THE Wolves have done it – brought the Challenge Cup back to Warrington for the third time in four years.
After a bruising first half in which Wolves did well to hold a narrow 12-10 lead over Leeds Rhinos at half-time, Tony Smith’s men took control of the game in the second half finish 35-18 winners.
The result left Leeds the only team ever to lose three Challenge Cup finals in a row.
An elated Smith said after the game: “It’s hard to put into words how I feel. But I love to see the players get their rewards.
“The first half was difficult but in the second half everything went right. Leeds were worthy opponents – but on the day we were too good for them.”
First-half tries from Joel Monaghan and Trent Waterhouse gave Wolves a narrow advantage at half-time.
Torrential rain lashed Wembley for a time during the first half and this may have been to Leeds’ advantage. A greasy ball made handling difficult and conditions underfoot also looked treacherous.
But Wolves had the majority of possession – and after the interval became even more dominant with the Rhinos pinned back in their own half nearly all the time.
It was a try from Chris Riley, wide on the wing that seemed to ignite Wolves’ second half onslaught. Brett Hodgson, who had not missed up to that point, could not convert from the difficult angle but Wolves were now leading 10-16.
An almost identical try from Ryan Atkins came soon after, and this time Hodgson made no mistake to take the score to 10-22.
When Tyrone McCarthy went over and Hodgson converted again to takes Wolves’ tally to 28 the writing was on the wall.
A Lee Briers drop goal rubbed salt in the wound but then Kallum Watkins’ unconverted try for Leeds inspired a brief fight back. But this was crushed mercilessly when Hodgson went over and then converted his own try to take the score to 35-14
A final try from Watkins gave Rhinos the consolation of a 35-18 final scoreline, but this proved an irrelevance as Wolves – and their fans – were already cheering the victors.
Brett Hodgson was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match – a decision that must have been difficult as there were superb individual performances from several Wolves players including Briers and Trent Waterhouse whose dummy runs so often left the Leeds defence in tatters.
Wolves: Brett Hodgson; Joel Monaghan, Stefan Ratchford, Ryan Atkins, Chris Riley, Lee Briers , Richie Myler; Chris Hill, Micky Higham, Garreth Carvell, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Westwood, Ben Harrison . Subs: Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Paul Wood, Tyrone McCarthy.
Leeds: Zak Hardaker; Ben Jones-Bishop, Kallum Watkins, Carl Ablett, Ryan Hall; Stevie Ward, Kevin Sinfield, Kylie Leuluai, Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Brett Delaney, Ryan Bailey. Subs: Ian Kirke, Darrell Griffin, Shaun Lunt, Jimmy Keinhorst.
The downpour
Riley and Atkins jump for joy
Michael Monaghan opens up the Leeds’ defence
We’ve won the cup!
Skipper Adrian Morley celebrates
Tony Smith and Adrian Morley
Warrington’s amazing fans
Paul Wood leads the dressing room celebrations
For more than 400 Wembley pictures CLICK HERE
6 Comments
Great result for a great team – congratulations to all involved – time to begin the party.
Absolutely BRILLIANT !!! Well done Warrington Wolves !! I’m exhaused and I only watched it at home on the TV (on my own)…. sore throat from screaming and shouting too much too ha ha 🙂 I’ll be picking us some very happy and merry fans later tonight when they get back. WELL DONE AGAIN….FANTASTIC…. and can’t wait for the home coming tomorrow 🙂
Congratulations to everyone at Warrington Wolves on another fantastic Wembley success.
congratulations to you all. but how disappointing that your homecoming will not be the same going to the new park is not what most people would want. it leaves a very sour taste as the challenge cup is for ALL. the older generation will not go so thanks Warrington Wolves for not including us. do not forget, we made you what you are
I wouldn’t go to Orford Park either, not my scene. But everything seems to be centred there now. Have to justify the cost I suppose.
To the two posters above who were annoyed that it started at Orford Park…. There were many other streets along the route that you could have easily watched from instead. That’s what we did. Sad to think that your views about Orford Park are seemingly stronger than your wish to welcome the team and the challenge cup home. Yes we were disappointed at first that it wasn’t going down Manchester Road etc like 2 years ago but we still went and parked easily near the bottom of Bridge Street. We walked up to where they came past the bus station. That was eerie when they came under the bridge as there was a river of people in primrose and blue walking behind them waving flags and blowing horns. It gave me goosebumps. We then had plenty of time to slowly walk to the Town Hall (something we have never done before) and the atmosphere there was amazing. Such a pity you missed it but I’ll upload some of my photo’s later onto the forum pages (or tomorrow if I don’t have time tonight) and without doubt Warrington Worldwide will be uploading a lot too. All in all a cracking weekend all around and no moans from me or the thousands of other people that’s supported them that’s for sure 🙂