Over the weekend we saw two of the best Challenge Cup semi-finals in recent times as Wigan Warriors and St Helens were defeated by Hull KR and Leigh Leopards.
Both were nail biting affairs and the atmosphere added to the occasion in a real special way.
Leigh and Saints was watched by 12,113 fans at the home of the Warrington Wolves – the Halliwell Jones before 10,926 fans were at Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Stadium.
So, many fans were interested in the great games that we saw over the weekend and rightly so as they were great games.
On Saturday, the Leopards were up against it in the first 40 as the Saints served up a near perfect first 40 epitomised by the booming 40/20 by Joey Lussick from inside his own 20 metres all the way to the Leigh 10.
However, the departing hooker was the only try scorer of the first 40 minutes as Leigh held on magnificently with Josh Charnley brilliantly denying Tommy Makinson so it stayed at 6-0 in the first half.
Then at the start of the second half Leigh blew Saints away with two quick fire tries from Oliver Holmes and Zak Hardaker.
They have Leigh a 10-6 lead which was extended to a 12-6 lead by a penalty before Jonny Lomax scored an unconverted try at the death which gave us all a grand stand finish.
Then on Sunday, at the home of Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors and Hull KR needed golden point to separate them in another amazing Challenge Cup semi-final.
Hull KR struck first through Louis Senior in the corner from a scrum move. But Wigan led 8-4 at halftime after a try from Jai Field and a penalty from Harry Smith.
Then came the big turning point in the game when Joe Shorrocks was sent off for a high tackle on Mikey Lewis.
Wigan extended their lead to 10-4 but an Ethan Ryan try sent the game to golden point where a Brad Schneider drop goal would win it and write the final verse in a fantastic weekend of semi-final action.
After those two games there were questions about whether the final will sell the tickets a final with a ‘big’ team would.
However, that doesn’t appear to be the case with an amazing 500 tickets sold in 10 minutes as revealed by Derek Beaumont.
Let’s go mental @LeighLeopardsRL 500 in 10 minutes let’s empty the town! pic.twitter.com/CIPzGr4aBU
— Derek John Beaumont (@derek_beaumont) July 23, 2023
A great start and with six teams heading to Wembley in Halifax Panthers, Batley Bulldogs, Leeds Rhinos and St Helens also heading down to London.
