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Live Reporting
Adam Lanigan
All times stated are UK
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PENALTY – Hull KR 0-2 Leigh
Ben Reynolds
Ben Reynolds nails his kick between the posts and Leigh are up and running.
Some early indiscipline from Hull KR proves costly.
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Post update
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
Jonathan Davies
Former Wales international on BBC One
For me there’s nothing wrong with that tackle, he gets the technique wrong but it’s a fuss over nothing.
They’ve drawn attention to John Asiata’s tackle technique but at what cost? This penalty should be an easy two points.
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Post update
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
Tempers are boiling over already!
John Asiata takes down Kane Linnett with a fine tackle, although Hull KR disagree and the two sets of players square up.
The end result is a penalty for Leigh.
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Post update
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
It’s worth mentioning that Leigh have won both Super League meetings this season – a 30-25 win on Humberside and a 34-4 success at Leigh Sports Village.
Does that make them slight favourites to be holding the cup aloft at 5pm?
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Post update
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
Hull KR give away a penalty straight away. Leigh have a chance to put some early pressure on the Robins’ defence.
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Post update
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
John Kear
Wales coach on BBC One
There’s energy and excitement around the place.
It’s a magical place for winners but a horrible place for losers.
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Kick-off
Hull KR 0-0 Leigh
This final feels different.
For the people of Leigh and the east side of Hull, this match means everything. What an 80 minutes await.
Will Wembley be red and white for the second time today?
Or will the national stadium end up coated in leopard print?
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Beaumont in full Leopards garb!
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
No guesses who that person on the pitch wearing a leopard print suit is – Leigh owner Derek Beaumont!
He is on hand to introduce the Leopards players to the Wembley dignitaries, including main sponsor Fred Done and guest of honour, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker in the House of Commons.
Like him or not, Beaumont gets people talking!
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Challenge Cup final on the move again
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
The Challenge Cup final is to move its date in the calendar again – from August to June.
The 2024 men’s final will be played on Saturday, 8 June at its traditional Wembley Stadium home.
The day will also include the Women’s Challenge Cup Final, the fifth 1895 Cup Final and the Champion Schools.
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Team news – Hull KR
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Hull KR field an unsurprising team line-up to face Leigh, with Ryan Hall fit enough to start for the Robins having been injured in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Mikey Lewis starts at full-back.
Hull KR:Lewis; Ryan, Opacic, Kenny-Dowall, Hall; Milnes, Schneider; Kennedy, Litten, King, Batchelor, Linnett, Minchella.
Interchanges: Parcell, Storton, Hadley, Luckley.
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Team news – Leigh Leopards
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Leigh coach Adrian Lam hands starts to Josh Charnley and Zak Hardaker after the pair missed their win at Leeds last week.
Leigh: O’Brien; Charnley, Chamberlain, Hardaker, Briscoe; Reynolds, Lam; Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, O’Donnell, Hughes, Asiata.
Interchanges: Mellor, Holmes, Nakubuwai, Davis.
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Hull KR and Leigh have ‘earned respect’
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Copyright: SWPix.com
Unfancied Hull KR and Leigh reaching the Challenge Cup final has earned them respect in the rugby league community, says Robins boss Willie Peters.
KR beat Wigan in their semi-final to reach the final while Leigh defeated St Helens to get to Wembley.
Hull KR lost 50-0 to Leeds in their most recent cup final and Leigh last visited Wembley for the 1971 final.
“Lots of teams love that we’ve got to the final. We’ve beaten big teams to get there and earned it,” Peters said.
He told BBC Radio Humberside: “It’ll add more to the game and bring neutral fans to the game. We want to put on a performance and make it a spectacle.”
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Lam family hoping to inspire Leigh to Wembley glory
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Copyright: SWPix.com
Leigh hasn’t seen anything like it for two generations. Their rugby league club is writing one of the great sporting stories of the year
This small Lancashire town has got ‘Wember-Leigh’ fever.
On Saturday afternoon around half the town’s population will be cheering on their team at the national stadium for the first time in more than 50 years.
Their Challenge Cup final date with Hull Kingston Rovers will be a remarkable day in what is becoming a remarkable year.
For their coach Adrian Lam – born 12,000 miles away in Papua New Guinea – it’s a day that will be filled with pride and emotion. Not least because his son Lachlan could also be one of the stars of day in a unique father-son combination.
“It’s an incredible journey we’ve had this year,” says Lam, speaking on this week’s BBC 5 Live Rugby League podcast.
“It’s been an incredible journey for the whole group. I get goose-bumps thinking about it.”
Read more on the Lam’s contribution to Leigh’s recent success here.
