Leigh Centurions 68 Rochdale Hornets 16

TOMMY Martyn and Norman Turley went out of their way to put up the 'business as usual signs' despite the media circus following Alex Murphy's every move.

Catapulted into a joint coaching role, Martyn and Turley wanted the players to do their talking out on the field. No distractions. And they did - loud and clear.

Working on the theory that actions speak louder than words, the Centurions set about taking third-placed Rochdale to the cleaners. Twelve tries - the majority of them right out of the top drawer - were enough to put a smile on Murphy's face and send him back to France to continue his holiday happy in the knowledge that the team was in good hands.

Many observers may have noticed little difference in the Centurions post-Terzis, but a simplified gameplan put in place by the new backroom team didn't do them any harm.

"It's been a tough week," Martyn reflected. "All Norman and I wanted the players to do was forget what was happening off the pitch and concentrate on their own game.

"Paul and I had put certain plans in place before he left. All Norman and I did was to simplify them. To score 68 points against a team as good as Rochdale was more than we could have hoped for."

If Martyn and Turley wanted their big game players to lead from the front they got the right sort of response.

Paul Rowley produced the sort of performance that makes him head and shoulders above anything else in this division; John Duffy wasn't far behind as he created opening after opening and Lee Sanderson clearly relished a rare 80 minutes at this level.

Front rowers Sonny Nickle, Dave Bradbury, Ricky Bibey and Paul Norman won the battle upfront hands down, laying the platform for the rest of the team to play some champagne rugby at times.

But there would have been a bit of head-scratching in the Leigh camp as they made a sluggish start and looked in for a tough afternoon.

Less than three minutes had gone and Danny Halliwell had already pulled off one try-saver to stop David Larder when Radney Bowker dummied and broke from half way to get winger Ryan Blake got in at the corner.

Clearly stung by Hornets' start, Leigh set about repairing the damage and they were in front after eight minutes when a training ground set-piece between Duffy and Turley saw Sanderson hit a ball at pace and scream through for a try that gave Turley the first of his 10 goals.

Mick Nanyn briefly restored parity with a gift penalty before eased away with a salvo of three tries in eight minutes. Duffy's twinkling footwork created a four-pointer for Dale Holdstock; Leroy Rivett got outside the defence on the right wing and finished with some style before Rowley's sprint out of dummy half laid a try on a plate for Pat Weisner and a 20-6 lead.

Another double burst of tries just before half time killed the contest stone dead.

The first was started by Turley who collected a hopeful Hornets kick right on his own deadball line; 60 metres later Turley was handing over to Rowley who finished under the posts at the other end. Not long afterwards Leigh's kick-chase game brought them another try, David Alstead winning the race after Duffy had put in a measured kick on the first tackle.

At 32-6 Hornets were gone but for a brief spell at the start of the second half they showed some stomach for the fight. A couple of Leigh defensive errors let them strike twice in three minutes through Larder and Roper to cut the margin to 32-16.

A Turley penalty got Leigh moving again and when Leigh rattled up three tries in the space of five minutes, the game was up for Rochdale.

For a second time in the game Leigh showed how capable they were of springing from defence into attack. Rivett saved a certain try with a brilliant recovery tackle on Blake, Leigh quickly regained possession and Sanderson made all the running for Bristow to gallop away to the posts. Another explosive run out of dummy half brought Rowley his second and Duffy finally picked up the try his efforts deserved with a dummy and side-step to bring up yet another half-century of points.

Leigh were far from finished and were keen to plunder as many points as they could. Salford, beaten at Hull KR, would have been nervously looking over their shoulders as Leigh clawed back the points difference.

Sanderson's persistence regained possession for Nickle to charge clear unchallenged, Duffy set up Weisner for his second and Rowley completed a hat-trick for a second home game in succession.

In the end Leigh had to settle for runners-up spot as Salford clung on as Minor Premiers - but with a points difference margin of just 45.

SCORERS - Leigh: Tries - Sanderson (8), Holdstock (20), Rivett (25), Weisner (28, 70), Rowley (34, 56, 76), Alstead (38), Bristow (51), Duffy (64), Nickle (67). Gls - Turley 10/14.

Rochdale: Tries - Blake (3), Larder (43), Roper (46). Gls: Nanyn 2/3.

Leigh: Turley; Rivett, Holdstock, Halliwell, Alstead; Duffy, Sanderson; Nickle, Rowley, Bibey, Weisner, Henare, Bristow. Subs used: Norman, Swann, Richardson, Bradbury.

Rochdale: Irwin; Nanyn, Bunyan, Roper, Blake; Bowker, Watson; Southern, Pachniuck, Price, Larder, Smith, Ball. Subs used: Ayres, Leigh, Stephenson, Long.

Handling errors: Leigh 5, Rochdale 8.

Penalties conceded: Leigh 8, Rochdale 8.

Half time: 32-6.

Referee: Bob Connolly (Wigan).

Attendance: 2382