Leigh round off a champion season with Grand Final victory

Leigh completed a remarkable season with a 36-12 victory over Featherstone in the Championship Grand Final at Headingley.

The Centurions have lost just two games in the whole of 2014, one of those a memorable defeat at the hands of eventual winners Leeds Rhinos in the Challenge Cup.

They raced in to an 18-0 lead and never looked back, despite a gutsy second half display from Featherstone, who had finished second behind Leigh in the regular season.

Tries from Matt Sarsfield, Gregg McNally and Tom Armstrong, all converted by Ridyard, put the Centurions in command, before Will Sharp plucked a kick out the air to get Featherstone on the board on the half hour mark.

Sharp helped reduce arrears to just eight on 52 minutes, finishing superbly, squeezing in at the right hand corner with an outstretched left arm, despite the attention of three defenders.

With the score at 20-12, Featherstone could sniff a comeback, and they tested Leigh’s resolve.

But the Centurions stood firm, and Adam Higson‘s try 15 minutes from try broke Featherstone, before both sides were reduced to 12 men, with Jason Crookes sin-binned for a high tackle, and Sean Penkywicz shown yellow for his part in the ensuing brawl.

Leigh rounded the game off with late tries from Sam Barlow and Ryan Brierley, with his 43rd try of the season, to cap not only a great season, but a great day of Championships rugby at Headingley.

Leigh: McNally, Higson, Platt, Armstrong, Kay, Ridyard, Brierley, Emmitt, Penkywicz, Wilkes, Sarsfield, Haggerty, Barlow. Subs: Beswick, Walker, Acton, Aspinwall.

Featherstone: Sharp, Crookes, Hardman, Cording, Blackmore, Kain, Moore, Crossley, Ellis, James, Pick, Lockwood, Spears. Subs: Teasdale, Annakin, Hurst, Bussey.