St Helens stay top after Leigh victory

St Helens made it three wins from three in a feisty encounter with Leigh Leopards to stay top of Super League.

The teams continued their feud from last season's Challenge Cup semi-final as Leigh's John Asiata was sin-binned after only 40 seconds.

Asiata was later injured as the visitors stayed in touch as Zak Hardaker replied to Jack Welsby's try.

Saints upped the pressure in the second half for Tommy Makinson to score and Mark Percival's penalty kick sealed it.

These two sides played out three tight, tense Lancashire derbies last season, with the Leopards winning two of them, including that fractious semi-final on their way to Wembley glory.

Hostilities were resumed from the first whistle as Asiata scythed Sione Mata'utia's legs from under him, resulting in a melee of players, with Asiata going face-to-face with Morgan Knowles.

The Saints forward was one of four players injured in tackles by Asiata in that semi-final, leading to a rule change by the RFL, but this time the Samoan was sent to the sin-bin.

Leigh defended stoically and attacked expansively with 12 men, but Saints are in no mood to be also-rans again after seeing Wigan Warriors end their run of four consecutive titles, and Matt Whitley sent Welsby over to break the deadlock.

Brad Dwyer's incredible tackle denied wrecking ball Konrad Hurrell a try to keep the half-time score to 4-0, and that paid off with their first attack of the second half.

Ben Nakubuwai made the half-break and after Welsby managed to keep out Gareth O'Brien, Hardaker crashed over to level it.

Saints, however, are showing strong signs that they are a tighter, more effective unit this season, and they stepped up a gear to win the game and condemn Leigh to remain winless this season.

Within three minutes, Hurrell was at it again, drawing in four tacklers and slipping an offload that sent Lewis Dodd through a depleted defence.

He had Makinson in support, and his try between the posts meant Percival had an easy conversion, to which he added a penalty to give his team a cushion.

Asiata ended the night on crutches with a torn calf muscle, and Leigh lost Tom Briascoe with a similar injury to round off a frustrating night.

St Helens: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Clark, Mata'utia, Whitley, Sironen, Knowles.

Interchanges: Mbye, Bell, Wingfield, Delaney.

Leigh: O'Brien, Briscoe, Hardaker, Leutele, Charnley, Moylan, Lam, Hughes, Dwyer, Mulhern, O'Donnell, Halton, Asiata.

Interchanges: Norman, Davis, Nakubuwai, Trout.

Sin-bin: Asiata (1).

Referee: Liam Moore.