Super League: Leigh Leopards 48-10 St Helens - Leigh book play-off spot, Saints to miss out

Tries: Charnley, Armstrong, Hanley 2, Cook, Ipape, Alick-Wiencke, Mulhern Goals: Cook 8

Leigh Leopards secured their place in Super League's top six by thrashing St Helens, who will now not appear in the play-offs for the first time in the Super League era.

Saints' hopes of protecting their unblemished record were ended by an ignominious defeat as Leigh ran in eight tries.

Tries from Josh Charnley, David Armstrong, Umyla Hanley and Adam Cook opened up a 24-10 half-time lead, with Jacob Douglas and Tristan Sailor replying for Saints.

After half-time, Mark Percival was sin-binned for Saints before Edwin Ipape extended Leigh's lead, Hanley scored his second try and Jacob Alick-Wiencke and Robbie Mulhern also crossed.

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Victory secured Leigh's place in the play-offs for the fourth consecutive season and kept them fifth in the table. They could yet move up to fourth, above Wakefield, after next week's final round of fixtures.

It took them 10 minutes to score the first try as Saints failed to deal with Cook's kick, which fell for Leigh to spread the ball for Charnley to walk in on the right wing.

He then celebrated by signing a mock contract and, moments later, the public address confirmed he had signed a new deal for the 2027 season.

Leigh scored a second try four minutes later as Armstrong, Cook and Lachlan Lam combined from deep in their own half to break up the left before Armstrong sprinted in from halfway.

Saints responded by working space for Douglas to go over in the right corner before phenomenal feet from Harry Robertson left the defence for dead and he sent Sailor under the posts.

But Robertson then missed a tackle that allowed Innes Senior to break for Leigh and create Hanley's first try, before Ipape drove for the line, his offload went to ground but Cook grubbered in-goal and touched down.

After half-time, St Helens blew a two-on-one on the left wing before they lost Percival - who recently announced he will retire at the end of the season - to the sin bin for a high tackle.

Leigh eventually made the extra man count when a second set of six and a quick play-the-ball under the posts led to Ipape barging over.

Shane Wright then gave a penalty away for obstruction in the shadow of his own posts and Leigh worked the ball to Hanley on the right, who burst through three tackles to find the line.

Further tries in the rain would follow as Alick-Wiencke slid in before Mulhern charged over with the final play of the game.

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:

"We wanted to respond from last week and I'm pleased, it puts us back on track.

"Josh [Charnley] is still playing as well as he has been, he's a fan favourite and a big part of this club. The legacy and DNA we've been building since we came back up - he's been a big part of that.

"Had you had said to us a quarter of the way through [the season], would you accept where we are now? Absolutely."

St Helens interim head coach Eamon O'Carroll told BBC Radio Merseyside:

"The scoreline probably doesn't reflect the effort and I'm unbelievably proud of the players.

"I've been in this role for six weeks and if there's one thing I wanted to get out of it, it is that we had a team that turned up for each other and we had that tonight.

"It's great to give young lads a chance, ideally you'd like to do it with a few more senior players around them, so they're not exposed as much, but they can hold their heads up and they'll certainly be better for this experience."

Leigh: Armstrong; Senior, Brand, Handley, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Ofahengaue, Horne, Mulhern, Alick-Wiencke, Trout, Liu.

Interchanges: Brogan, Badrock, Davis, Ipape.

St Helens: Sailor; Douglas, Percival, Welsby, Cross; Robertson, Lomax; Klemmer, Humphreys, Horst, Keeley, Wright, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Marsh, Evans, Matagi, Knox.