The Good
1) Great to be back at the LSV. Familiar sights, sounds and smells of Rugby League. Even a hint of Winter Green takes me back to the days as a child, standing at the fence within a few feet of a well oiled up Des Drummond.
2) Players having a good game: Lachlan Lam sporting blonde hair and sending out his trademark blind passes. Tom Nisbet worked hard throughout. Tom Amone and Robbie Mulhern made barnstorming runs down the centre channels. Ben Nakubuwai looked bigger and stronger for his World Cup campaign. Zak Hardaker was consistent and determined, he was never going to be stopped going for the line for the winning try.
3) The fans were treated to a bit of biff. Of course Leigh got penalised for the incident
4) A win against the mighty Leeds Rhinos, they don’t come around too often.
5) Winners of the Bev Risman cup – silverware in the bag.
6) 2,900 not bad for a friendly match
The Bad
1) The Leopards home kit is an absolute disaster. The intricate design blurs from a distance making it appear a mucky grey when viewed from the back. As pointed out already the Names and Numbering are not clear against the mucky grey and require a white background to make them legible.
2) The referee, I had a season of not worrying too much about the man in the middle, due to Leigh being so dominant last season. The bigger clubs always appear to get the rub of green from decisions. In one passage of play Leigh had a tap penalty – The ball was thrown badly from the side-line delaying the tap. The Leeds team advanced 5 metres then stopped before Leigh tapped the ball. Options for the Ref – Offside the lot of them, Play the tap again, or continue. So continue was the result. The next 4 play the balls saw Leeds delaying with lying on, checking the line is set before peeling out of the tackle. No 6 more awarded. Next set for Leeds Leigh are pinged on Play 2. Equality would be nice.
3) Yes, it was cold. The fans used to look forward to the Boxing day and New Year fixtures, but Summer Rugby is much more enjoyable.
The Ugly
1) The Home strip
2) Leeds using the Leigh dugout