Ben is on form one of the best HB in the competition at the moment, he doesn’t have the flair or pace of Lam/Williams but he has improved dramatically under a HB as a coach, he is well thought of at the club and players like to play with him, he has really brought that right edge together. He will be relatively cheap, he is none quota, his kicking is excellent, he’s big and strong for a HB, can defend and I’d relatively young with time to mature. English halves are hard to come by at the minute I think he’s definitely worth another 2/3 year deal.

Are you watching the same player? The left edge purrs with Lam and the right edge is clunky and slow. With Mellor in place they flow better, so the upshot must be that Reynolds is the problem.

Reynolds has improved greatly this season, but he is a long way of the finished article.

If you had left it there, you would have made a good post. A cracking win yet you felt the need to pick a player to abuse. You are obvious not a Reynolds fan but fortunately Lam is a better judge than you.

I will applaud ANY player when they are playing well. Ben has played well most of the time. My comments are on what I have seen the last few weeks and just wonder why the change in him. If he was a young lad just starting in the team I would understand a bit more. To come in swinging like he did at Wakefield isn’t him. Like I said only my observations and my opinion to which I am surely entitled to.

I actually agree with you. I also noticed that when he received a poor pass from ( Mellor I think), he showed his disgust instead of just accepting it ,and just carrying on and forgetting it. I wouldn't be surprised if we sign a top quality half for next season to accompany Lokie..

I don't think you played that well, but you well beat us and it was well deserved.
Before the game we thought we might keep it tight for the first ten minutes, unfortunately, we didn't manage it for ten seconds!

Very well deserved win for Leigh, had a good chat with some Leigh fans before the game, great time after as I have friends in the area, awful in between!

Good luck for the rest of the season Leythers.

Does that include if we meet in the Challenge Cup Final? If so, most magnanimous, Sandro.

There's also the little matter of August the 25th to settle.

WOW!

If we didn't play that well, you're in serious trouble.

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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...