WARRINGTON hooker Sam Powell is gutted his wait for a Challenge Cup winner’s medal goes on.
Saturday’s loss to Hull KR was a third Wembley final the 32-year-old has come out on the wrong side of, following last season’s defeat to Wigan and the 2017 final when he was in the Wigan team beaten by Hull FC.
He wasn’t the only one in the Wolves dressing room to suffer either, as Luke Yates has now lost three finals with three different clubs while George Williams has tasted three final defeats.
Stefan Ratchford now has three final losses to go with his two victories, Ben Currie has lost three to go with a win while Toby King, also part of the victorious 2019 team, has now lost four.
Powell said: “I’m absolutely gutted. It’s pretty silent in there. Sam (Burgess, coach) said he was proud of our efforts.
“The conditions suited Marc Sneyd’s kicking game and he was absolutely outstanding for us, so we got on the back of that.
“We gave ourselves the best chance and it just came down to a moment there at the end which didn’t go our way, but that’s sport, it’s cruel sometimes.”
Powell had expressed prior to the semi-final how much progressing and winning at Wembley would mean.
He started at hooker in the long-term absence of Danny Walker, and played long minutes, being spelled briefly by Jordan Crowther.
Powell knows he might not get many more chances to have a go at winning the famous old trophy, but he was pragmatic.
He added: “I’ll probably a bit down for a while, but I will see my family and reset with them. It’s about being professional. We’ll be back in this week and we’ll go again at Leeds (on Saturday).”