Stuart Hodge
Leigh Leopards 0-24 Hull KR: Mikey Lewis stars as Rovers demolish in-form Leopards
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Last Updated: 14/09/24 12:03am
Hull KR blew away Leigh Leopards in the Betfred Super League to take the battle for the League Leaders' Shield to the final day of the regular season.
Mikey Lewis scored two tries and added a penalty and three conversions as they bounced back from last week's defeat to Wigan Warriors by dismantling their opponents at Leigh Sports Village without conceding a single point.
Betfred Super League leaders Warriors, though, also won without conceding as they trounced Leeds Rhinos - who Hull KR face next Friday - by 38 points in a seven-try blowout but Lewis' heroics kept Rovers within touching distance of Wigan with one game to play.
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Veteran Ryan Hall and Jesse Sue also got on the score sheet as the Robins ground down the Leopards for a victory that also loosened the hosts' grip on a play-off place.
With St Helens seeing off Castleford to climb above Leigh, Adrian Lam's side now face a crunch clash with Saints next week as the battle for a top-six spot goes to the wire.
Rovers seized a 10-0 advantage in a hard-fought first half after the Leopards had made the early running.
Umyla Hanley went close to giving the hosts the lead but lost the ball over the line and Peta Hiku relieved the pressure with a breakaway run.
Josh Charnley also led a charge down the left but was stopped after cutting inside.
Rovers had a good opportunity when Dean Hadley tried to follow up his own kick.
Leigh survived on that occasion but were caught out by a high Lewis kick on 21 minutes, with Tyrone May knocking back for former Leeds winger Hall to go over.
Leigh initially responded well but met only strong Rovers resistance and were undone in repeat fashion as May out-jumped Matt Moylan to knock back another Lewis kick.
This time Lewis himself was the beneficiary as he skipped through the Leigh defence to touch down.
The visitors increased their advantage after the break as Sue crashed over by the posts from a Matt Parcell pass.
The game was then effectively ended as Rovers did well to keep the ball alive on the left before coming inside for Matty Storton to offload for Lewis to claim his second.
Leigh seemed in danger of capitulating as Tom Opacic touched down a loose ball, but the video referee intervened and the visitors had Elliot Minchella sin-binned for illegal contact on Moylan in the build-up.
Rovers still came away with two further points, however, as a different incident in back play saw them awarded a penalty and Lewis took advantage.
It proved the final act of note, with Leigh's late attempts to grab a consolation coming to nothing.
What they said
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters:
"It would be close to the best performance of the year. Coming off the back of an intense battle against Wigan, to keep a side like Leigh to zero – a team that ask a lot of questions – is a huge effort. I'm really proud of the players.
"We've learned from last week and learned well.
"But we've still got to win next week. We'd said before this game we needed to win two games to get second position, or possibly first if Wigan slip up.
"All we can concentrate on is what we can control – beating Leeds next Friday."
Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam:
"I'm very disappointed. It was a big match for us but I didn't see any of the team we've been for the last 12 weeks. I didn't see what I wanted to see.
"The first two tries were from high kicks and I'm really angry we didn't compete in those moments. They were a couple of key moments where we stopped moving and, against the top teams, that's the game.
"It is going to come down to next week but, halfway through season, if you'd said give us a game against St Helens to make the six, from where we were, I'd have snapped at it.
"It's going to be a ding-dong battle."
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