Sat 22 July : Betfred RL Challenge Cup Semi Final : St Helens v Leigh Leopards KO 14:30 BBC1

[Dave T]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

Who said the Challenge Cup was dead and should be scrapped? Great scenes and what a special moment.

On the field, the Challenge Cuo has been a brilliant tournament and rarely disappoints. You can't beat knock out rugby. Especially in the semi finals. My favourite games. 

[ATLANTISMAN]

Well done Leigh amd Well done Derek

 

Paul

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

Just to add......that jacket though....Del Boy would be proud

Funnily enough, I said something similar to the Goose household when he first came on the screen! 

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

What on earth was Hurrel doing then?

Same as he usually does in defence, totally useless, sorry for the delayed comment but just looking at this thread.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, shrewsbury roughyed said:

Fantastic this. For a team including Hardaker, Charnley, Briscoe, Mellor, etc, all supposedly past their sell by date, disillusioned, journeymen, something immensely admirable is happening at Leigh. They deserve to go to Wembley imo

And the Wigan reject Adrian Lam who somehow has managed to get something from old men that he couldn't from potential superstars at Wigan.

[JohnM]

11 minutes ago, Padge said:

Swan & Railway in Wigan exploded on that result. Manager is a Leigh lad.

I may take the P out of Leigh but I am made up for their long suffering supporters, that was a resilient display.

 

I may take the P out of Leigh.

It's our duty .

[ELBOWSEYE]

Well this Will be a call for the last one out of Leigh to turn the lights off, pop of 45k. Well done hopefully HKR join you.

[Wigan Riversider]

Well here goes: commiserations to Saints and congratulations to you Leythers.

 

[hindle xiii]

10 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Same as he usually does in defence, totally useless, sorry for the delayed comment but just looking at this thread.

I won't spoil the ending.

[David Shepherd]

Brilliant result for Leigh. Well chuffed for them and for Degsy. 
 

Have a cracking day out at Wembley @Harry Stottle and @GUBRATS win or lose, this is a massive achievement. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

4 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Well this Will be a call for the last one out of Leigh to turn the lights off, pop of 45k. Well done hopefully HKR join you.

You know it isn't a legal requirement to be from within the town boundaries to be able to go to Wembley don't you? If anything, being from outside the town boundaries would make it easier to go because you'd be closer to a railway station.

[Tippytoe]

In knock out games you need winners in your team love him or loathe him Hardaker is a born winner collectively a brilliant team all round  

[dkw]

Brilliant win by Leigh, hell of an effort.

[The Future is League]

Terrific game of Rugby League football, and the Leigh defence won the game for them

[LeeF]

I hope that the RFL are working on sorting out the parking for coaches

[Derwent]

Get in, I have them at 33/1 each way for the cup, decent payout assured either way now.

[StandOffHalf]

Wonderful resilience by Leigh. 

That was one of my favourite SFs of recent times for the closeness, intensity, and atmosphere. Charnley was fantastic, especially in defence. Those two tackles/blocks by Asiata on Walmsley and Paasi were gruesome. I thought for the first one that he almost shoulder-charged into Walmsley's knee-joint. Their defence to hold out Saints showed real consistency, togetherness and resolve.

Saints were held back by Lussick's slow service out of dummy-half. I thought Leigh handled things quite well.

Super occasion; great to see a team going back to the big day out after such a long time away.

[my missus]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Who said the Challenge Cup was dead and should be scrapped? Great scenes and what a special moment.

probably IMG.

[bobbruce]

Well done Leigh well deserved winners. A bit of a carbon copy of where Saints season is going wrong. We aren’t playing particularly bad just aren’t scoring enough points when we are on top. What Leigh did with their defense in the first half was superb though. What turned the game for them was being able to come out second half and dominate for 10 or 15 minutes. That really levelled the fatigue levels up and bought them a breather which then allowed them to produce the magnificent defensive effort that won them the game. 

[Barca Mum]

1 hour ago, Old Frightful said:

Selfless charge from Paasi but he looks like he's paid for it.

2nd challenge by Asiata on knee joint 1st Walmsley then Paasi I know it wasn't from behind but still dangerous 

[Harry Stottle]

51 minutes ago, Padge said:

Swan & Railway in Wigan exploded on that result. Manager is a Leigh lad.

I may take the P out of Leigh but I am made up for their long suffering supporters, that was a resilient display.

 

Yep thanks for that, but you did let history cloud your judgement in a previous post.

[StandOffHalf]

4 minutes ago, Barca Mum said:

2nd challenge by Asiata on knee joint 1st Walmsley then Paasi I know it wasn't from behind but still dangerous 

In effect a shoulder to the knee. I didn't see a wrap in either instance. No surprise that both Walmsley and Paasi were busted. It looks dirty and is outlawed in RU, but I suppose Asiata is trying to get something in front of the ball-carrier.

Edited July 22, 2023 by StandOffHalf

[The Hallucinating Goose]

15 minutes ago, LeeF said:

I hope that the RFL are working on sorting out the parking for coaches

When I went down to Wembley in 2017 on the coach, I was truly shocked to my soul to discover a species of human even nerdier than people such as myself (aviation nerds), the bus spotter. My God, they were everywhere with their anoraks and cameras, I thought I was in a zombie movie when my Acklams of Beverley coach pulled into the car park and they all started descending on it. Christ, I still get shivers now...

[Harry Stottle]

42 minutes ago, JohnM said:

I may take the P out of Leigh.

It's our duty .

Careful I do believe we will have a final to fight out.

[Chris22]

Outstanding game of rugby league I thought. Probably a reflection of our season in 80 minutes. We were comfortably the better team in the first 40 minutes but only scored 6 points. We aren't as ruthless as we were and our attack lacks ideas at times. Combine that with a lack of a natural goalkicker (I don't blame Makinson for missing the two kicks, he should be nothing more than a stand-in kicker) and it makes games closer than they need to be.

Equally, when Leigh got their chances in the second half and enjoyed a period of dominance, they posted more points than we did. Leigh stood firm in defence and showed enormous amounts of bottle when the pressure was really getting cranked up on their line. They have got every chance of going on and winning the competition if they play like that.

The occasion was far better for a near full stadium too. Thank god we've got rid of those awful double headers in 1/2 empty stadiums. Only downside was the moron element of both sides fanbase letting their wider clubs down at times.