IT’S A long time since I’ve looked forward to a Challenge Cup Final as much as I’m looking forward to this Saturday’s Wembley clash between two clubs that haven’t won the Cup for 43 years (Hull KR) and 52 years (Leigh Leopards) respectively.
A win for either side won’t result in a new name being on the trophy, but it will be a new name in the summer era.
Will the fans of the two clubs flock to Wembley in sufficient numbers to get the crowd back up above 70,000, which is a figure we need to have if the stadium is going to look reasonably full.
I certainly hope so, and let’s not forget that four other clubs will also be playing at Wembley on Saturday – St Helens and Leeds in the Women’s Challenge Cup Final, and Halifax and Batley in the 1895 Cup Final.
I’m not sure how many fans those other four clubs will take, but surely we can get enough Rugby League supporters down to London to make the game look like a great event.
It was interesting to see the different approaches of the two club coaches in selecting their squads for the Round 21 matches over the weekend.
Hull KR played at Wigan on Friday night and their coach Willie Peters selected a side with three Academy debutants and three short-term loanees, who had been recruited to play in that match and no other.
It wasn’t too surprising that they went down to a 64-6 defeat.
Two days later, Adrian Lam selected a near full strength side to face Leeds at Headingley, with Lam making few concessions to the fact that his side would be in the Challenge Cup Final six days later.
Of course Peters didn’t want to risk injury to some of his star players, while Lam was prepared to take that risk in order to sustain his side’s challenge for second place in the table.
And it appears that Leigh got through the game against Leeds without injury so I think we can say that fortune favours the brave.
So will we have a final to remember on Saturday?
I’m sure we will. And it won’t just be memorable for the fans of the two clubs.
Leigh are the favourites with the bookmakers but both sides are capable of playing some enterprising rugby, with plenty of individuals who are capable of catching the eye, as you will see from our Readers’ Poll on the opposite page, which lists some of the players who may be contenders for the Lance Todd Trophy.
The Leopards have already beaten the Robins twice this season.
In their Round 3 game, on 3rd March in Hull, Leigh won for the first time this season, inflicting Hull KR’s first defeat, with a 25-30 victory that came from a late try by Josh Charnley in the 78th minute.
“Hopefully it’s a kick starter for the rest of the season,” said Adrian Lam.
Never a truer word was spoken.
From that point onwards, Leigh have never looked back.
On the last day of June they hosted Hull KR at home and this time they came away with a convincing 34-4 victory, after they went in 22-0 ahead at the interval.
Let’s all hope for a match like their first game, rather than their second.
And let’s hope we are watching the game being played in front of something near to a full house.
A full day’s entertainment
It’s funny how the pattern of one side preparing for Wembley with a notable victory and the other going down to defeat has been repeated for the other two games that will feature at Wembley this Saturday.
The Women’s Challenge Cup Final will feature St Helens and Wigan. And while the Saints women overcame Wigan at the weekend, Leeds surprisingly lost at home to Huddersfield, giving the Giants women their first win of the season.
Then when we consider the 1895 Cup Final, we see that Halifax prepared for it with a tremendous victory against Featherstone Rovers on Sunday, while Batley fell to a heavy home defeat against Bradford Bulls.
Finally we have the Steven Mullaney Memorial Boys Year 7 Champion Schools final, which is also back at Wembley after a year’s hiatus.
Archbishop Sentamu from east Hull will take on Bedford High School, of Leigh in a game that kicks off at 10.10 am.
The Champion Schools game always provides great entertainment and who could forget the youngster who the game is named after when he scored a try in 1986 and ran back to his team-mates in tears.
What a tragedy that he lost his life so soon after that wonderful moment.
Where to now for Daryl Powell?
Unfortunately the news about Daryl Powell’s departure from Warrington Wolves came out last week just after we had gone to print.
I find it hard to believe that Daryl will be out of a job for long, although his Warrington contract extends to the end of 2024, so I suppose if he were so inclined, he could sit twiddling his thumbs until then.
But I would be surprised if we didn’t see him back sooner than that.
In cricket we’ve heard a lot about Bazball recently, which is a form of adventurous cricket that the England team played in this year’s Ashes series.
In 2017 Daryl invented the Rugby League equivalent of Bazball, when his side attacked from everywhere in the field and the Tigers were way ahead of the field until they stumbled against Leeds in the Grand Final.
I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Daryl heading to the NRL to join Lee Briers, Brian McDermott and Richard Agar, who are all enjoying great success with their respective clubs the Broncos, Knights and Warriors this season.
Paul Gill
I was very sad to hear from my colleague Garry Schofield shortly before going to print that former Leeds fullback Paul Gill has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
Paul played for Leeds from 1982 to 1989, making 47 appearances in total.
I’m sure many Leeds fans will remember him.
We have all witnessed what this terrible disease has done to Rob Burrow.
Paul has been diagnosed recently and he is now in the early stages of the disease.
Garry will be involved in several events to help Paul and his family and I hope League Express readers will take note and contribute to a very worthy cause.
My best wishes go to Paul and his family.
League Express Podcast
Finally, we have introduced a new Podcast, which we expect to run weekly.
If you would like to listen or watch the first edition, click here.
I hope you enjoy it.
