Nothing wrong with it for me, it was a pleasant change
to hear a woman end with “Queen” rather than screech of Qwiyn”.

Having now seen the BBC coverage of the game, I really do think that we now hold the stronger cards going into the second half of the season. Some opinions on the game and some player, but I want to say that the whole team stepped up to win that game.
Ben Reynolds - I have been a defender of him in the past and he always works his off, but I have also said that I wonder if he lacks the off the cuff factor that the best halfbacks have, and that he should take the line on more. There have been questions also on his positional kicking and his ability to step up in the big games. Well Saturday showed that he is the man for the job, with a brilliantly controlled display in attack and defence. Together with Mellor, he is one of, if not the best defensive half’s in the game and they are now balancing the duties very well. His kick for Inu’s first try was pin-point, his try was a fantastic show and go, with a change of speed that surprised the defence. Overall this was his best game so far.
Krishna Inu - A must have in the big games. He looks fit, fast, strong and very focused right now. He had his kicking boots on and his try was a thing of beauty. His desire to take the ball into contact, and the effort needed to stop him also stood out.
Adam Sidlow - leads from the front and long minutes in the game. A vital part of a very dominant pack. His last ditch diving tackle when Fev were at do or die time and had broken our line, secured us the win. He does need to control his emotions at times, but it is that emotion that also stands out in his desire and work rate.
Kai O’Donnell - I said when we announced him that he would be a strong addition to our pack, and he is now really showing his worth. He runs hard, tackles harder, and is always looking to back up the runner. He is another who works non-stop and will never back down.
Edwin Ipape - our game breaker and in my opinion the best hooker in the Championship. His engine is endless. He also has a great eye for a gap and the best change of pace and side step to get through it. When you watch him run he also has a massive stride for his height, and great upper body strength, that make him hard to tackle. Add to that his power in the tackle and his willingness to sprint in and make sure tackled players go to ground, then bounce up and be back in the line for the next runner. He has it all for a #9.
General points.
Our pack is the best in the league and we still have Green to come. It’s a long time since we had a pack that made so many meters and defended so well.
Our back line is huge, but fit, fast and mobile. Ferguson, Inu and MacDonald take some putting down and set a great foundation to start our sets. Aekins is also a beauty and a constant threat. His ball to Ferguson was fantastic and he comes up with those passes time and time again.
Adrian Lam knows his players, knows how to win games, and the team obviously enjoys playing for him. It is also obvious that Chris Chester rightly has Lam’s respect and an influence in how the team plays.
Overall, a long way to go and no chickens being counted, but I believe we have the measure of Fev in every area of the game right now but it is fine margins. Squad rotation will be key from here onwards and we now have the squad to do just that, and the coach to manage it.
More to come from Fev when Ford settles in, but more to come from us also I believe.
Well done to Derek for making this possible but we now need to push on, fix the small areas that showed occasionally today (discipline can still be improved and the odd gap appeared in the middle in the second half but mostly from broken play) and keep fine tuning.
Happy Leyther here

Totally agreed VL. I have just said a lot of the same things on the Ben Reynolds thread.

The only exception for me is your view of Ford. I simply do not rate the player. I am more then happy that Fev have signed him. For a big man he shirks the physicality required in a game. His defense is poor which is surprising given his size.

In attack he generally just ships the ball out, and sometimes he appears to do it to avoid being hit and tackled with the ball. The other thing as well, is that he did not cut it in Australia and has spent most of his career playing in France at sub-championship level where perhaps defensive weaknesses such as his are not so ruthlessly exploited. I simply do not think that he has the game to kill us in the games that count.

Ford is not the answer to Fev's prayers. I was quite happy to see them sign him. My view is that, if his signing is the height of their ambition, then we are going to finish above them this season. I don't think that he actually adds to what they already had in that position. Bad signing on their part.

No

No, for me as well, even with my cherry and white flat cap on. From what i saw of Huddersfield at first hand on Saturday i was quite impressed by the way that they played. They looked like a good rugby team moving the ball nicely through their half backs and at pace and, i have to be honest, are some way better then Leigh - for the moment. The pace of the main game was some way quicker than ours. But, as we all know on this site, Leigh are a work in progress and are getting slowly better.

