Despite sweeping all before them in the Championship last year and this, questions are still asked about whether Leigh Centurions can cut it when it comes to fighting it out against Super League sides.
After all, when Super League’s bottom four and the Championship’s top four meet later this year to fight it out for the remaining spots in the top tier in 2016, Leigh will have to compete against a quartet of Super League teams.
However, after this victory, there can be no doubting that Leigh are ready for the big time. Big spending Salford sit fourth in Super League but they were the victims of a classic cup upset against a Leigh side who have now won a remarkable 21 games in succession.
This was the wonderful magic that the Challenge Cup can so often provide, and with all the talk about Leigh’s Gareth Hock facing his former club for the first time despite the threat of legal action from Salford, Leigh ultimately let their rugby do the talking.
The victorious coach, Paul Rowley, said: “We’ve come far as a group; we’ve got commitment and toughness here. We had some warriors out there and we dealt with a very good Salford side well.”
Salford, without their suspended half-back Rangi Chase, suffered a huge blow when they lost scrum-half Michael Dobson after 10 minutes, and they never recovered.
Their coach, Iestyn Harris, said: “There’s no excuses; we were a little bit dumb at times.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Leigh. They were fantastic and they deserve their place in the next round. We’re not going to disrespect a good day for a club like Leigh.”
Two tries apiece meant the game was finely poised at 12-12 at the break, before Niall Evalds made it 18-12 with a well-worked score to put the visitors in front.
Leigh hit back strongly though and almost scored when Liam Kay lost the ball when over the line after Theo Fages’s last-ditch tackle but two tries in three minutes turned the game around. First, Ryan Brierley pounced on a lazy pass from Ben Jones-Bishop to level the scores before a magnificent try from Jonathan Pownall proved to be the decider.
Salford threw everything they could at the Centurions in the latter stages to try and bounce back, but Leigh’s defence held firm and resolute to secure a memorable win and a passage into the last-16 draw that will take place on Monday. After this performance, there will not be many sides who fancy a trip to Leigh.
