Leigh had not won at Leeds since April 1984, in the now-defunct Slalom Lager Championship, so this win on Sunday perhaps underlines perfectly the direction of travel in which these clubs find themselves. Six days before a first Wembley final in more than 50 years, the Leopards could have been forgiven had they taken their eye off the ball here. They had every excuse to lose this game, but losing is not something this team do that often.
This is a club with more on their mind than just the Challenge Cup. Leigh were playing in the Championship last season but there is now a growing possibility of a top-two finish in their first season back in Super League. This victory was built firmly on a magnificent defensive effort, the perfect way to warm up for Wembley and the cup final against Hull Kingston Rovers next weekend.
It means Leigh sit third with just six games to go; the playoffs are all but assured and a top-two finish, which guarantees a home semi-final, is still very much on the cards.
This weekend Rovers rested their frontline players for Wembley, but Leigh opted to go strong – albeit the their much smaller squad meant there was less opportunity to rotate. But the gamble paid off, with the Leopards repelling a fairly timid effort from the Rhinos to record their first win in this part of West Yorkshire for almost 40 years, completing a league double in the process. Tries from Edwin Ipape and Tom Amone were enough to get the job done.
“We wanted to respect the Super League competition and where we are in it,” Leigh’s coach, Adrian Lam, said afterwards on his strong team selection. “We didn’t want to give that up easy, not that we would have if we’d played other players. Everyone has come through OK too, which is a relief.”
While Leigh are at Wembley next week, Leeds will be watching on television and reflecting on a season that is petering out. No team have a right to consistently challenge for honours but Leeds – with their resources, facilities and spend – should not be facing a sixth successive season without a top-four finish. That is a damning indictment of a side that were rudderless here against opponents who probably had an eye on their final.
Throw in the fact this defeat – their third in a row, which leaves them four points adrift of the playoffs with six games remaining – came at the end of a week when they allowed their frontline half-back Blake Austin to leave for Castleford without signing a replacement, and it is not difficult to understand why questions are being asked of the Leeds hierarchy. The Rhinos, one of the Super League era’s heavyweights, appear to be a club in flux.
“We were there or thereabouts,” their coach, Rohan Smith, insisted post-match. ‘We got beaten in a couple of critical moments but I was proud of the effort.” The effort may have been there but there is surely no denying that failing to even reach the playoffs, let alone challenge for the Grand Final, would be a huge failure for a club of this size.
The Rhinos enjoyed most of the territory in the first half here, but could not make any of it count. The Leopards made them pay midway through the half when Ipape forced his way over from close range to make it 4-0 though the hosts finally made some pressure count through Jarrod O’Connor’s try, with Rhyse Martin’s conversion nudging Leeds ahead 6-4 at half-time.
That was as good as it got for the hosts on a fairly turgid afternoon, with no cutting edge. The fact the young hooker Corey Johnson was deputising for the departed Austin emphasised the problems Leeds have, and it severely stunted their play.
The Leopards always looked the more likely side to score first after the interval and they duly obliged when Ipape teed up Amone to crash his way over the line. Ben Reynolds converted and he added a penalty soon after to make it 12-6.
The prospect of Leeds scoring twice at that stage to threaten a win felt unlikely, and the result was put beyond doubt when Gareth O’Brien’s drop goal opened up a two-score lead in the closing stages. Leigh, not Leeds, are the club competing for major honours: it does not look likely to change any time soon.
