13 August 2023 , 21:00
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He woke up on Sunday cuddling the Challenge Cup and Derek Beaumont insists more dreams will come true for mighty Leigh Leopards.
The flamboyant millionaire owner of a club often dubbed ‘just a small town in Wigan’ joyously sprinted onto the Wembley pitch as they completed the most dramatic finish in the competition’s 127-year history. Lachlan Lam nailed an 84th minute golden point drop goal to create sheer pandemonium - and more heartbreak for gutted Hull KR. For the first time ever, the final went into extra-time after Matt Parcell’s dubious converted try levelled it for Rovers with 78 seconds to go.
But bewildered Beaumont - who has one of his Lamborginis decked in leopard-print, not just his Wembley suit - didn’t even realise. He revealed: “I got in the lift thinking we’d won -and got out of the lift watching the video ref. I didn’t see the (Parcell) try, just the screen and deliberations. My speech (Friday) was all about serendipity. This year was always going to be our year once we got to a point. You couldn’t write it. And for ‘Lockie’ Lam to do that and win the Lance Todd Trophy coached by his dad…?”
Coach Adrian Lam scored a try and a drop-goal when Wigan won the Cup in 2002 and his son repeated the feat 21 years later to continue this amazing fairytale. Leigh were in the Championship last year and beat part-timers Featherstone in the 1895 Cup - the second-tier curtain-raiser to the main event. How times have changed. With astute recruitment, pitching together cast-offs and stellar stars, they’ve created some sort of mad alchemy.
This was their first Cup glory since Alex Murphy’s 1971 heroics but their colourful owner - ridiculed after rebranding the Centurions to Leopards in October - says it’s only the beginning. They host leaders Catalans on Saturday when they could close the gap at the top to just two points as they aim for a maiden Grand Final, too. He said: “It has been incredible. We paid the Cup a lot of respect but I also think we can do more.
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“This was a dream and we pulled it off. I don’t think it’ll be 50 years until we make this final again. We’re in a place as a club that I know most of our recruitment for next year, most of this team is staying together and what we are doing ain’t by fluke. It’s great. You could give me a winning £5 million lottery ticket tomorrow and I’d not trade it in for this.”
Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont (centre)joins in with the players celebration after Lachlan Lam's kicked a drop goal in golden point extra time to win the game during the Betfred Challenge Cup final at Wembley, (PA)Around 15,000 fans witnessed it all - around a third of the town’s population - and there was more again on Sunday as they made their victorious homecoming. Tom Briscoe grabbed Leigh’s other try with Ben Reynolds slotting four goals. Jez Litten opened the scoring for KR who saw Brad Schneider kick four goals but also had Elliot Minchella become the first player sin-binned in the Cup final since Bradford’s Shane Rigon in 2001.
Rovers’ solitary Cup success remains 1980 and captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall lamented:"It was anyone's game at golden point but we didn't play that period well enough.”