Challenge Cup final: Hull KR 16-17 Leigh Leopards - Leigh claim first Wembley final win in 52 years
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Challenge Cup highlights: Leigh Leopards beat Hull KR with golden point winner
Betfred Challenge Cup Final |
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Hull KR (8) 16 |
Tries: Litten, Parcell Goals: Schneider 4 |
Leigh (10) 17 |
Tries: Lam, Briscoe Goals: Reynolds 4 Drop-goal: Lam |
Leigh Leopards won their first Challenge Cup title for 52 years after they edged out a valiant Hull KR on golden point in a thriller at Wembley.
Jez Litten hit back for Hull KR after Ben Reynolds' early penalty but Lachlan Lam responded with a fine solo try.
Brad Schneider's kicking levelled things up 10-10 but Tom Briscoe seemed to have won it for Leigh with his try.
Matt Parcell's late try took it to golden point, however, but Lachlan Lam kicked the winning drop-goal for Leigh.
Challenge Cup final: Leigh claim title after golden point in extra time
This was a breathless affair at Wembley that looked impossible to call throughout, as two teams with very little between them played out a contest that took sudden death to separate.
Errors punctuated the play, but also added to the excitement, as two teams starved of the big occasion turned up and delivered a nervy thriller.
Moments of quality broke through the brutality, such as Elliot Minchella's ghosting run to tee up Litten's score, and a wonderful set up to send O'Donnell through in reply for Lam's opener.
Discipline threatened to undo Rovers in particular, when Minchella was sinbinned, but the only points in that spell actually came from Schneider's boot.
The game was nip and tuck in the second-half, with Leigh's key players such as Asiata and Ipape starting to flag from long minutes.
Briscoe's try was another exhibition of Leigh at their sharpest, slicing out wide, and it looked enough.
However, Rowan Milnes' 'Hail Mary' kick into backfield was not dealt with by Zak Hardaker and Parcell pounced to take the game to golden point.
Neither side deserved the taste of defeat, but after missed attempts by Gareth O'Brien and Brad Schneider, Lam came up with the clutch play to give his father and his team a moment of glory to savour.
Beaumont investment pays off for Leopards
Lachlan Lam (right) son of Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam, scored the winning point deep in golden point extra time
The end of a 52-year wait for success in the Challenge Cup is made all the more remarkable by the rapid ascent the Leopards have made over the past two seasons.
History tells us that promoted clubs struggle in Super League, but having assembled a star-studded squad to win promotion from the Championship last season with State of Origin star Blake Ferguson and Papua New Guinea international Nene MacDonald added to the mix, there has been a continuation since hitting the top flight.
Ferguson and MacDonald have gone but in their place, Lam and Beaumont, assisted by ex-Hull KR coach Chris Chester as director of rugby, Leigh have brought in experience such as Zak Hardaker and Tom Briscoe - proven players deemed to be surplus to requirements at other clubs.
Robbie Mulhern, Matt Davis, Oli Holmes and Jack Hughes were also 'cast-offs' who have rebuilt their careers under Lam's tutelage and who played key roles.
Asiata and Lam, already established National Rugby League players in Australia, have been key components, with the former marrying ball-carry skill with a toughness to bring the best out of his creative half-back.
They are currently third in Super League, and only a relatively small squad reliant on its key figures would hamper their play-offs hopes for the Grand Final on this big-game evidence.
The rebranding as the Leopards has paid off, with Wembley decked in leopard-print for half of the stadium, and this reward for Beaumont's investment could be the catalyst for more success moving forward.
Hull KR: Lewis; Ryan, Opacic, Kenny-Dowall, Hall; Milnes, Schneider; Kennedy, Litten, King, Batchelor, Linnett, Minchella.
Interchanges: Parcell, Storton, Hadley, Luckley.
Leigh: O'Brien; Charnley, Chamberlain, Hardaker, Briscoe; Reynolds, Lam; Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, O'Donnell, Hughes, Asiata.
Interchanges: Mellor, Holmes, Nakubuwai, Davis.
Referee: Chris Kendall.