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Kenny-Dowall keen to ink more success with KR
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Copyright: SWPix.com
Hull KR’s Shaun Kenny-Dowall is no stranger to the big occasion having won in an NRL Grand Final with Manly Sea Eagles in 2013.
The Hull KR skipper has a tattoo to mark it, a lasting memento of a career-high moment, shared with his team-mates of that season, that game, that triumph.
Inked forever are the experiences of a campaign and all the peaks and troughs of a ‘footy’ year unique to those that featured in it.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and things to go right to win a Grand Final or a cup final,” Kenny-Dowall told BBC Radio Humberside.
“You get to cherish those moments together as a group, you’ll never forget them, you’ll have reunions and treasure memories. Moments you dream of as a kid.”
This Saturday he and his Robins team-mates take on Leigh Leopards in the Challenge Cup final, and if all goes to plan the 35-year-old could well be preparing for another session under the needle.
“I’m sure I’ll find somewhere, there’s definitely room,” he laughs.
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Celebrating the 80th final at Wembley with Hull KR v Leigh
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Copyright: Getty Images
The men’s Challenge Cup Final between Leigh and Hull KR will be a historic occasion – the 80th time this grand occasion has been held at Wembley Stadium.
Someone will end a long drought with victory, with either Leigh lifting the trophy for the first time in 52 years, or Hull KR ending their 43-year wait to be crowned cup kings.
Another quirk is that it’s the first final in 37 years not to feature either Wigan, St Helens, Warrington or Leeds, so there is a genuine freshness to one of the great days in the game’s calendar.
Not to mention that it is also the first time a women’s final will be staged, as Leeds Rhinos and St Helens also feature on a day of showpiece matches.
While the ‘Cup Final’ has been hawked around the country down the decades, Wembley is surely its spiritual home.
Read more from Dave Woods’ on a historic day at Wembley here.
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Follow the action across the BBC
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
BBC One
We’ve got you well covered if you want to keep across today’s Challenge Cup final.
Not only is there this live text commentary but at the top of this page you will see a series of links for your audio visual enjoyment.
BBC Local Radio and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra are at Wembley to take you through the action.
The game is also live on BBC One as well.
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Beaumont a ‘passionate, flamboyant and crazy’ owner
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Copyright: SWPix.com
Leigh stand-off Ben Reynolds has been at the crux of the Leopards side this season, as the club have turned heads during a stellar campaign.
The 29-year-old is in his third spell with the club and helped them win promotion back to Super League last season, and has made 19 appearances during 2023.
His arrival at the club, however, came thanks to a chance meeting with Leigh owner Derek Beaumont during a reserve game at the beginning of his career.
“I was playing for the reserves at York City Knights. It was quite a good game. Some fat bloke sat behind the posts started giving me a bit of stick,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.
“I turned round and gave him some back. I didn’t realise who it was, obviously. After the game he said ‘I’ll meet you in the bar’ and I said no problem, so I go in there and then he gave me a drafted contract.
“I thought ‘who is this guy?’ and it turned out to be Derek Beaumont and the rest is history.
“He’s passionate, flamboyant and crazy. But he’s a loving, family man and he takes care of all his players and everyone around the club. He’s an amazing bloke.”
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Leigh and Hull KR bring much needed spark
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
Matt Newsum
BBC rugby league commentator on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra
It feels like a long time since there was this much buzz and sparkle about a men’s Challenge Cup final, borne out by the atmosphere around Wembley over the last 24 hours.
The chatter was all about the game in the bars and restaurants around Wembley, the northern ‘invasion’ colourised by the many shirts on display on Olympic Way.
How you can become tired of this place I don’t know, but the enthusiasm and vigour shown by fans, players, coaches and particularly owners in the case of Derek Beaumont has whet the appetite.
On the pitch it is so difficult to call.
Hull KR have shown they can find a match-winning moment with Brad Schneider’s semi-deciding drop-goal, and have big-game players such as Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Ryan Hall.
However, there is far more Wembley know-how in the Leigh ranks in the shape of Zak Hardaker and Tom Briscoe – the scourge of Rovers in 2015 with five tries – and that might just be the difference.
Whatever happens, it was be the end of a long wait for someone to hoist the cup aloft.
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Welcome to Wembley
Hull KR v Leigh (15:00 BST)
It is rugby league’s big day in the capital! The Challenge Cup final at Wembley.
So are St Helens there? No. Wigan Warriors? Nope. Surely Leeds Rhinos then? Again, no.
We have Hull KR against Leigh Leopards.
What an opportunity for either set of players to write their names into rugby league folklore.
Thanks for joining us for what promises to be a fantastic occasion.
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