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Well, it's contradictive.

For me this was not Ben’s best game. He missed a couple of easier kicks, but nailed two that others would have missed. He dropped a couple of balls but nailed some great passes while also committing tacklers to himself in the process.
Watch how he has learned to take on the line one minute, then looks like he is doing the same again but puts out a delayed ball to the player outside of him in the space he just created. Add to that the best defensive half in the game right now (and yes I know he missed a tackle for the try but he really is a workhorse in defence) and we have a player who any team would welcome with open arms.
Plus he is a true spark in the team spirit factor also.

Belatedly I'll give my thoughts on the match.

Having been flushed with pessimism since the fallout from the York match I was highly surprised to see us still so competitive away at Catalan.

I thought Hull KR would be as stiff a challenge as their neighbours were but I think losing Coote and Abdull may have affected their creativity. I mean we had a couple of instances where we were defending multiple repeat sets on our own line and as good as we may be I think most teams would crack at the 5th or 6th time of being challenged.

Good to see Chamberlain doing well in place of Kai, necessity appears to be the mother of (re)invention.

Thought Hughes went well, doing a long stint straight after injury and the same with Ben N, who I've always had a soft spot for and think he can be quite handy, he just has been overshadowed by the other freaky workhorses.

Nice to see Holmes get a rest/rotation, and did we play most of the game without Asiata? I think we can take some confidence from that given how pivotal he is.

I've been down on Ben's kicking more than any other aspect of his game and he has proved my wrong with a such a fine conversion rate recently that we find ourselves criticising him when he does miss. I'll will echo others that I think he is jumping a bit too over the edge at times, brain farts in attack and in unnecessary retaliation, trying to con a penalty after getting the ball was just stupid but he is as important to the cohesion of the team as any other pivot.

A big run of fixtures away now that will define our season, with a resurgent Leeds and seemingly buoyed Cas, the dangerous Salford and Wigan and of course Saints.

I'd say we could beat any of them given this team and the form and past results, but being away does had a bit more of an advantage to the opponents. My needle has moved to cautious optimism again.

I expect them to beat Cas.. Cas 10 Leigh 32...and then I think we will finally put one over on Salford. Salford 16 Leigh 30...