Jukes delight over going up

Leigh head coach Neil Dukes was absolutely enthralled to see all the hard work finally pay off after the Centurions secured promotion to Super League with their victory against the Giants.

“We spoke all week about the players, whether they have been here for five games or 15 years, coming here with their best game and for 40 minutes we were untouchable,” Jukes told Sky Sports.

“That’s no disrespect to Huddersfield, we have been here a long while and come up with some class plays.

“We have just re-signed Josh Drinkwater and it’s a good job we did otherwise the vultures would be out for him.

“It is an incredible feeling, you know the players, the backroom staff, Derek, the board, it has just been one big massive drive.

“We have gone right under the radar this year as much as we can and done things right. It is just unbelievable and I am delighted!”

Dukes admitted it was a bit of a surprise to see his side take a commanding 42-10 lead into the interval.

“I would never have pre-empted that sort of score line. I said to the guys at half-time don’t dare to dream, don’t dare because we have been like that on a few occasions and teams have come back.

“Momentum is a funny thing. We expected their completions to go up a bit and ours to drop a bit but it was about grit, it was about determination.

“We have had to do that against Featherstone and London here. We have had to hang in there together. We said today effort alone wouldn’t get us there. Performance needed to be very good as well and we got both.”