Few people gave Championship side York RLFC Knights any chance of making progress in the Challenge Cup as they welcomed high flying Super League side Leigh Leopards to the LNER Community Stadium.
York coach Andrew Henderson had a long injury list which left him without the services of half a dozen first team choices, while Leigh’s Adrian Lam could pick an almost unchanged side, although he was without the injured Edwin Ipape and Ricky Leutele.
The last time these two sides met was in the Championship play-offs at the end of last season when York were massacred by Leigh, the suspicion was that it would be a similar outcome in the last quarter final with a game against St Helens the prize for the winners.
An awful spear tackle from Kai O’Donnell, with just five minutes on the clock, dumping Josh Daley on his head, saw the Leigh second rower red carded.
Within a minute York went down the Leopards end and got the ball on the ground but the video referee ruled out the try for a double knock on in the build-up. A late challenge from John Asiata on the kicker Daley gave York a kick at goal, Myles Harrison giving York a 2-0 lead.
Zak Hardaker got in on the poor tackle action on sixteen, the Leigh centre getting a ten-minute rest.
Now playing against eleven men, a speculative high kick from Ata Hingano was caught on the full by Joe Brown and grounded for the first try of the game. Harrison added the conversion for an 8-0 lead. A neutral could be forgiven for not knowing which of these two sides were the Super League side, York having a stunning opening twenty thanks to some shocking Leopards indiscipline.
Leigh opened their account on twenty-six when the York defence failed to deal with a Lachlan Lam kick, Hingano fumbling the ball into the hands of Joe Mellor to dot down over the line. Mellor added the conversion to his own try to reduce the arrears to two points.
York had their second try of the afternoon when a Hingano kick was somehow tapped back into play by an airborne AJ Towse into the hands of Harrison who span out of a tackle and grounded on the line. Harrison was just wide with the conversion attempt, the touch judges waving it away.
An off the ball challenge from Leigh, on the stroke of half time, gave Harrison a chance at another penalty goal which he slotted between the uprights for 14-6 at the interval.
It had been a sensational first half from York, and an out of character one from the Leopards. There was a giant killing on the cards, and the cup shock of the decade, but there were still forty minutes left and a lot could happen.
On fifty-four Josh Charnley dropped the ball with the line open two metres ahead of him, the York fans daring to believe that it might be their night.
Mellor went close to the line on fifty-six and as he regained his feet to play the ball, fast hands saw Tom Amone take possession a metre out to crash over under the sticks. Gareth O’Brien kicked the conversion for 12-14.
After holding the lead for an hour, York finally relinquished it to the Leopards as Charnley managed to hold on to the ball when dragged over the line on his back but managing to ground for a try. O’Brien was wide with the conversion attempt, Leigh Leopards with a two-point lead and finally hitting their straps.
The game was won by Leigh on sixty-six as a jinking Hardaker run allowed him to combine with Ed Chamberlain to put Tom Briscoe over in the right corner. Hardaker added the conversion for an eight-point lead, York visibly tiring against the full-timers.
A miss-out pass from O’Brien put Charnley free to go over in down the left wing for his second of the afternoon, finally allowing the travelling support to breathe a sigh of relief. Hardaker was again on target with the conversion for 28-14.
With two minutes remaining Jack Teanby was yellow carded for a tip tackle, both sides finishing the game with twelve men.
The icing on the cake came in the form of a Briscoe try with twenty seconds on the game remaining, a run in from twenty metres to ground by the right corner flag. Hardaker added the conversion for a final score of 34-14, a twenty point winning margin.
O’Donnell’s terrible tackle on five minutes rocked Leigh and invigorated York who played their hearts out for a good hour and looked within reach of delivering a massive cup shock before they started to tire, and the Leopards hit their straps to exploit space down the wings and run in some simple tries. It’s Leigh who go into the semi-finals to take on St Helens, now just eighty minutes from Wembley.
York RLFC Knights: Brown (T), Towse, Harrison (T, 3G), Jones, Ward, Hingano, Daley, Ta’ai, Jubb, Fitzsimmons, Field, Clarkson, Cunningham. Subs: Kirby, Michael, Teanby (SB on 78), Sumner. 18th Man: Price.
Leigh Leopards: O’Brien (G), Briscoe (2T), Hardaker (T, SB on 16), Hanley, Charnley (2T), Mellor (T, G), Lam, Mulhern, Davis, Amone (T), O’Donnell (SO on 5), Nisbet, Asiata. Subs: Chamberlain, Seumanufagai, Wilde, Smith. 18th Man: Jones.
Half-Time: 14-6.
Full-Time: 14-34.
Score Progression: (SO), 2-0, (SB), 6-0, 8-0, 8-4, 8-6, 12-6, 14-6 : HT: 14-10. 14-12, 14-16, 14-20, 14-22, 14-26, 14-28, (SB), 14-32, 14-34 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: York – Leigh.
Referee: Jack Smith.
