Jamie Peacock slams “lazy” tackle from Hull KR star

As Hull KR and Leigh Leopards met in the Challenge Cup Final, Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Peacock had some bold things to say about a key decision.

For the first time since 2001, we saw a yellow card in the Challenge Cup Final as Elliot Minchella, a former teammate of Peacock’s at Leeds, was sin binned for a late hit on Ben Reynolds catching him with his elbow.

Chris Kendall said the contact was late and that there was no effort to wrap from Minchella hence the yellow card came out.

Speaking on BBC, Peacock was critical of Minchella calling the effort lazy.

“It is lazy from Minchella, but in the context of the game and the occasion I don’t think that can be a yellow card.

“I think when you look at some of the other things that have happened in the game, for the one yellow card for that it seems very harsh.

“It’s a penalty but I don’t think that was worthy of 10 in the bin on a day like this.”

All told, it was a great game as Hull KR struck first. Elliot Minchella gave away that penalty but immediately made amends as he broke through and found Jez Litten in support to score.

A Tom Briscoe error nearly led to a Tom Opacic try as the ball was kicked ahead. Opacic was then tripped up by Lachlan Lam who went for the ball but it was deemed an accident and no penalty try was given.

Leigh then said anything you can do we can do better as Kai O’Donnell broke through in similar fashion finding Lachlan Lam in support to score.

Minchella’s strange day kept going as he was penalised for a hit on Ben Reynolds and the Leopards took a 10-6 lead as Hull KR went down to 12 men.

Hull KR then nailed a penalty of their own on the stroke of halftime to make it 10-8.

The second half started as the first one ended with a Hull KR penalty as Hull KR drew level at 10-all.

It was then a very tense second half as neither side gave each other an inch. Try scoring sensation Josh Charnley had a chance when he got the ball wide but was held up.

Tom Briscoe scores tries at Wembley like it’s his backyard. Today was his eighth Challenge Cup Final try in his fifth final appearance and his eighth in the last four. He struck a decisive blow in the corner for the Leopards after a sweeping move.

But that try was cancelled out when Parcell touched down to score in the 79th minute after a kick bounced off Zak Hardaker.

However, in the end it was Leigh who will lift the Challenge Cup after a golden point drop goal from Lachlan Lam won the game for the club.