General Warrington Win Challenge Cup

leeds_warrior_old

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Warrington lifted the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1974 after beating Huddersfield in a superb Wembley final.

Richie Mathers, Michael Monaghan and Chris Hicks scored tries as the Wolves blitzed the Giants, who replied through Shaun Lunt but had two tries ruled out.

Brett Hodgson closed the gap to 18-10 before the end of a frantic first half.

Vinnie Anderson's try pushed Warrington out of reach before David Hodgson's try gave the Giants hope, but Lee Briers' late drop-goal sealed Warrington's win.

The game was only 69 seconds old when Warrington drew first blood through Mathers.

Louis Anderson charged down Brett Hodgson's kick and although the Giants captain managed to prevent the Kiwi charging through to the goal line, it was only a temporary reprieve.

Mathers eventually barged over under the posts and after consultation with the video referee, the try was awarded.

Lunt thought he had put the Giants on the scoreboard when he twisted through three tackles to touch down under the sticks, but the video referee was again called upon, and ruled out the try because of a double movement.

But Lunt was not to be denied for long. David Faiumu off-loaded superbly to Brett Hodgson, who burst through the defence and delayed his pass perfectly to allow Lunt to fly over the line and score the Giants' opening try.

Monaghan soon restored Warrington's lead, finishing off after Adrian Morley stripped the ball from Darrell Griffin, and the Giants' usually water-tight defence barely had time to get its breath back before suffering a third blow.

Left winger Chris Riley followed up Lee Briers' kick to gain vital ground, and from that attack the ball was worked across to the right wing where Hicks crossed to score.

David Hodgson became the second Giants player to have a try ruled out, for an obstruction in the build-up, set up by Kevin Brown's fine one-handed pass.

Warrington's Matt King was also then denied a try by the video referee, who deemed the centre was not in control of the ball as he touched down from Briers' high kick.

The frantic pace took its toll on Wolves, with Huddersfield gradually gaining the upper hand, but they had to wait until just before the break to convert that into points.

A fine passing move ended when Jamahl Lolesi's basketball-style pass allowed Hodgson to go over in the right-hand corner, but the angle was too tight for the Australian to convert his own score.

Brown had been hugely influential in the first half, so his loss to a knee ligament injury was a major blow to Huddersfield, who took their time to settle after the restart.

On the hour mark, Monaghan's lateral pass left several defenders grasping at thin air as Anderson went over for the Wolves' fourth try.

That opened up a 14-point lead, which would have meant the Giants would need to claw back the biggest deficit in Wembley history to win.

With time running out, Hodgson stretched over in the left corner to give the Giants a glimmer of hope, but Briers rounded off a memorable day for Warrington with a late drop-goal in front of the posts.


https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8221143.stm
 
Yep i stayed up and watched it.I feel like crap now though....tired, but worth watching. Phil Benthom or what ever his name is in the video refs box wouldn't know a try if he gave birth to one. The first try he ruled out to the Huddersfield hooker, Moore, was one of the worst decissions i have seen recently.
And that first try to Warrington inside of a 1:17 into the game had a huge bearing on the out come.
Huddersfield prop Mason had a game to forget.
Warrington didn't have a great game though Lee Briers leed the team around the park well and for mine was the best player on the ground. How the hell Monaghan got the Lance Todd is beyond me.
 
I stayed up to watch it too. OK game but lots of empty seats for a huge game like that.
 
Yeah the empty seats wouldn't have existed if any of the big clubs had been playing. What the crowd figure anyway? In a stadium that big i'd guess that there was about 60,000.
 
Only 60k? I didn't see the game.

One of my best RL experiences was the '94 Leeds-Wigan CC final at Wembley
 
i remember the challenge cup and kiwi test matches and local lion red cup final were the only live league games they would cover in the mid 1980's in new zealand. good to see the game back at wembley.

on another note they mention it on the aussie nrl footy show and the only thing they mentioned about it being in england was that nathan brown was on the bus to london as they spoke to him! they went thru the team going on about all the aussies playing even including born an raised kiwi's like whatuira, faiumu etc as australians. total joke non wonder most aussie league fans dont no **** about rugby league anywhere but thier own backward... they could have mentioned that the game actually began in huddersfield in 1895 but again aussie believe they started the sport in 1908!

anyway rant over congrats to warrington
 

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