Leigh duo land 3s in shock Huddersfield defeat as play-off wait goes on

Leigh suffered a shock 30-18 defeat on the road at Huddersfield Giants on Friday night, with the Leopards’ wait to cement their play-off spot continuing.

Live from the press box at the Accu Stadium, our Leopards ratings…

Gareth O’Brien – 5

Not the way O’Brien will have wanted to mark his 350th career appearance having come in for the injured David Armstrong. The veteran produced a try-saver early on and went okay in the most part, but his miscommunication with Innes Senior in particular was evident throughout.

Innes Senior – 3

Senior made his 150th Super League appearance, but had a night to forget. The headline act of a poor 80 minutes was a woeful dropped ball to gift Taane Milne a try just before half-time.

Andy Badrock – 4

Far from the worst culprit of the night, but Badrock never really got into the game with the ball in hand – and Leigh were beaten all ends up defensively.

Umyla Hanley – 5

Hanley’s 100th career appearance saw him in some discomfort early on, and he never reached anywhere near the highs we’ve become accustomed to, evidenced by a really poor pass thrown into touch in the first half. Credit needed for his second half try-saver on Tanguy Zenon though, and another try on his tally.

Josh Charnley – 5

Charnley was responsible for a couple of bright attacking moments, and they were sparse on the night. Huge credit for his try-saver on George Flanagan, with the veteran chasing down the Giants youngster to prevent a sure-fire score. We were close to a 6 here.

Adam Cook – 5

Cook looked to have set the tone early on as he caught Adam Clune in his own half on the last tackle to earn Leigh the ball back, but it didn’t prove so. An assist for Hanley from the Australian in the second half and three conversions, but his restart which went out on the full summed the night up for the visitors.

Lachlan Lam – 4

A distinct lack of creative spark throughout.

Joe Ofahengaue – 5

Ofahengaue nowhere near his usual self, seemed to get rattled on a couple of occasions, which is really unlike him.

Liam Horne – 4

Horne had two stints on the field and didn’t influence very much.

Robbie Mulhern – 5

Mulhern got through a hell of a lot of defensive work in the first half-an-hour, and it wasn’t until he went off that the floodgates opened towards the end of the opening 40. Returned for the back end of the second half and took his try well.

Jack Hughes – 3

Back in the side after suspension, a disappointing night for Hughes.

Owen Trout – 4

Trout got the game’s opening try and took it well before producing a big defensive effort, but it was all downhill in the second half which began in horrid fashion. The forward dropped a goal-line drop out and then missed a tackle in the same set which saw Niall Evalds score underneath the sticks at the other end. Nightmare fuel.

Isaac Liu – 5

Liu tried to make things happen consistently whenever he got the chance, but little came off.

Louis Brogan (Interchange) – 4

Brogan has produced much better than this.

Jack Ashworth (Interchange) – 4

Not a great stint from Ashworth.

Jacob Alick-Wiencke (Interchange) – 4

Another forgettable showing.

Edwin Ipape (Interchange) – 5

Ipape started well off the bench, but gave away the penalty which saw Huddersfield nudge in front for the first time towards the end of the first half and seemingly never recovered.