Leigh Leopards ran in five tries as they opened their Super League campaign with a 26-14 victory over Leeds Rhinos at Leigh Sports Village.
Leeds, who finished just behind their opponents last season in fourth, were first on the board through a penalty from Chris Hankinson after Jarrod O’Connor had the ball knocked from his grasp.
But Innes Senior went over in the corner in the 16th minute – seizing on a clever one-handed pass from Lachlan Lam – and it was 10-2 at the break after Edwin Ipape dived over for Leigh’s second try.
There were errors from both sides, and another very costly one from Leeds from the restart led to the third try, 10 seconds into the second half.
Riley Lumb spilled the ball from the kick-off, with Jack Hughes kicking through and then touching down.
Matt Davis’ next try, which also owed much to Leeds mistakes, was initially disallowed but the video referee ruled he had grounded the ball after a lengthy review.
Cooper Jenkins’ individual effort in the 52nd minute gave Leeds their first try, while tempers were fraying and a mass brawl ended with Harry Newman and Davis both sent to the sin bin.
Leigh extended their lead to 18 points thanks to Lam’s 66th-minute try, with Brodie Croft’s late score for Leeds scant consolation.
Catalans kick season off with Huddersfield win
Catalans began their Betfred Super League campaign with a win after beating Huddersfield 26-10 at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Tries from Ben Condon and Charlie Staines gave the hosts the advantage before Sam Halsall replied on the stroke of half-time, but further touchdowns from Tommy Makinson and Solomona Faataape secured an opening-round win, either side of George Flanagan crossing.
The Dragons opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Condon touched down and Toby Sexton added the extras before they nearly extended their advantage, but Faataape’s effort was ruled out by the video referee.
Sexton sent the Dragons ahead further with a penalty and Staines burst through a gap to ground for their second try of the evening, with Sexton converting.
Oliver Russell was shown a yellow card for Huddersfield for a professional foul, but the visitors managed to pull one back just before half-time when Halsall broke forward to cross in the corner, but Flanagan was unable to convert.
With a 14-4 lead, Catalans almost struck early in the second half through Sexton, but they soon bagged their third try – 64 minutes in – when Faataape played the ball into Makinson to ground, with Sexton converting.
Flanagan then replied just minutes later for Giants after chasing down Tuimoala Lolohea’s kick and went on to score underneath the posts before converting his own try.
However, the French side wrapped up the game with six minutes to play when Faataape burst down the left to ground and Sexton’s conversion was successful.
Catalans Dragons coach Joel Tomkins: “We learnt some lessons from last week [against Batley], I’m not sure exactly what the completion was today but it was pretty good. Overall we’re really happy with some of the things we did tonight.
“I’m really proud, proud of the effort. I was really happy with the energy and the enthusiasm we turned up with. Some really good signs for us moving forward through the rest of the season. If we can keep that level of energy we’ll be okay.”
After competing in rainy conditions, Huddersfield Giants coach Luke Robinson said: “I think all credit to Catalans, I think they gave us a bit of a lesson in how you play wet-weather rugby.
“It was a little bit of an energy battle, particularly towards the end of the first-half, they scored four tries and we scored two so there wasn’t that much in it. But I think field position and territory were massive and that was due to us giving away seven penalties in that first half.”
