on points difference and other results, as high as third.
Both sides won last time out and came into tonight’s game evenly matched on paper, so much so that the bookies could hardly separate them and giving the home side just a two-point start on the handicap coupon.
Both coaches named an unchanged starting thirteen from last weekend, the Rhinos bringing Bentley onto the bench in place of Johnson while the Leopards fielded an identical seventeen.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Fri 21st Apr 2023 9:44 PM | Views : 4934 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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The two sides tipped pre-season by many as the two relegation prospects have had contrasting starts to the season and while both Wakefield Trinity and the Leigh Leopards will have identified this afternoon´s encounter as a key one for their season the Bookies strongly favoured that it would be the Leopards who would inflict further misery on the home side.
Wakefield are winless after the first eight rounds of Super League, and have failed to score a single point in half of their games so far in 2023.
The Leopards have beaten both Hull sides and claimed the famous scalp of Champions St Helens in their opening games and will count themselves as unlucky to have lost narrowly in three other outings, especially last week´s two-point loss to Salford.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 16th Apr 2023 4:46 PM | Views : 6321 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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Just eleven miles separate Rivals Leigh Leopards and the Salford Red Devils as round eight of the competition threw them together for the second time in 2023 as seventh and ninth battled for a place in the top half of the table.
A victory for either side would lift them above the Huddersfield Giants into sixth spot, but fifth looked just out of reach as Salford would need a thirty-seven-point win and Leigh would need to win by ninety-three or more.
Salford had been made the slight favourites with the bookies, Leigh being given a two-point start on the handicap coupon, but there was very little to choose between the two sides.
The Leopards hoped that home advantage, and all the usual Leopards razzamatazz, would be enough to secure a fourth win for the home side in their first eight outings and get revenge for their loss on the opening weekend of the season.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 8th Apr 2023 4:23 PM | Views : 5942 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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Round Seven of Super League 2023 got underway with the Battle of the Borough as Leigh Leopards hosted the Wigan Warriors with eighth toaking on third with local bragging rights up for grabs between the two sides located just eight miles apart.
Adrian Lam was facing his past employers as he took on Matt Peet´s side in a game which few were brave enough to call, but the which the bookies were leaning towards an away win having given the Leopards an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.
In front of a record Leigh Sports Village home crowd, a fifty-point win would lift the Leopards above Wigan into third spot, but a win of any kind would see them spend the night in fourth.
A win for the visitors would see them up to second in the table, at least until the Dragons play on Saturday evening.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Thu 30th Mar 2023 9:55 PM | Views : 7160 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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It was a bottom half of the table four pointer as Hull FC took on the Leigh Leopards as ninth travelled to tenth as both sides looked for their third win of the season and a jump up the league table.
The Leopards won last time out but the Airlie Birds have lost their last three.
Both sides were keen for the win to get the lift of a win and move towards the top half of the table.
The bookies made the home side the favourites and had given Leigh a four-point start in the handicap coupon, but it was too nervous sides, and anything could happen.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 25th Mar 2023 4:44 PM | Views : 7580 | Replies : 1 | READ MORE |
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After spending 2022 in the Betfred Championship, Leigh are back in Super League with a brand new moniker after a rebranding exercise over the winter saw them renamed as the Leopards, owner Derek Beaumont´s favourite animal.
Leigh have spent big on players and have every intention on shrugging off their ´yo-yo´ club reputation and maintaining their position in the topflight for the foreseeable future and many pundits think that their current squad will be up to the task.
Tonight´s round one fixture at the Leigh Sports Village saw them taking on near neighbours the Salford Red Devils who are under the stewardship of Paul Rowley who continues to build and improve his understated outfit.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Fri 17th Feb 2023 9:50 PM | Views : 5511 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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A place in Super League 2023 was the prize as massive favourites Leigh Centurions took on massive underdogs Batley Bulldogs at the Leigh Sports Village in the final game of the domestic calendar.
Batley sprang an enormous surprise last weekend when they eliminated the Featherstone Rovers to take their place in the Million Pound Game, but if they were a long shot last week, this week the target was beyond the vision of mortal men.
In the regular season, Batley had scored just one try against Leigh in the league, while conceding a massive one hundred and sixteen points to them.
The bookies gave the Bulldogs a forty point start on the coupon and many pundits were predicting that it might could be considerably worse for them in what promised to be the most one-sided Championship Grand Final of all time.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sun 2nd Oct 2022 8:22 PM | Views : 16461 | Replies : 18 | READ MORE |
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Leigh Centurions entertained York City Knights as the Betfred Championship play-off semifinals got under way at Leigh Sports Village as clear favourites - to win both the match and next week’s Grand Final for another crack at Super League.
They had led the table throughout the second half of the season and finished three points clear of second placed featherstone; and eight ahead of today’s opponents, who were sixth in the table after the regular season.
York may have arrived with ideas of their own, having won four on the trot - including beating third-placed Halifax with an outstanding performance in the first round of the play-offs last week.
But they did lose by 100 points to Leigh in the regular season just four weeks ago.
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Posted by tb on Sun 25th Sep 2022 3:50 PM | Views : 14151 | Replies : 8 | READ MORE |
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The final game of the Summer Bash at Headingley faw first take on second in a game billed as 'the main event' – a match that had neutrals salivating with Leigh having come into their own after an early season which saw Featherstone dominate the league.
Rovers coach Brian McDermott had no doubts about the game he was facing, naming four forwards on his interchange bench.
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Posted by RLFANS News Hound on Sat 30th Jul 2022 9:30 PM | Views : 16676 | Replies : 0 | READ MORE |
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