Former Kiwis star Shaun Kenny-Dowall’s bid to win the Challenge Cup final ended in heartbreak after a golden point loss at Wembley.
Australian scrumhalf Lachlan Lam kicked a field goal to give the Leigh Lepoards a 17-16 win over the Kenny-Dowall-captained Hull Kingston Rovers on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).
It was the first time a Challenge Cup final had been won in extra-time, and Kenny-Dowall came tantalising close to adding an English cup winner’s medal to his NRL grand final triumph with the Roosters in 2013.
The 35-year-old centre, who will retire at the end of the Super League season, was generous in defeat, acknowledging Leigh’s first Challenge Cup title since 1971.
“I thought we fought really hard in the second half to get back into the game but I thought we didn’t do well enough during golden point and Leigh did,’’ Kenny-Dowall told BBC Sport.
“Congratulations to Lammy for scoring the winning drop goal in the end.
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Hull Kingston Rovers’ Kiwi captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall takes the ball up in the Challenge Cup final against Leigh at Wembley.
“It was anyone’s game at golden point but we didn’t play that period of time good enough. We’ll go back to the drawing board and see if we can learn some lessons going forward.”
Kenny-Dowall gave his all at Wembley, with the Hull Live website rating him 9 out of 10 as KR’s best player saying, he had “as always, led from the front with towering display”.
Lam, a Papua New Guinea international, had the honour of scoring the winning point to continue the dream top flight return of the Leigh side – coached by his father Adrian.
“I can’t believe it. The last try [from Hull KR] was just heart-breaking. I feared the worst,” Lachlan Lam told BBC Sport.
“I’ve kicked a thousand field goals in training over the last month and I don’t want to say how many I’ve made.”
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Leigh Leopards players mob Lachlan Lam (second, R) after his match-winning field goal.
Adrian Lam was delighted for his son and the rest of the Leopards lineup.
“I don’t want to make it about Lachlan, but it was a special moment,” he told The Guardian.
“I’ve thought this week how lucky I am to have him playing here for my team and playing well. It’s incredible to think how this has happened. It’s an incredible story for rugby league.”
Incredible, indeed as Leigh were only promoted to Super League this season after winning the second-tier Champion.
They were derided in some quarters for changing their nickname to the Leopards and adopting a leopard print uniform , but the Lancashire club, from a small town near Wigan in Greater Manchester, is now third in Super League and has emphatically proved a leopard can change its spots.
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Lachlan Lam with the Lance Todd Trophy as player of the match.
Leigh owner Derek Beamount told the BBC the Leopards’ Wembley win was “massive”.
“ I’ve got one word and it’ll mean everything to everyone connected. Serendipity. It was our time and our turn.
Leigh has around 40,000 residents and an estimated third of the populace were part of the 58,213 crowd at Wembley.
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Hull KR’s Shaun Kenny-Dowall (second, L) squares up with Leigh’s Zak Hardaker.
The Hull KR Robins had been striving to win their second Challenge Cup, 43 years after their first – a derby victory over Hull FC in 1980.
It was an absorbing arm wrestle all the way with Robins hooker Matt Parcell’s late try taking the game into golden point before Lam’s late field goal decider.
Lam, who had scored Leigh’s first try, won the player of the match award, named in honour of Lance Todd, a pioneering Kiwis international.
AT A GLANCE
Challenge Cup final
Leigh Leopards 17 (Lachlan Lam, Tom Briscoe tries; Ben Reynolds 4 goals; Lam field goal) Hull Kingston Rovers 16 (Jez Litten, Matt Parcell tries; Brad Schneider 4 goals). HT: 10-6.
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