07 Apr 2019 in News
LEIGH EAST 56
EASTMOOR DRAGONS 16
By Dave Parkinson
Ten-try Leigh East hit the top of National Conference League Three on Saturday after crushing Eastmoor Dragons.
The Dragons were 24-6 down at half-time and the sin-binning of Charlie Handforth (high tackle) and dismissal of centre Michael Jedynak (foul and abusive language) didn't help their cause.
East made a brilliant start when in-form hooker Andrew Ball sped through from dummy half and went sixty metres for the first of a hat-trick. Adam Holland goaled but the visitors were soon on level terms when Adrian Mulcahy slid a kick to the posts and halfback partner Kevin Brown was first to react. Mulcahy converted.
Leigh East then scored three tries in nine minutes to change the complexion of the game. Ball cruised through the defence for his second before big right-to-left shifts produced tries for free-scoring Danny Griffiths and Ellis Noon, to which Holland increased his goal count to four.
Half-time came and went and East claimed further dominance when Zac Nicholls sparked and finished a move to the left of the posts. Surprisingly the goal was missed and Eastmoor came back when a mix up on a kick saw them regather possession and Brown ran over in support for his second try. Mulcahy goaled. Nicholls grabbed his second try with Jordan Hellam converting to make it 34-12. Another score from the visitors, Mulcahy out wide after the ball went on the floor, threatened East but a four-try avalanche in the last twelve minutes saw them storm home.
Connor Wilcock returned to the side with a try on the right before Louis Else showed some good pace after Noon had made the initial break to a flowing move. Ball then scythed his way to the posts for his hat-trick and there was still time at the end for Harvey Massey to work a scrum move down the blindside for Jake Beaumont to speed over. Hellam completed the score with his fourth goal.
With @DParkyRugby elsewhere, @FredParky was on hand to capture the tries from our fantastic 56-16 win over @EastmoorARLFCOA #justthetries #rugbyleague @OfficialNCL pic.twitter.com/RiS3zbzaHB
— LeighEast (@LeighEast) April 6, 2019