Leigh, a Lancashire town with a population barely reaching 45,000 and so small it does not have a train station to its name, has been threatening to write one of the most remarkable rugby league stories for a good few weeks. It has just taken another gargantuan leap towards that becoming a reality by advancing to the final of the Challenge Cup for the first time since their win over Leeds in 1971, their only other final coming in 1921.
Last summer, Leigh Leopards were playing in the Championship and in the warm-up game to their local rivals, Wigan Warriors, on finals day last year at Tottenham. They won the 1895 Cup before the Warriors won the Challenge Cup final hours later. Leigh’s owner, Derek Beaumont, has frequently admitted how he dreams of a Leigh v Wigan cup final. If the Warriors hold up their end of the bargain with victory against Hull KR on Sunday, he will get his wish.
Incredibly, despite being promoted last season, they sit second in Super League and their prospects of an astonishing treble remain alive after this nerve-shredding victory against the reigning Super League champions, St Helens.
Throw in the fact that Beaumont rolled out an eye-catching rebrand under which the club were renamed the Leopards during the off-season, with a leopard-themed kit that produced much ridicule at the time, and this is a story that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Here there were adults in leopard costumes, leopard print bucket hats as far as the eye could see and at full-time celebrations the kind of which many Leigh supporters will have never experienced before.
“I played in two cup finals but neither were at Wembley,” the Leigh coach, Adrian Lam, said. “The love affair with the cup, it’s all about Wembley. I’m getting emotional just thinking about it.
“It feels like a dream. I hope that the town and the fans are proud of what they’ve seen from their team today. It’s just a complete dream and an incredible moment.”
Trailing 6-0 at half-time, the Leopards then reproduced the form that has made them genuine Grand Final contenders. They were the better side and, when you consider the opposition have won the past four Super League titles, that is no mean feat for a team that were playing part-time opposition 12 months ago.
St Helens led at the interval courtesy of Joey Lussick’s try on what was the hooker’s final appearance. He will return to Australia in the coming days after agreeing a deal with Parramatta, and the former State of Origin player Moses Mbye will replace him. Crucially though, Tommy Makinson missed a penalty on the stroke of half‑time that would have made it 8-0, and his missed conversion in the final seconds proved decisive too.
If there was one player destined to create history for St Helens in this enthralling Challenge Cup semi‑final, perhaps it was always going to be Faye Gaskin. One of the stars of the Women’s Super League since its foundation several years ago, the 31-year-old completed a remarkable comeback story here to take her side to Wembley next month.
The England half-back was told she may never play again after suffering a horrific knee injury in the 2021 Challenge Cup final, fracturing her knee in three places in freak circumstances as she celebrated a try during Saints’ victory against York.
She not only missed the remainder of the 2021 season, but the entirety of 2022, including the Rugby League World Cup. Her career, it seemed, was in real jeopardy of being cut short.
So who better to kick the winning drop goal and ensure the Saints would form one half of what will be a historic occasion in London. The final two years ago was played in Leigh, but such is the rise of women’s rugby league this year’s event will be played at Wembley for the first time, in a double-header with the men’s final.
Fittingly, given the way Gaskin’s career was thrown into doubt in a cup final, she now has the chance to play in the biggest one women’s rugby league has experienced.
It was hard not to have a modicum of sympathy for York, who more than played their part in a fantastic semi-final in Warrington. They led 14-10 at the break though it was the Saints who scored first courtesy of Shona Hoyle’s early try.
York responded through a magnificent interception try from Tamzin Renouf and a trademark effort from the England international Tara-Jane Stanley put York ahead for the first time.
A see-saw half continued when Luci McColm’s try nudged St Helens back in front, but York took the lead again just before the break courtesy of Sinead Peach.
The points dried up after half-time as the tension began to rise. With so much at stake, you felt one moment could decide the semi-final and it looked as though St Helens’ Amy Taylor provided it midway through the second half, as her well‑weighted kick fell into the path of Tara Jones, with Taylor’s conversion putting the Saints ahead for the third time.
However, a penalty from the boot of Stanley with eight minutes remaining levelled it at 16-16 and it appeared as though golden point extra-time would be a certainty.
But with less than a minute remaining, Saints forged one final attacking opportunity and Gaskin held her nerve magnificently to kick the winning drop goal.
Saints will face the winner of Sunday's semi-final between Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors. Aaron Bower
Leigh, roared on by what felt like the entire town on occasions, responded after half-time. It took them two minutes to level the scores after Lam’s son, Lachlan, provided a perfect pass for Oliver Holmes to cut through on the angle, with Ben Reynolds converting to make it 6-6.
As the game passed the hour mark, Lam struck again with a well-weighted kick and while winger Tom Briscoe missed it Zak Hardaker did not, grounding the ball inches from touch to put Leigh ahead. Reynolds then added a penalty with 15 minutes remaining to open up a six-point lead.
The pressure was on Saints to respond and they came desperately close when Jonny Lomax broke free, only to be hauled down by a superb last-ditch tackle from Hardaker, the kind of which epitomises the spirit that has taken the Leopards to the verge of history this season.
St Helens kept coming though and as the game entered the final minute Lomax wriggled free to touch down with their last real chance, but Makinson pushed the conversion wide.
“Tommy is disappointed he didn’t kick the goal, but we walked in here as a group and we’ll walk out together,” the Saints head coach, Paul Wellens, said in a bullish defence of the England winger before admitting he was “devastated” with the outcome. “But I want to congratulate Leigh.”
That missed kick meant there was barely time to restart and, after surviving one last tackle the wild celebrations among the Leigh players staff and supporters underlined the scale of what had just been achieved. Wembley? More like WembLeigh, come 12 August.