Will we be as good as the likes of Huddersfield by the end of this season - no, we will not but, the gap will have closed more of that i am certain.

Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We are at present a championship side and we just have to be the best in our division come the final game of this season. The likes of Huddersfield can wait.

As Bongser was not there SM, please elaborate.

From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/

From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/

Agreed 100% on Ford.
He will improve them a little in the organizational areas on the field, but I would not take him over Ben or Joe, (or our various options for cover in the squad for that matter as they are all very capable and flexible). I was and still am, very happy we did not sign him. He will improve them in my opinion but we have so much improvement to come, that his factor is limited.
I also agree with what you say on the Ben thread about the Fev side looking older and less energetic. I noted that Ferres and Lockwood were really struggling with the pace and power of our pack after a few minutes in.
Anything could still happen between now and then but I am quietly confident right now.

I think we have the future potential to beat Huddersfield but on Saturday, I don’t think we would. We didn’t play our best rugby at times, and Hudds would have made a couple of our mistakes/pens count. They would also have not have run out of steam like Fev did.

May be so.I think the pace of the game in the first half was good we moved up real quick and bashed em which is one reason they ran out of steam late on. we did make a couple of mistakes when hall scored and wildie knocked on.I think we would have pressurised hudds and who knows
We still need some competition at half back which would improve us. lets hope everyone stays fit and we can rotate the team to maintain a peak

What a stadium, what a great cup competition for the second tier of British Rugby League.

Having now watched the match on iPlayer, I am able to make a more informed opinion on the game. 5 tries to 2 suggest a dominant Leigh performance, but I saw enough from Featherstone to suggest that they will cause problems in the games to come.

In the first half Leigh got pinged for dissent (our Captain), Off-side by the player stood next to the ref, and a horrible bit of play acting from Featherstone trying to play the ball on a prone player. 3 acts of stupidity and 6 points converted. In the 2nd half Inu got in the act with a strange entanglement and act of petulance, further compounded by dissent. In cold light of day, Lammy will not be impressed.

Featherstone lost their discipline in the 2nd half getting pinged 6 times in first 10 minutes, this resulted in a period of dominance for Leigh.

Both team got lucky with tries awarded off forward passes and the ref in my opinion got most other things right. The exception is always going to be controversial ball steals. At around 67 minutes Chamberlain running the ball out on the Leigh line, was picked up and dropped in a baby crusher tackle, whilst the other defender had his hand on the bottom of the ball. It is no surprise that the ball came out, it is the laws of physics in play. This was deemed a loose carry. 2 minutes later on the Featherstone line Leigh get called for a ball steal in a similar situation. It is a horrible rule and is based entirely on interpretation.
The other thing about the ref was the amount of head shots that Featherstone committed, and only in the 75th minute did he decide to place on report a head shot/crusher tackle (not sure which the ref called).

Regarding the game, Leigh was big in defence and made plenty yards up the middle, Asiata however was sucked in as an extra prop instead of his usual play maker role. Reynolds kicked well and Mellor buzzed without being effective. Aekins was solid in defence but less effective in attack than usual.

Ipape as pointed out by everyone was monumental, with big tackles and darting runs. His try was pure class and he deserved the MoM award by a country mile.

The celebrations after the game will live long in the memory. Delighted for Deggsy, Lammy and Chessy. Delighted for all the players including those that did not make the match day squad. Delighted for the travelling contingent, we might have been out numbered but we made a huge noise. Delighted for all Leigh fans watching at home.

If you have not been to LSV all season, then get yourself down and swell those numbers. This team deserves our support.

They're a good side.



Discipline not great, but finals can cause this. Hope the lads learn from the experience and handle it more calmly next time.



I felt this was a result of tiredness - we worked Fev very hard in the first half and they were tiring. They never handled our physicality going forward.



Would enjoy nothing more than to be at LSV watching these lads, but finances do not agree...