Lam secures golden-point win for Leigh over Hull KR in Challenge Cup final

Leigh Leopards won the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1971 in the most dramatic of manners, as Lachlan Lam’s extra-time drop goal ensured they won rugby league’s biggest trophy at the expense of Hull KR Kingston Rovers, whose own lengthy wait for the cup goes on.

The Leopards weren’t even a Super League club 12 months ago, but Lam’s drop goal in golden point extra-time here – the first time in history the cup final has gone beyond 80 minutes, – meant they won the cup for only the third time in their history, and the first in over 50 years. It caps a remarkable transformation for Leigh, who are in contention to complete an historic treble with success in Super League.

They led a pulsating final with a minute to go and looked set to win in normal time before Matt Parcell’s dramatic try for Rovers sent the final to extra-time. However, the Leopards held their nerve, with Lam kicking the winning point to ensure the cup will be heading to Leigh.

It was a back-and-forth final in which there was never more than six points between the sides, and it felt as though it would always be decided by the tightest of margins. An early penalty allowed Ben Reynolds to kick Leigh into an early lead, before Elliot Minchella’s superb break laid the platform for Brad Schneider to touch down.

Leigh soon responded though when Kai O’Donnell’s break led to Lam – son of head coach Adrian – scoring, with Reynolds’s conversion putting the Leopards back in front. However, Minchella then took centre stage again as he was sin-binned after making contact with Reynolds’ head, allowing the half-back to nudge Leigh’s lead out to four with another penalty.

However, the Leopards couldn’t punish Hull KR any further with Minchella off the field and when the Robins added a penalty of their own through Schneider to narrow the gap to two at half-time, you felt they would have been content with where they stood in the game. Minchella returned two minutes after half-time and was then hit late by Edwin Ipape to allow Schneider to level the scores with another penalty. As the game entered the final quarter, you began to think one play could be decisive.

That moment seemingly arrived 10 minutes from full time as Reynolds and Lam combined to create the space for Briscoe to touch down in the corner, with Reynolds nervelessly converting from out wide to open up a six-point gap.

Just as it looked as though Leigh would hold on, they failed to deal with a Schneider kick and Matt Parcell grounded, with Schneider levelling the scores from the conversion to send the final to extra time for the first time in history. Gareth O’Brien and Schneider both missed with drop goal attempts before Lam struck the decisive blow and ensure it would be the Leopards who lifted the trophy.