07 February 2022

Featherstone Rovers won the battle of the Championship’s big two in Monday night Rugby League as they beat Leigh Centurions 28-6 in an entertaining affair. Joey Leilua made his eagerly-anticipated debut for Featherstone following his move from the NRL. Matty Wildie and Ben Hellewell, who both played for Leigh in Super League last season, faced their former clubs for the first time since their switch to the Rovers. Former NRL Grand Final winner John Asiata made his second appearance for Leigh since his move from Brisbane Broncos. Nene Macdonald, who bagged a hat-trick on his debut against Whitehaven last week, lined up against Leilua in the centres. The hosts opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Leilua took on the Leigh defence and assisted Luke Briscoe with a tremendous flick pass. Brian McDermott’s side extended their lead midway through the first half after Hall made a break and gave it inside to the supporting Morgan Smith who darted over. Hall nailed his 500th career goal. A poor run of discipline saw the Centurions have two men sin-binned on the half hour mark. James McDonnell was yellow-carded for a tip tackle whilst Ben Reynolds was binned for a late hit. Featherstone made the most of having two extra men on the field as Dane Chisholm found Hall with a chip to score. Rovers were 16-0 to the good at half-time.

The home side were came out of the half-time interval in good form and stretched their lead further thanks to John Davies. Hall converted to edge McDermott’s side into a 22-6 lead. Papua New Guinea international Nene Macdonald pulled one back for Leigh in the 69th minute, which Reynolds converted. It was Featherstone who had the last say though as Brandon Pickersgill danced his way over. Hall’s conversion sealed an emphatic 28-6 victory for Rovers.