Hero Lachlan Lam sent Leigh Leopards into wonderland with the most dramatic finish in Challenge Cup final history.
For the first-time ever, rugby league’s Wembley showpiece went into golden point extra-time. And it was the superb Papuan scrum-half who held his nerve for the side coached by his dad Adrian, sealing the club’s first Cup glory in 53 years. Team-mate Gareth O’Brien had already narrowly missed one effort and Hull KR’s Brad Schneider was off target, too.
When O’Brien lined up his next effort, he was chased down by the Rovers defence so forced the ball onto Lam who’d dropped deep in anticipation for the 84th minute decider. The brilliant No7, who’d orchestrated most of Leigh’s best moves and claimed the Lance Todd Trophy, then delivered in front of around 15,000 ecstatic fans - more than a third of the Lancashire town’s entire population - to send them wild.
Enigmatic owner, with his Leopards suit, led the race onto the pitch as Leigh - playing in the Championship last year - sealed one of the most glorious days in their long history. But it was more Wembley heartbreak for Hull KR who’d been thrashed 50-0 here by Leeds on their last trip in 2015. Matt Parcell thought he’d rescued it for them by levelling the game with just 78 seconds remaining, Schneider converting a hotly-debated try.
But they wasted their second chance at glory as Leigh came home. Tom Briscoe thought he’d already won it for Lam’s side in normal time. Eight years after scoring a record five tries in that 50-0 mauling of Rovers, the ex-England winger looked set to haunt them again. With the absorbing final locked at 10-10, it was Briscoe who broke the deadlock with the 66th minute try. It was a classy backline move, O’Brien executing the final pass.
But then Parcell mopped up after Zak Hardaker failed to deal with Schneider’s high kick, although it looked like KR’s Kane Linnett spilled in the contest. Only 58,213 witnessed the occasion, partly due to a serious motorway accident that delayed thousands arriving. Rovers’ Elliot Minchella became the first player to be sin-binned in a Challenge Cup final since Bradford Bulls’ Shane Rigon in 2001 after he was deemed to have hit Rowan Milnes high and late after a kick in the 31st minute.
Contact seemed minimal and it felt like a harsh call but Willie Peters’ side dealt with going down to 12 men well. They protected their line during that 10 minute spell in a fiercely fought contest. However, the Robins were clearly out to make a fuss of John Asiata’s controversial tackle technique which has dominated many headlines of late.
His head-first throwing himself at players’ knees is not well-liked in the game but neither is it illegal. When the big loose forward downed George King with one such challenge in the third minute, almost all the KR players threw their arms up in disgust and Kane Linnett charged in to take umbrage. If it was to try and kid referee Chris Kendall into penalising the Leigh captain it failed as he rightly penalised them instead and Ben Reynolds slotted an easy two points.
However, when Reynolds with wide with another Penalty attempt in the 15th minute, things backfired quickly for Leigh. KR winger Ryan Hall collected and charged out of backfield before his side finished the set with Elliot Minchella making a brilliant midfield run to create the opening try for Jez Litten. Brad Schneider slotted the first of his four goals before Rovers felt they might have another following Briscoe’s handling error 20m from his own line.
Tom Opacic tried getting onto the loose ball and claimed he was blocked illegally by Lam but the video referee rightly deemed otherwise. Both sides made errors but Leigh got things right to respond in the 26th minute. Lam put Kai O’Donnell through with a lovely ball at the line and the Aussie second-row’s neat footwork meant he could return the ball to his stand-off who dived over for Reynolds to put them 8-6 ahead.
Reynolds slotted another penalty after that Minchella’s controversial yellow card but they bombed other chances against the 12 men. Instead, Schneider kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time following Jack Hughes’ late hit on Milnes. When Edwin Ipape hit the returned Minchella late in the 45th minute, Schneider levelled the final at 10-10. But there was so much more to come.