Bradford Bulls beaten but London Broncos win Championship opening game
Sunday 15 February 2015 18:46, UK
Bradford Bulls made a bad start to life in the Kingstone Press Championship as they were beaten 36-24 by Leigh Centurions.
The Bulls were relegated from Super League at the end of last season and their bid for a quick return looked to be starting well when they took a 20-6 lead at the Leigh Sports Village.
But Leigh battled back in front of a bumper 7,449 crowd with Gregg McNally scoring a couple of tries as they rallied to win an ill-tempered match which featured six yellow cards.
It was 11-a-side for a time as the Centurions had Jamie Acton, McNally and Kurt Haggerty sin-binned while Danny Williams was yellow carded for Bradford and his team-mate Harry Siejka was sin-binned twice.
Ryan Brierley, Liam Kay, Tom Armstrong and Sean Penkywicz also scored Centurions tries while Martyn Ridyard kicked six goals.
Hooker Adam O'Brien scored Bradford's first and last tries and others came from skipper Chev Walker and debutants Etu Uaisele and Jake Mullaney, with Siejka kicking two goals.
Broncos hold on
There was better news for the other relegated team, London Broncos, who withstood a second-half fightback to beat Doncaster 26-22 at The Hive.
The Broncos looked to be coasting to an opening-round victory when two tries from Wales international Rhys Williams and others from Ray Nasso, Daniel Harrison, and Wes Naiqama put them into a 26-0 lead early in the second half.
However, Doncaster, boosted by the availability of Jordan Rankin, Stuart Howarth and Iafeta Paleaaesina playing on dual registration from Hull, struck back with four tries in the last 27 minutes to set up a grandstand finish.
Sam Doherty scored two tries and Paleaaesina and Lee Waterman also touched down, with Stewart Sanderson kicking three goals for the visitors.
Halifax ran in nine tries in a 44-16 victory at Whitehaven, who are without a coach following the resignation of Steve Deakin.
And Shaun Squires scored a first-half hat-trick of tries and added a fourth after the break to help Batley to a 30-6 win over Workington.
