Adrian Lam was left ruing errors late in the first half as well as a lack of composure late in the second half as Leigh Leopards just fell short in their clash with Hull KR.
The Leopards lost 20-16 to the Robins, however, they kept Willie Peters’ side scoreless in the second half but crucially, they had shipped 18 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
For Lam, that’s where the game was lost and he said as such on Sky Sports post-match when it was put to him that the first half cost his side the win.
He assessed: “Consecutive errors there in the last 10, 15 minutes put us under a fair bit of pressure. Up to that point, I thought it was probably our best rugby this year so far.
“There was a lot to like out of the game, to be honest with you, and some really positive signs moving forward, which is what I’ll hold on to and what we’ll do as a group.
“I’ve been waiting for those moments to be present and we saw that today, a lot of physicality as well. It was a pretty tough game, but we probably had our chances as well in that last 15 minutes with three or four clean breaks where we probably could have finished that off, but it wasn’t to be.”
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Leigh Leopards ‘panicked’ in dying stages of Hull KR clash
It was a positive assessment of what was a heartbreaking defeat but there was plenty of reason for Leigh to be positive given how well they fought back.
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters had a similar assessment but of course his side took the two points home as well and that was in part due to their late defensive scramble, which Lam paid plenty of credit for.
He said: “The one thing about Hull KR at this point is when you make breaks against them, there’s four or five people in the picture. That’s why they are where they are at the moment. You’ve got to compete, and that’s what they do, better than anyone at this point.”
On that final five minutes where Leigh came close, Lam said: “I thought we panicked a little bit when we made the breaks and the ball hit the ground, whereas the one where Edwin just held the ball and tipped to Jack Hughes, he fell over the line. I think that’s the more common sense play.
“We panicked under pressure there, but I’m proud of the players. I thought we hung in there to the end, won the second half, kept them to no tries, which was the call at half-time. There’s a lot to like about it.”
Making the Leopards’ performance even more impressive was the fact they did it without centre Tesi Niu, who pulled up in the warm-up with a hamstring issue, but Lam explained that Leigh are hopeful it is not too bad.
“He just felt a strain there,” Lam said, adding: “He’s sort of had a small issue like this for the last couple of weeks so rather than playing and potentially getting injured and make it any worse, we sort of don’t need that at this point in time with so many injuries.
“I think it’s not that bad. Fingers crossed it’s not that bad. He maybe is not playing next week and with the Challenge Cup the week after, I think he’ll be OK the week after that.”
The Robins hold on in a thriller 🐦#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/K2gbuX8l7I
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 16, 2026
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