Leigh Centurions head of rugby Chris Chester confirms exit of six and gives view on Derek Beaumont

[josie andrews]

Leigh Centurions have been one of the most impressive teams to ever be involved in the Championship competition.

Working their way through their rivals, Adrian Lam’s men have lost just once all season and that was to Featherstone Rovers in round two.

Since then, the Lancashire club have gone unbeaten with the likes of Blake Ferguson, Lachlan Lam, Edwin Ipape and Caleb Aekins signing on the dotted line for the Centurions.

That calibre of player is incredible to see in the Championship, but with Leigh having 13 overseas player, they will need to cut six of those if they do get promoted to Super League due to the quota rules in the top flight.

And, head of rugby Chris Chester has confirmed that they will have to ‘trim’ the squad and he hailed the input of Derek Beaumont who has been able to bankroll the club in an incredible fashion.

“I’m loving life at the moment, we’ve got a real opportunity to get into Super League,” Chester said on Sky Sports.

The boys are doing it in the field, without Derek’s (Beaumont) money and support a lot of this wouldn’t be possible.

“Coming into this club was the big thing to change perceptions of Leigh Centurions and bring good people into the group and we’ve managed to achieve that. We’ve brought in the right coach and we’ve got a strong culture.

“We’ve brought 13 from overseas and that will be a real difficulty to trim that down to seven, but everything boils down to that one game at the end of the year.”

It does seem almost inevitable that Leigh will be in that one-off game at the end of the year and pretty much nailed on that they will reach the Super League, though Featherstone Rovers and the likes of Batley Bulldogs and Halifax Panthers will have their own say.

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/leigh-ce ... ont-57840/