Andy Thorniley back on board with Leigh Centurions, Ricky Bibey retires

Thornley, a member of last season’s Northern Rail Cup winning squad, is currently training with Leigh on a trial basis.

He has tried his hand at rugby union over the last seven months with appearances for Leeds Carnegie, Sale Sharks reserves and Preston Grasshoppers.

Thornley made 30 appearances for Leigh last term and crossed for four tries.

“After finishing with Leeds, Andy has asked us can he come and train with us, have a bit of a trial and get back into rugby league,” said head coach Paul Rowley.

“We are not in a position to turn people down who are familiar with the people here and the environment.

“We know Andy, there is not a big risk to it. We do look carefully and closely at the people we bring in, that they do fit in with what we are trying to build here. That box was already ticked.”

Bibey has had to hang up his boots after a professional career of more than 200 games for Wigan, St Helens, Wakefield, Oldham and Leigh.

The 30-year-old prop, who was in his third spell with the club, last pulled on a Leigh shirt on March 30 when he helped the Centurions claim their first league win of the season against York City Knights.

Since then, Bibey has been plagued with an Achilles’ tendon injury and sought specialist advice.

“Ricky received some news from the specialist last Friday that advised him to discontinue playing rugby,” said Rowley.

“He’s a big loss for us, both on the field and around the club. Ricky has had a fantastic career and he’s been a very good professional.”

Centurions continued their quiet progression in this season’s Co-operative Championship with a 30-10 home win against Hunslet that sets them up for the challenges that face them at Dewsbury’s Tetley Stadium this Sunday.

Looking back at an error strewn performance against Hunslet, Rowley focused on the positives.

“We had some really good defence individually and collectively,” he said.

“We got through quite a bit of work because of the errors we made.

“Our completions were around 55 per cent where we’d normally be around 80 per cent.

“We were probably an inch from rolling them quite heavily, and that did make life quite difficult for ourselves but 30-10 is quite convincing and we are delighted to get three points.”

Dewsbury lost heavily themselves last week to Sheffield but Rowley is not reading too much into that result.

“They are a really hard running side with powerful players.

“There is no other option, other than to stand up and be counted at Dewsbury because it is such a small pitch, it is always a physical contest whether Dewsbury are at the top or bottom of the league. It will be a very difficult game. We understand that and we’ll be prepared.”

Meanwhile, John Duffy has been granted a three-month Testimonial by the RFL and details of events are expected to be released shortly.

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