Leigh hold off Salford to book Super League semi-final place

Leigh Leopards’ fairytale run in the Betfred Super League continued as they edged out hosts Salford Red Devils 14-6 in a thrilling elimination play-off clash.

Marc Sneyd’s 28th-minute penalty goal for the Red Devils was all that separated the sides at the break after a furious and intense first half in the first of the eliminators, which was being played in front of a record crowd for a rugby league match at the AJ Bell Stadium.

But a 248th Super League try for Josh Charnley, who was later stretchered from the field after injuring himself making a tackle, and Gareth O’Brien finishing under the posts following Edwin Ipape’s break helped Leigh into a lead they would not relinquish.

Papua New Guinean star Ipape’s solo score as the clock ticked over into the final 15 minutes proved enough to put them just 80 minutes from a first Grand Final appearance, despite a late yellow card to Jack Hughes and unconverted try from Ethan Ryan.

Story of the game

It proved a richly deserved win for the Leopards, who did it the hard way without influential second-row Kai O’Donnell, and having also been shorn of Frankie Halton in the early stages to a head injury.

Salford boss Paul Rowley benched Ryan Brierley for the first time in two years in favour of Chris Hankinson and the replacement full-back had an initial effort ruled out following a trademark up-and-under by Sneyd.

Leigh posed their first real threat on the stroke of half-time when Hankinson almost fluffed a kick through from Zak Hardaker, and they maintained their momentum after the restart by forcing successive goal-line drop-outs.

The visitors’ breakthrough came moments after the hosts thought they had repelled a period of pressure as Nene Macdonald burst 50 metres over the halfway, only for play to be hauled back for an earlier knock-on.

From the resulting scrum, Ipape burrowed close before play spread wide to Charnley who dived acrobatically in at the corner to the delight of the thousands of visiting fans behind the posts.

Six minutes later, Leigh extended their lead when a slip by Oliver Partington allowed Ipape to gallop through the middle and feed a delicious long pass to half-back O’Brien who crossed jubilantly, with Moylan’s conversion taking his side’s lead to eight.

Following Charnley’s worrying exit on the hour after landing awkwardly in a tackle on Brierley, Ipape made it three to all but book Leigh’s semi-final place, with Salford winger Ryan’s late try, which went unconverted by Sneyd, too late to seriously threaten to spoil the Leopards’ hard-earned party.

What they said

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam:

“I’m just so proud of them.

“The courage we showed to keep turning up – and they could only score from a kick when we were down to 12.

“Josh Charnley is on his way to hospital. He’s in a brace and he’s on his way there.

“But he is conscious and fingers crossed he is okay.”

Leigh Leopards hooker and player of the match Edwin Ipape:

“It’s been a massive two weeks for the club and we’ve had a massive three weeks leading into this game where if we hadn’t won as many games as we had, we wouldn’t be in the position to win tonight.

“Credit to the boys for putting in the hard yards and I thought the boys were awesome tonight.

“I was just lucky to get over the line and play a part in this win.”

Salford Red Devils head coach Paul Rowley:

“I’m very proud of them. I thought we had the better of the first half and Leigh had the better of the second half.

“I think it was a really good game – a real cup-final affair.

“Credit to Leigh and good luck to them in the next round.

“Over-achieving is a good year, but success to me is winning trophies.”

What’s next?

Leigh Leopards now travel to either Wigan Warriors or Hull KR in next week’s play-off semi-finals, pending the outcome of Saturday’s eliminator between Warrington Wolves and St Helens, which is live on Sky Sports+ (5.30pm kick-off).

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.