Huddersfield Giants stalwart Michael Lawrence says this weekend will be “huge” for his home town as fans of the Rugby League and football clubs who share the John Smith’s Stadium prepare to descend on London.
While the Giants are eyeing Challenge Cup glory against Wigan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, Huddersfield Town play Nottingham Forest at Wembley on Sunday for a place in football’s Premier League.
It’s something of a role reversal, since the Challenge Cup Final is inextricably linked with Wembley, while Town were the second team to visit Spurs’ sparkling 62,000-capacity home after it was opened in April 2019, shortly before their relegation after two seasons of mixing it with the big boys.
The double date has been the subject of much talk and excitement in Huddersfield ever since Town completed a 2-1 aggregate win over Luton in the Championship play-off semi-finals last Monday – nine days after the Giants booked their final berth by beating Hull KR 25-4 at Elland Road, home of the football club’s old rivals Leeds United.
The scenario has a striking resemblance to 1953, the last time Huddersfield lifted the Challenge Cup.
For the 15-10 win over St Helens in front of 89,588 at Wembley, which was sealed with the help of two tries by teenage stand-off Peter Ramsden and one by Welsh scrum-half Billy Banks, came as Town clinched promotion to the top flight with a team spearheaded by Jimmy Glazzard, a goal-getting former miner from the Rugby League stronghold of Normanton.
A repeat of 69 years ago would be a dream come true for 32-year-old forward and club captain Lawrence, who has made more than 300 appearances for the Giants, where he came through the development system and was handed a first-team debut as a 17-year-old in 2007, becoming the first Super League player born in the 1990s to make his Super League debut.
“Both teams getting to their finals is huge for Huddersfield and so many people going to London on the same weekend will be amazing,” says Lawrence.
“I’ve supported Town all my life, and to see them get back to the Premier League would be amazing, because I remember the excitement it brought last time.
“Hopefully plenty of Town fans will come and get behind us on Saturday and a lot of Giants fans will stay over and go to the football. Hopefully it will be smiles all round.”
It’s the Giants’ first Challenge Cup final appearance since they were beaten 25-16 by Warrington at Wembley in 2009, and Lawrence recalled: “I didn’t play, but went with the squad and remember the atmosphere of the occasion and the positive effect it had on the town and the club.
“It was the beginning of a decent spell for us. We started making the play-offs regularly and won the League Leaders’ Shield four years later.
“Hopefully we can win the Cup this time and start to challenge in the league again.”
Lawrence, who in September agreed a contract extension through to the end of 2023, believes the previous big-match experience of coach Ian Watson, who made the 2019 Grand Final and 2020 Challenge Cup Final with Salford, as well as many of the players he has brought in, will help Huddersfield in their Wembley quest.
“Ian has now been able to put his own stamp on the club and mould the squad the way he wants,” adds Lawrence.
“You look at the likes of Ricky Leutele, Joe Greenwood, Chris Hill and Theo Fages and they know what it is to both play in and win big games.”
Meanwhile Giants coach Ian Watson admits that he will have some tough selection decisions to make this week, with several players having to be told that they won’t make the Cup Final squad.
“That is always the difficult part of coaching,” concedes Watson.
“You have an opinion about what is your best team; some players will agree with that and some won’t. But that’s part of being a sportsman. You will have highs and lows throughout your career and you sign up for that when you are a professional Rugby League player. You’re not always going to be picked, perhaps due to a loss of form, or it may just be a decision by the coach that he thinks someone else is going to be better off being in there this week to get the victory. It’s all about what is best for the team.
“The one thing here at Huddersfield is that we have spoken to some players already who we don’t think will feature in the Final, just so they can get their heads around it and help prepare the team for the final, because it’s the squad that wins you Challenge Cups and Grand Finals.
“Telling players they won’t be playing is probably the part that coaches like least, because emotions are high and you are dealing with a special occasion. But then again, someone is disappointed every week and if you can’t make those decisions, then you shouldn’t be a coach.”
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