Leigh East returned to action with a clash against Wigan St Judes at Ledgard Avenue and were far too good for their underpowered visitors who could only name sixteen players and were soon further hampered by injury.
East made a tremendous start, scoring their first try just four minutes into the game when a reverse pass from Pat Rainford saw Joe Digby crash over and Jordan Hellam kicked the first of five goals.
Three minutes later, on the last tackle, East chose to run the ball. Hellam, Rainford and Zac Nicholls were all involved before Rainford took a neat offload to finish and make it 10-0.
Things got even better for the hosts after twenty minutes when man-of-the-match Louis Else went through the middle and cleverly switched the ball left for Digby to claim his second try, goaled by Hellam.
Just before the break Judes gave themselves a chance when a perfect kick to the right corner by Declan Parkinson sat up for Reece Matthews to ground.
Trailing 16-4 at half-time, Wigan St Judes needed a good start to the second forty, however, it was Leigh East that improved to 22-4 when Else touched down at the side of the posts after picking up a great offload from Nicholls.
Two tries in three minutes all but decided the contest. First Ben Wharton dived in at the corner after Rainford, debutant Ben Woods and fullback Kieron Prescott pushed play cleverly down the right, then Hellam and Cameron Coulton combined on the left for Bernard Aboagye to ground on the left.
Wigan St Judes responded quickly when Barry Rothwell dotted down but there was more to come from East and particularly Else who proved unstoppable over 25 metres.
Rothwell scored his second try, an almost carbon copy of his first, for Gary McMahon to goal with eight minutes left. East then struck for the eighth time thanks to an excellent line ran by Will Ludlow.
With seconds remaining, East were pushing for another score only for the ball to go loose. It was kicked forward three times by Lewis Melling who raced on to eventually regather and score with Gary McMahon having the final say with his third goal to add further consolation for a St Judes side that were second best on the day.
Here are a couple of pictures from the action:
Man-of-the-match Louis Else clears the ball from his own line.
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Leigh East 42 Wigan St Judes 22
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