Rhinos hold out courageous Centurions

v BYE

A Liam Sutcliffe drop goal and a second half penalty proved the difference between the sides at the Leigh Sports Village as the Rhinos opened their account for 2017.

The Rhinos fell behind early on when Leigh moved the ball quickly along the back line and created space for Matty Dawson to score in the corner.  Ben Reynolds conversion attempt hit the post and rebounded away however he soon made amends when he managed to free his arms in a tackle and offloaded to full back Mitch Brown to score and make it 8-0 to the home side after as many minutes.

The Rhinos needed to find a response and it was Adam Cuthbertson who made an immediate impact as he came off the bench. With just his second touch he took the ball near the line and powered his way over. Liam Sutcliffe added the conversion to cut the gap to 8-6 after 13 minutes.

Leeds then immediately struck again in the next set. Matt Parcell tore into the home defence before passing to Carl Ablett, who fed Ryan Hall down the touchline to score. Sutcliffe narrowly missed the conversion from wide but his side now led.

The game was a real tussle between two very committed sides and the Rhinos had to produce some outstanding defence to keep Leigh out. Having done that, they crossed for a third try through Jimmy Keinhorst. The centre, who had come in for Joel Moon after he was ruled out with concussion, showed great strength to get the ball down under pressure. 

The lead could have been increased soon after when Ryan Hall was released down the touchline, he opted to look for Rob Burrow with the inside pass but the scrum half could not take the ball in and the chance went begging.

Sutcliffe did extend the lead with the final kick of the first half with a drop goal from near halfway was the hooter sounded to make it 15-8 at the break.

The second half was a tense affair as both teams went in search of their first win of the new season. Leigh enjoyed the lions share of possession but Leeds held firm and eventually were rewarded when Leigh were penalised for interference at the tackle. Sutcliffe increased the lead with a penalty to make it 17-8.

The home side were then reduced to 12 men when Jamie Action was sin binned for needlessly trying to slow down the Rhinos taking a 20m tap and it looked like the visitors might go on and secure the win. 

However, roared on by their home crowd, Leigh finished strongly. They were twice correctly denied tries by video referee Ben Thaler but they set up a grandstand finish when Ben Crooks cut back in field to score his side's third try. Reynolds converted to cut the gap to 17-14. 

Leigh then looked certain to score again when Atelea Vea broke through but an incredible tackle by Keinhorst denied him and the Rhinos held on.

This article originally appeared on therhinos.co.uk.