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Leigh Leopards team news with four stars absent for Challenge Cup clash

Leigh Leopards Adrian Lam

Leigh Leopards have named their squad for Round Three of the Challenge Cup with four key names missing out.

The Leopards will travel to Cumbria on Friday night where they will face League One Workington Town, however, wingers Darnell McIntosh and Josh Charnley will both be missing, as well as star duo Edwin Ipape and Robbie Mulhern.

All four also missed the Leopards’ friendly against Warrington Wolves last week when Leigh won 16-10 to upset the party for Toby King’s testimonial.

The absence of Charnley, McIntosh and Mulhern was unclear then and remains so now, however, it had previously been reported that Edwin Ipape was facing a race to be fit for the start of the season.

Adrian Lam had told The Leigh Journal that Ipape would be “50-50 whether he plays in round one” as the head coach claimed that the hooker was “on track” and hoping to avoid setbacks.

Recently, Ipape has been the subject of reported NRL interest with the Mole of Wide World Of Sports claiming the Papua New Guinean star is “open to offers”, something that is particularly concerning for the Leopards given the fact Ipape is one of several Leigh players off contract at the end of the season.

Whilst his absence was therefore expected, it still remains unclear as to why Charnley, McIntosh and Mulhern are absent from an otherwise very strong squad.

The likes of Bailey Hodgson and Keanan Brand could get chances to impress on Friday night as they did against Warrington last weekend with both men scoring in that 16-10 win.

It’s now just Leigh Leopards who have gone strong despite facing lower league opposition with both Wigan Warriors and Hull KR naming very strong squads earlier on for their ties against Sheffield Eagles and York Knights respectively, also both played on Friday night.

Leigh Leopards 21-Man Squad

1 – David Armstrong
3 – Tesi Niu
4 – Umyla Hanley
6 – Gareth O’Brien
7 – Lachlan Lam
8 – Owen Trout
11 – Frankie Halton
12 – Jack Hughes
13 – Isaac Liu
14 – Aaron Pene
15 – Alec Tuitavake
16 – Matt Davis
17 – Brad Dwyer
18 – Keanan Brand
19 – Louis Brogan
20 – Ethan O’Neill
21 – Andrew Badrock
22 – Ben McNamara
23 – Nathan Wilde
24 – Bailey Hodgson
29 – AJ Towse

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