Record-breaker Tom Briscoe aims to repeat Challenge Cup heroics with Leigh
He holds one of the Challenge Cup’s most famous records with Leeds but Tom Briscoe is now ready to write more history in Leigh colours.
The ex-England winger memorably became the first player to score five tries at Wembley as Rhinos routed Hull KR 50-0 in their 2015 final demolition job. But Rhinos let the Lance Todd Trophy winner go at the end of last season after crossing 93 times in 208 appearances during his nine years at Headingley. Prolific Briscoe, 33, duly joined newly-promoted Leopards - and simply carried on where he left off.
He lines up for them in Saturday’s Cup semi-final against St Helens bidding to get Leigh to Wembley for the first time since 1971. Briscoe, who has scored 15 tries in 21 games for the high-fliers, admitted: “That 2015 final does seem a long time ago now.
“But every year around the semi-final and final time those five tries are always brought up again and you see the clips. They are obviously great memories and it was the highlight of my career. It was an incredible day. But I’m loving it here at Leigh.
"I didn’t really know what to expect moving to a new club who’d just been promoted. But the group of players we have is incredible, the coach is great and that’s all showing in our performances. Everyone is enjoying it.”
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It’s no surprise Leigh are enjoying fun times: they’ve defied the odds to climb to second in the table just two points behind leaders Catalans. And Adrian Lam’s swashbuckling side see no reason why they can’t now cause another shock and defeat the World Club champions - especially having already beaten Saints 20-12 in March. Briscoe, who also scored in Leeds’ 2014 Challenge Cup final win over Castleford, admitted: “We are confident going in. You have to be.
Leigh Leopards' Tom Briscoe scores against Hull KR (Martin Rickett/PA Wire) (PA)“We’ve been performing well. We know it will be a tough game as Saints have been there and done it all over these last few years. They’ll bring their best game and we need to match that, not get over-awed and produce what we know we can.”
The 33 year-old is certainly producing, racking up nine tries in his last eight appearances alone to show once more that age is just a number. On the other flank is Josh Charnley, who was one of Briscoe’s England team-mates at the 2013 World Cup but is playing better than ever at 32. When asked about proving there’s life in the old dog yet, Briscoe said: "Just being around so long, you do tend to get put in that box.
Tom Briscoe celebrates another of his five tries for Leeds Rhinos in the 2015 Challenge Cup final (PA)“But Leigh is a great place to be. We’re both loving it. Josh is top try-scorer on 25 so I’ve got a bit of work to do to catch him up. But I’m really enjoying playing alongside him again. It’s going well. And we’re hoping for more success at the weekend.”
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