Charnley and Hanley star as Leigh outplay Hull

Image source, SWPIX

• Published22 May 2026, 22:04 BST

Betfred Super League

Leigh (12) 42

Tries: Charnley 3, Towse, Hanley, Halton, Armstrong, Hodgson, Lam Goals: Cook 3

Hull FC (6) 6

Tries: Hardaker Goals: Hardaker

Josh Charnley was the headline act with a hat-trick to close on Ryan Hall's Super League record as Leigh Leopards breezed past Hull FC.

The veteran wing's finishing power was on full display as took his try tally to 269 to move to within two of Hall, who has 271 Super League touchdowns.

It was a virtuoso display at centre from 24-year-old Umyla Hanley, however, which just about stole the show at Leigh Sports Village.

Few can handle Hanley's pace and vision when he is on song and the son of Wigan and league legend Ellery was unstoppable with three assists, a try of his own and a key role in another.

Despite trailing 6-4 at the end of a cagey opening 25 minutes, Hanley's wizardry and Charnley's finishing helped deliver Leigh nine tries and their biggest win of the season.

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This was a fourth victory out of five for the Leopards, who are moving through the gears as the season progresses. Adrian Lam's side stayed seventh but have closed the gap on the top six to two points.

With Hanley pulling the strings, there is no doubt they have the tools to post a top-six finish and hold Grand Final ambitions.

Hanley was instrumental with the assist of the night to put in Charnley for a second, offloading an inside pass as he was being taken over the sideline at pace by Logan Moy.

His burst of pace and darting run to set up Charnley's hat-trick was electrifying.

The only negative on a near faultless performance from Hanley came with a woeful conversion kick when Adam Cook handed over kicking duties after missing five of his first six.

For all of Leigh's dominance, picking up the pace after going behind and never catching sight of their opponents from there to the hooter, Hull FC were poor.

They had been hit by yet another injury nightmare with full-back Davy Litten injuring his medial ligament in training this week and facing up to six weeks on the sidelines.

It compounded the feeling that a turnaround in fortunes feels a long way off for the Black and Whites, as Andy Last's side slipped to a fifth defeat in their past six Super League outings.

'We need to work on kicking' - reaction

Leigh head coach Adrian Lam on his side's kicking:

"(Hanley) does practise it and he's OK at it, but it wasn't my call.

"I was hoping that Adam would just stick with it and get through it.

"We kick a couple of goals last week against Hull KR and it ties us the game. We missed a few tonight as well, so it's something we need to work on."

Hull FC interim coach Andy Last told BBC Radio Humberside:

"Immensely proud we managed to give a couple of young lads their debuts. First 40 minutes we stayed in the fight, but in the second half it just got away from us.

"Just a couple of moments didn't go our way where we didn't quite pick the right option. They are disappointed in there but they have given a good account of themselves.

"We normally travel a little bit earlier, get to the hotel and have a pre-match meal, do a clarity meeting and have an hour in the hotel.

"But [there was a crash on] the M62... so we ended up having to pop to the services with the players grabbing something to eat. It was old school under-11s trip.

"We ended up getting here at twenty past six. We had three HIAs [head injury assessments] in the game all in the first half but unfortunately just didn't have the energy in the legs in the second half to put up a stiffer fight against Leigh."

Leigh: Armstrong; Towse, Senior, Hanley, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Ofahengaue, Ipape, Hughes, Halton, Alick-Wiencke, Liu.

Interchanges: Hodgson, Brown, Brogan, Horne.

Hull FC: Moy; Barron, L Kemp, Johnson, Briscoe; C Kemp, Arthur; Mata'utia, Cust, Hill, Batchelor, O'Neill, Hardaker.

Interchanges: Salabio, Hutchinson, Kirby, Clark.

Referee: Liam Moore

Related topics

• Hull FC
• Leigh Leopards
• Rugby League