Rugby League Challenge Cup final preview: Leigh Leopards v Hull KR

After eight rounds of high-intensity, fast, and physical rugby league action the Challenge Cup culminates on Saturday afternoon as Hull KR take on Leigh Leopards at Wembley Stadium.

Both teams will be hoping to get their hands on the trophy in what promises to be an exhilarating final. We preview the match below.

Hull KR to thrive under pressure

Not many would have predicted Hull KR to be in this year’s Challenge Cup final at the start of the season, and even fewer could have seen them making it all the way to Wembley when they were drawn against Wigan Warriors in the semifinals, but here they are.

KR certainly haven’t set the league alight alongside their cup run, but the Rovers have made steady yet inconsistent progress to see them currently sitting sixth in Super League, just four points behind fourth-place St Helens.

Hull KR scraped past Wigan Warriors in the last round and booked their place at Wembley via a golden point drop goal. They have since played the Warriors again, in their most recent match, where they were subject to a 64-6 battering. However, KR rested the majority of their first choice 17 and will not be disheartened by the result given how weak the side they fielded was with both eyes firmly fixed on the Challenge Cup.

The Robins certainly haven’t got the best record in Challenge Cup finals having played seven and won just one. That victory came back in 1980 when they beat Hull FC in a local derby at Wembley. They have played two since then, one in 1986 where they lost by one point to a formidable Castleford Tigers side, the other a more recent memory which Hull KR fans will want to put out of their minds this weekend when they lost 50-0 to Leeds Rhinos at Wembley back in 2015.

The KR faithful will be slightly more hopeful this time around despite heading into the match as the underdogs at 8/5. When the sides met in the league earlier this season it was a tight encounter with Leigh coming away 25-30 victors. The Robins will be hoping that veteran winger Ryan Hall will be fully fit for this game as he is their leading try scorer in Super League, dotting over on nine occasions this season and at 6/5 he is favourite to get over the line for his side as they look to overturn their previous result on Saturday.

Leopards may have KR’s number

Leigh Leopards have been the surprise package in Super League this season and no one could have foreseen the form they have produced in both league and cup so far.

Last season the Leopards were playing Championship rugby and were then known as the Leigh Centurions, but 10 months, a total rebrand, and a new squad of players later and they sit third in Super League with a Challenge Cup final awaiting them in which they are the odds-on 8/15 favourites.

Heading into this 2023 Super League season, under the guide of leopard-print sporting owner Derek Beaumont, the Leopards approached the league with a ‘Moneyball’ esque approach as they snapped up some of the league’s biggest names from the last decade, some of whom had been cast aside by other clubs, combining them with some exciting young talent to form what has been a formidable outfit this season.

The standouts of the Super League veterans which Leigh recruited include Man of Steel Zak Hardaker, three-time Challenge Cup winner Tom Briscoe and two-time Super League top try scorer Josh Charnley. These were joined by what was a somewhat unknown entity at the start of the season, who has taken Super League by storm this season in 25-year-old Lachlan Lam.

Leigh will be confident heading into this game off the back of a 13-6 win over Leeds Rhinos last time out as they took a different approach in resting very few of their key players and it appears to have paid off as they have come away largely unscathed and with the momentum of yet another win under their belts. Josh Charnley was one of those rested against Leeds and he will be hoping to make an impact at Wembley.

Charnley has once again dominated the try scoring in Super League and is hunting down a third top try scorer award with 22 to his name already, scoring at a rate of over one try per game in Super League this season. Lachlan Lam has turned into an elite provider in Super League and already has 20 assists. Charnley has experience of scoring in three Challenge Cup finals as he went over in Wigan’s 2011 victory, and he is favourite to score for Leigh on Saturday at Evens to score anytime.

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