Catalans Dragons v Leigh Centurions, match report

Centurions, who flew out of Manchester on the morning of the game in a privately chartered plane, were 40-0 behind at the break in the evening heat of Perpignan.

Catalans got the first of their 11 tries on the board in the second minute and then showed no mercy to a Leigh side being looked after on this occasion by assistant coach Micky Higham and one that showed a number of changes from the side defeated 40-12 at second-place St Helens on Thursday.

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The game marked Jai Whitbread coming on as substitute for Rob Butler on 19 minutes for his Centurions debut – just 72 hours after landing in the UK from Australia.

Mike McMeeken was first to cross the line after good work from half-backs James Maloney and Josh Drinkwater, Maloney adding the conversion.

Winger Tom Davies then went close but could not control a loose ball in the Leigh in-goal area.

However, he forced the visitors into dropping out from behind their own line and a simple switch to the left saw Fouad Yaha side-step his way over by the corner flag. Maloney added yet another impressive conversion from the touchline to make it 12-0 with only nine minutes gone.

Leigh then squandered possession with a knock-on on their own 20-metre line and the ball was quickly moved to McMeeken, who sliced cleanly through the defence for his second try, Maloney again accurate with the conversion.

McMeeken was involved again with the next try for Catalans as he steamed behind the posts and back-heeled a loose ball up into the hands of Maloney, who touched down and converted his own try to make it 24-0 halfway through the first half.

French prop Jordan Dezaria was running riot as Leigh’s defence struggled to contain the Dragons’ pack and, when the Centurions were penalised for a shoulder charge off the ball, it was almost too easy for Catalans to spin the ball to the left for winger Yaha to score his second try, Maloney missing his first kick from out wide.

Yaha hit his hat-trick in the 33rd minute after Catalans resisted a mini Leigh revival, testing Maloney’s kicking skills once again from the touchline. This time the Aussie veteran was back on target to make it 34-0.

McMeeken quickly followed with his third try of the game when he climbed highest to catch a Sam Tomkins high kick and crossed to score, and Maloney’s sixth successful conversion of the half made it 40-0 at the interval.

Leigh lost control of the ball in the first set of the second half and Catalans went close twice as Leigh were forced to drop out three more times from behind their own posts.

But it took 12 minutes before Leigh’s defence cracked when Michael McIlorum put Joel Tomkins through a gap for a close-range try, Maloney converting to make it 46-0.

Then came the try of the night when Sam Tomkins started and finished a dazzling attacking move to score by the posts and Maloney added two more points with the boot.

Sam Tomkins scored a second two minutes later, striding through a huge gap in the Leigh line, with Maloney’s conversion taking the Dragons to 58 unanswered points.

Davies concluded a 75-metre strike four minutes from the end, Maloney adding his 10th conversion.

Catalans: S Tomkins; Davies, Laguerre, Langi, Yaha; Drinkwater, Maloney; Bousquet, McIlorum, Dezaria, Le Cam, McMeeken, Goudemand. Subs: Mourgue, J Tomkins, Cozza, J Chan.

Leigh: Brand; Elliot, Sa’u, Logan, Nisbet; Brierley, Mellor; Mason, Eaves, Butler, Hellewell, Foster, Thompson. Subs: Gerrard, Mullen, Spencer, Whitbread.