Leigh Leopards scored five tries as they opened their Super League campaign with a 26-14 win over Leeds Rhinos at Leigh Sports Village.
Leeds, who finished fourth just behind their opponents last season, went top through a Chris Hankinson penalty after Jarrod O’Connor knocked the ball out of his hands.
But Innes Senior made it 10-2 at the break in the 16th minute after taking a clever one-handed pass from Lachlan Lam and tipping it over to a corner, where Edwin Ipape dived for Leigh’s second try.
There were mistakes from both sides and another very costly mistake from Leeds led to their third try just 10 seconds into the second half.
Riley Lumb ran the ball in on the kickoff and Jack Hughes ran the kick in for a touchdown.
Matt Davis’ next attempt, which also owed much to Leeds’ mistakes, was initially disallowed, but the video referee ruled after a lengthy review that he had grounded the ball.
An individual effort from Cooper Jenkins gave Leeds the first try in the 52nd minute, and as tempers subsided and a major brawl ended, Harry Newman and Davis were both sent to the prisoner’s bin.
Leigh extended their lead to 18 points thanks to Lam’s 66th-minute try before Brodie Croft scored a late goal for Leeds’ poor consolation.
Catalans start season with Huddersfield win
The Catalans started their Betfred Super League campaign with a win, beating Huddersfield 26-10 at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Tries from Ben Condon and Charlie Staines gave the hosts the advantage before Sam Halsall responded at half-time, but further touchdowns from Tommy Makinson and Solomona Faataape either side of George Flanagan’s cross secured the opening win.
The Dragons opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Condon touched down and Toby Sexton added a further goal to almost take the lead, but Faataape’s effort was ruled out by the video referee.
Sexton sent the Dragons further ahead with a penalty and Staines breached the gap for his second try of the evening with Sexton converting.
Oliver Russell was shown a yellow card for a professional foul against Huddersfield, but the visitors managed to pull one back just before half-time when Halsall attempted a cross from a corner, but Flanagan failed to convert.
With a 14-4 lead, the Catalans almost struck early in the second half through Sexton, but soon scored a third try (64th minute). Faataape grounded the ball to Makinson and Sexton converted.
Flanagan responded for the Giants minutes later chasing Tuimoala Lolohea’s kick and went on to score under the posts before converting a try of his own.
However, the French team ended the game six minutes after the game ended when Pataape hit a ground ball to the left and Sexton successfully converted.
Catalans Dragons coach Joel Tompkins: “We took some lessons from last week (against Batley). I don’t know exactly what the completion was today, but it was pretty good. “Overall, we’re really happy with some of the work we did tonight.
“I’m really excited and proud of the effort. I was really pleased with the energy and enthusiasm we showed. It’s a really good sign for us moving forward for the rest of the season. If we can maintain that level of energy, we’ll be fine.”
After the rainy day, Huddersfield Giants coach Luke Robinson said: “I think the Catalans have taught us a bit of a lesson about how to play rugby in wet weather.
“It was a bit of a battle of energy, especially towards the end of the first half they had four tries and we had two so it wasn’t much, but the field position and area was huge and I think that was because we gave away seven penalties in the first half.”
