Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has been left feeling that the club’s defeat to Warrington Wolves was a missed opportunity, and believes his side “should have won” given their chances created.
Two late tries from Wolves forward Ben Currie gave the home side the spoils, leaving Leigh to travel home empty-handed after a 24-10 defeat.
Goal kicking would come to prove costly, with Leigh only kicking one from three whilst Warrington slotted over four from five.
Had the Leopards kicked their other two goals, they could have had a two-score lead going into the final quarter, but misses from both Adam Cook and Gareth O’Brien kept Warrington in with a chance of re-taking the lead at a moment’s notice.
They would do just that as Currie cross twice in the final 10 minutes to book his hometown club a spot in the Challenge Cup semi-finals for the third year running.
Lam is feeling a sense of “that should have been us” after watching the Leopards display, and in an interview post-match revealed that some “dumb plays” is what ultimately swung the game in Wire’s favour.
“[I’m] a bit frustrated, really,” said Lam. “I thought we were bang on with our actions and sort of had momentum there.
“You’ve got to kick those goals. Obviously, it puts us in front by eight points, and we’ve got 25 minutes to go.
“We drop the kick off from the try, and then momentum just completely swings. Then, just a couple of dumb plays down our right-hand side cost us the game really.”
Super League Rivals Round madness, broken video referee system and Challenge Cup predictions – Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show
Leigh Leopards boss happy with response with positives taken from Challenge Cup defeat
Despite not taking home the spoils, Leigh put in a significantly improved performance to that of last week, where they were beaten heavily by Warrington in the league competition.
Lam was left proud of what his side produced, but it was just that execution that cost them a place in the last four of the Cup.
“I’m happy with the effort, and we’re certainly back to the DNA of us as a club. We probably would have won that game this time last year. Not ideal in the end, but obviously, congratulations to Warrington.
“It certainly helps with the players coming back in different positions. Losing Umyla [Hanley] early again on that right-hand side, I think that’s where we sort of got punished towards the end of the game there.
“Like I said, we’re back to ‘Leigh’, which is a positive sign. Edwin [Ipape] is back playing again, positive sign, so some positives moving forward, but certainly frustrated.
I thought that was certainly a game that we probably should have won… It’s just about sticking together through these tough times. If we play like that every week and get a few little things right there and get our goal kicking right, it certainly changes things very, very quickly.”
Hanley and Ipape were two of four injury returnees this evening, with Tesi Niu and Jack Hughes also making a comeback after being absent last week.
No update has been given on Hanley just yet, however it looks as though the centre left the field with an arm injury, something that could be a concern given that a shoulder issue is what has kept him out for all of 2026 so far.
