If Hull KR learned one thing from last weekends defeat
against the Rhinos it was that they would need to win the minor premiership
rather than just waiting to be crowned, and round seventeen dealt them another
test of their determination to finish top of the pile as they took on the Leigh
Leopards.

The visitors were slight favourites and were handicapped by
four points on the coupon despite being without talisman Mikey Lewis who was sitting
out a mandatory game after following a head impact assessment against Leeds.

KR won the round five meeting by 30-0 but this was likely to
be much, much, closer.

With just over seven minutes on the clock Ethan O’Neill
leapt to take a Lachlan Lam chip over the defence and dot down behind the
sticks. Gareth O’Brien added the conversion for a 6-0 lead, value for the early
pressure.

KR were level on nineteen when Tyrone May threw a dummy, stepped
off the left foot, and sprinted ten metres through a gap to score under the
sticks. Arthur Mourgue added the conversion for 6-6.

It was tit-for-tat, Leigh going in for their second on
twenty-five as Umyla Hanley took a Lam pass, shimmied right and moved left to
skirt the defenders and ground. O’Neill failed to add the conversion, the Leopards
four ahead.

Five minutes later Keanan Brand picked up a loose ball from
a Lam kick and grounded with a fully extended left arm, the ball hutting the
line. The conversion was wide again, Leigh going up in fours.

First blood of the second half went to Hull KR following a
misfield of a kick to the corner, Kelepi Tanginoa picking up the loose ball and
flirting with the touchline but managing to stay in play to score spectacularly
in the right corner. Mourgue was wide with the conversion, the gap down to four
points.

A length of the field try from Leigh pushed them back clear.
Tesi Niu bust a tackle and went fifty metres down the left wing before finding Lachan
Lam inside to go in down the left side without a KR player getting close. O’Brien
added a touchline conversion, and the lead was up to ten points with just under
half an hour remaining.

Lam was the provider for Josh Charnley to get his 250^th
career try, the Leigh man leaping for the corner and grounding one-handed in
the left corner. The conversion was again wide but with a fourteen-point lead
entering the last ten minutes it looked like the home side had the points.

On sixty-nine Jez Litten was sin-binned for a tackle off the
ball, but with Litten off for a HIA it was his replacement Michael McIlorum who
was told to sit down on the benches.

Ten seconds from the final hooter Charnley got his second of
the game with an unfettered run down the left-hand side after collecting a
precision Lam kick to the sideline. Ben McNamara unable to add the conversion
from wide but a comprehensive win for the Leigh Leopards.

Two losses on the bounce will set the alarm bells ringing at
Hull KR as they are now just two points ahead of the Wigan Warriors, the two
sides scheduled to meet on the 15^th August. Leigh are up to third in
the table, jumping past the Rhinos and Saints and within three of Wigan in
second. The top of the table and the fight for the six look more and more
exciting as each round passes and the top sides take points from one another.

Leigh Leopards: Hodgson, Brand (T), Hiu, Hanley (T),
Charnley (2T), O’Brien (G 2/5), Lam (T), Trout, Ipape, Ofahengaue, Halton, O’Neill
(T), Liu. Subs: Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, McNamara (G 0/1). 18^th
Man: Badrock.

Hull KR: Mourgue (G 1/2), Davies, Hiku, Broadbent, Burgess, Richardson,
May (T), Sue, McIlorum, Warea-Hargreaves, Whitbread, Batchelor, Minchella.  Subs: Litten, Hadley, Luckley, Tanginoa (T).
18^th Man: Brown.

Half-Time: 14-6.

Full-Time: 28-10.

Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 6-4, 6-6, 10-6, 14-6 : HT:  14-10, 18-10, 20-10, 24-10, 28-10 :FT.

Lead Exchanges: Leigh – Square - Leigh.

Referee: Liam Moore.