Warrington Wolves will meet Catalan Dragons in the final of the Challenge Cup after a dominant 48-12 win over Leeds Rhinos.
MATCH DETAILS
Leeds got the first half underway and the Wolves began pressing the Rhinos’ tryline on their opening set. Leeds were penalised 10 metres out for holding down Roberts for too long. The number 7 opted to take the two and bagged the early advantage.
Leeds responded quickly and Ryan Hall ran over the Wolves defence to claim the first try of the semi-final. Liam Sutcliffe was on kicking duty once again and comfortably earned the extra two points.
Two converted tries went in quick succession for the Wolves as Tom Lineham had seen the gap and ran the full length of the pitch to bag Warrington’s first try of the match.
Toby King then beat Hall to another high-kick from Roberts, and he found Josh Charnley who dived over in the corner and extended his team’s lead.
On the half-hour mark, Warrington continued their momentum as Kevin Brown threw a dummy from close range before beating two defenders to cross under the sticks.
Ben Murdoch-Masila added to the scoresheet with powering 25 metre run to score to conclude a dominant first-half performance for the Wolves.
Leeds gained momentum at the start of the second half as Brad Dwyer ran from dummy half, opening up a gap for Adam Cuthbertson and the forward was able to touchdown between the posts.
However, a fantastic break from Daryl Clark found Josh Charnley on his outside to cross the line and grab his second try of the game. Tyrone Roberts added a penalty goal 10 metres out in front of the uprights to add to their lead.
With 10 minutes to go, it was job done for the Wire as they grabbed a treble of tries. Toby King scored after braking the line on the right flank with a nice dummy. Bryson Goodwin scored seventh and Tom Lineham bagging his brace on the last try.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED
Warrington love the Challenge Cup
Warrington have added to their impressive record in the Challenge Cup that has spanned 11 years, and will now play their fourth Challenge Cup final in that time in that time.
Leeds didn’t turn up
It would seem Leeds’ drop to the Super 8 Qualifiers has come back to haunt them. Despite breaking the deadlock today, the team’s morale looked more half-hearted when they conceded.
Man Of The Match – Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves)
Daryl Clark was nominated as the Man of The Match, although there were many exceptional performances to choose from the Warrington side.
Clark was the front-man in the attacking set-pieces and created some beautiful tries along the way.
THE RESULT
Warrington Wolves 48
Tries: Lineham (22′, 79′) Charnley (24′, 58′) Brown (30′) Murdoch-Masila (40′) King (69′) Goodwin (75′)
Goals: Roberts (8/9) Westwood (0/1)
Drop Goals: n/a
Leeds Rhinos 12
Tries: Hall (13′) Cuthbertson (45′)
Goals: Sutcliffe (2/2)
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
Warrington Wolves:
1 Stefan Ratchford. 2. Tom Lineham 3. Bryson Goodwin 18. Toby King 27. Josh Charnley 6. Kevin Brown. 7. Tyrone Roberts 8. Chris Hill 9. Daryl Clark 10. Mike Cooper 20. Harvey Livett 12. Jack Hughes 34. Ben Westwood
Subs:
13. Ben Murdoch-Masila 19. George King 15. Declan Patton 17. Joe Philbin
Leeds Rhinos:
24. Jack Walker 2. Tom Briscoe 4. Liam Sutcliffe 5. Ryan Hall 6. Joel Moon 7. Richie Myler 8. Adam Cuthbertson 9. Matt Parcell 10. Brad Singleton 11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan 12. Carl Ablett 14. Brad Dwyer 16. Anthony Mullally 19. Brett Ferres
Subs:
21. Nathaniel Peteru 22. Ash Handley 28. Mikolaj Oledzki 30. Josh Walters
Referee: Chris Kendall
