Leigh Leopards and Hull KR met in one of the most dramatic Challenge Cup Finals in recent history as the game went to golden point and were decided by a Lachlan Lam drop goal, his first professional drop goal, to decide the first Challenge Cup Final without Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves and St Helens since 1986.
In such a close game key moments have even more impact and that was true with plenty of key decisions in the final on Saturday.
One of those key moments was of course the decision to not award Hull KR a penalty try when Tom Opacic kicked ahead a dropped ball from Tom Briscoe but was taken down.
It was an incident that Jon Wilkin claimed should have seen Lachlan Lam yellow carded.
Given he scored shortly after this, it was a key moment.
“I think it was a professional foul. It’s not a penalty try. It should be a yellow card,” Wilkin said on BBC.
“It has never been more of a professional foul, he’s tackled him.
“When you consider the yellow card that was given, to not show a yellow card for that is confusing.”
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.
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