A late drop-goal denied Salford Red Devils, on their first trip to Wembley since 1969.
Tries from Rhys Williams, Pauli Pauli and James Greenwood had put Salford level with less than five minutes remaining, until Luke Gale claimed the winner in the Coral Challenge Cup Final.
Luke Briscoe opened the scoring for Leeds, with the video referee ruling he had remained in the field of play to go over in the corner.
Salford responded when Kallum Watkins claimed a kick against his former club and produced an offload which allowed Niall Evalds to release Williams. The Welshman then raced 90 metres to claim Salford’s first try at Wembley of the post-war era.
๐ WHAT A TRY!
๐จ @rhys_bepe knows how to run!#ChallengeCupFinal pic.twitter.com/5PdW9ojq3n
— Salford Red Devils ๐น (@SalfordDevils) October 17, 2020
Handley then gave Leeds a 12-6 lead at half-time, when he went in at the left corner and Rhyse Martin added the conversion.
Halftime: Leeds Rhinos 12-6 Salford Red Devils
Salford started the second-half strongly, taking the lead for the first time in the match. They capitalised on a dominant spell, with two tries within the space of five minutes.
First Pauli appeared unstoppable, as he powered over. Then a high kick from Kevin Brown caused chaos for the Rhinos defence and the ball was worked left for Greenwood to go over by the posts.
Leeds hit-back with a second try for Handley, before Gale claimed victory with a drop-goal.
Supporters can hear the post-match thoughts of Ian Watson HERE on RDTV.
Fulltime: Leeds Rhinos 17-16 Salford Red Devils
Leeds Rhinos: Myler, Briscoe, Hurrell, L Sutcliffe, Handley; Lui, Gale, Seumanufagai, Leeming, Oledzki, Mellor, Martin, Prior,Dwyer, A Sutcliffe, Donaldson, Cuthbertson.
Salford Red Devils: Evalds, Williams, Watkins, Welham, Inu, Lolohea, Brown; Mossop, Lussick, Dudson, McCarthy, Greenwood, Flanagan, Ikahahifo, Pauli, Yates, Burke.
Leeds tries: Handley (2), Briscoe
Leeds goals: Gale (2/3) Leeds drop-goals: Gale (1/1)
Salford tries: Williams, Pauli, Greenwood
Salford goals: Inu (2/3)
Referee: Liam Moore
Image Credit: Steve McCormick
