Widnes Vikings star Kevin Brown admits there will be nerves ahead of their huge semi-final showdown with Castleford Tigers on Sunday – but he says if the Vikings can control them, those nerves can be channeled into a huge positive.
The Vikings and the Tigers are both just 80 minutes away from Wembley, and a return to the Challenge Cup final. The Vikings themselves are no strangers to the cup, but they haven’t reached the final for an astonishing 21 years. And Brown believes that if the Vikings play to their potential on the day, they have every chance of dumping out a Cas side he described as the ‘club of the year’.
“If we turn up on the day and play to our best, we’ll give ourselves a chance of winning the game.,” Brown told the BBC.
“They’re probably the club of the year from where they’ve been; consistently they’ve been good and we’re up against a tough side. It’s a semi-final so there are going to be nerves; the history behind it is something for other people to speak about. For us it’s massive because it’s a semi-final and the reward is going to Wembley. There will be nerves, but nerves can be good if you can contain them.
“You can’t stop thinking about it every time you go to bed; there’s no better feeling than going to Wembley as a player. I’m pretty confident we’ll turn up and give ourselves a huge chance of winning the game.”
