Liverpool St Helens 44 Leigh 0 (From St Helens Star)

Liverpool St Helens 44 Leigh 0

12:02pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in Sport

LSH returned to Moss Lane for the first time since January hoping to complete a double over their near rivals Leigh, which would propel them back to the top of the table after last weeks’ loss .
In perfect conditions for rugby LSH kicked off and soon had the visitors under pressure, and with full back Stanley through only  great defensive work by Leigh prevented a try after five minutes, writes Stuart Meall.
A minute Smith slotted over a close-range penalty.
The rest of the first half with both teams playing counter attacking rugby without really creating any clear cut chances – however this all changed on 27 minutes when winger Matt Cunliffe  swept the the ball out to Hodson to touch down in the corner with Smith missing the subsequent conversion.
Five minutes later LSH scored another excellent try, with Dave Cunliffe doing a pirouette over the try line to increase the lead and this this time it was converted to make the score 15-0.
However, just before the interval Leigh had a sustained spell of pressure and but for a superb Smith tackle on the line, they would have picked up some points which they probably deserved on their first half performance.
However the second half  was all LSH and even though they had Sean Mackin sin binned for interfering with the line out.
On 50 minutes Cunliffe steamed over in the corner for his second try with the conversion missed again.
That did not matter as two minutes later Cunliffe raced down the left flank and played a delightful reverse pass to Smith who duly scored LSH’s fourth try of the game which earned them a vital bonus point. 
The scoring  was not finished yet when Hodson scored a fifth try after 58 mins to make the score 34-0 and a sixth try by Smith took the tally to 39 points.
However although Leigh were a little dispirited they did not give up and should have scored after winger Duffy intercepted a rare stray LSH pass, but he was thwarted on the line by excellent defence.
In injury time there was time for another LSH try with prop M Fryer adding their seventh try of the game to make the final score 44 – 0.
This was a thoroughly professional and entertaining performance by LSH.
Saturday sees them take on Manchester away kick off 3pm.