LEIGH EAST went down fighting at Wigan St Jude's.

They were beaten 37-24 but showed true fighting spirit.

East were soon playing catch-up rugby, trailing 6-0 in the first two minutes. And they never recovered.

Lee Penkywicz hit back for the Grasmere Street side but the home side were soon back on top with another converted try.

Tim Fletcher narrowed the scores again with a TD, only for Jude's to score another six-pointer.

John Gunning scored East's third try and the Wiganers ended the half with a try under the sticks for a 24-12 interval lead.

Trailing 37-12 with 20 minutes to go East rallied with tries from Gredecki and Gary Fletcher, which Gunning goaled to end the scoring.

East U9s enjoyed a free-scoring game with Woolston with tries for MoM Adam Thomasson 4, James Pike 3, Daniel Pane 2, Martin Grainey and Ryan Holcroft. TT Jake Bond.

They also beat Westhoughton Lions 30-8 with a solid team effort. Tries from Kieron Williams 3, Sam Brown 2, Martin Howard 2 and Matthew Rozman.

LEIGH Royal Oak beat Weaverham 42-8 in Round One of the NorthWest Counties ARL Cup with a great team show. Tries for M Newall 2, M German 2, MoM P Wilcock and I Hall.

But Leigh Harriers lost 22-20 at home to Shaw Rhinos, while Culcheth Eagles, Leigh East and Hindley all go through on walk-overs.

In the Lancashire Cup (5th Round) Leigh MR won 17-7 at Folly Lane.

Back in the league . . . Division Four: Culcheth Eagles 42 Bamber Bridge 6; Division Six: Adlington 44 Parkside Golborne 22.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.