Leigh hold nerve to edge St Helens and finish fifth

Betfred Super League

Leigh (12) 18

Tries: Asiata, Leutele, Charnley Goals: Moylan 3

St Helens (0) 12

Tries: Makinson, Knowles Goals: Bennison 2

Leigh Leopards produced the performance they needed to book their Super League play-off place, edging a bruising encounter against St Helens.

Home nerves frayed after a second-half Saints charge cancelled out a two-try advantage inside four minutes, after Ricky Leutele was controversially sin-binned.

But Josh Charnley’s brilliant effort 12 minutes from time and a penalty from Matt Moylan saw Adrian Lam’s side to two points and earned them an eliminator round tie at Salford Red Devils on Friday, 27 September.

Charnley's try drew him level in second place with Danny Maguire in the Super League all-time scorer's list.

Defeat for Saints means they slip to sixth place in the table, sending them into a daunting looking match-up with third-placed Warrington Wolves in their eliminator on Saturday, 28 September.

More to follow.

Leigh Leopards: Moylan; McIntosh, Hanley, Leutele, Charnley; O’Brien, Lam; Halton, O’Donnell, Asiata; Amone, Ipape, Mulhern.

Interchanges: Hughes, Trout, Dwyer, Pene

St Helens: Welsby; Makinson, Percival, Mata’utia, Bennison; Lomax, Dodd; Whitley, Batchelor, Knowles; Delaney, Burns, Lees.

Interchanges: Clark, Bell, Paasi, Stephens

Referee: Liam Moore.