Warrington become the first team to make it to Wembley in 2019 for the Challenge Cup Final. Here’s how their win over Hull FC unfolded.
MATCH DETAILS
Warrington return to Wembley to avenge their 2017 and 2018 Challenge Cup Final defeats with a third trip in four years after inflicting a 22-14 defeat on Hull FC in their semi-final.
The Wolves opened the scoring in the sixth minute through a Bryson Goodwin try after Ratu Naulago lost the ball in front of his goal line and Ben Currie scooped it up to pass onto Goodwin.
After Stefan Ratchford missed the conversion, Marc Sneyd added a penalty goal in the 13th minute to make it 4-2 to the Wolves.
After a spurt of Warrington attack, it looked like Hull were in the driving seat. Jamie Shaul made a great break down the middle of the pitch but lost possession when tackled. Not converting these chances into points was ultimately Hull’s downfall on the day.
The Airlie Birds managed to get over the tryline in the 24th minute after Naulago raced down the touchline around Tom Lineham before taking the tackle. Albert Kelly kicked the ball across to Bureta Faraimo, who went over in the corner to give the Black and Whites a 6-4 lead after a missed Sneyd conversion.
Following another Sneyd penalty, it was the Wolves time to turn on their attack. Ben Currie caught the Hull defence napping as he collected a Dec Patton kick to make it 10-8. Sneyd missed another penalty on the stroke of half-time on a day when he didn’t seem to have his best kicking boots with him.
Warrington started the second half stronger and added more points through a Toby King try. King out-jumped Faraimo on the end of a Blake Austin kick.
Hull FC looked determined to keep fighting but at times looked to be trying too hard and wanting to score on every set. Eventually, they broke the Warrington defence when Scott Taylor powered his way over the line in the 65th minutes after a Danny Houghton pass from dummy half.
This set up a tense final 15 minutes when it looked like both sides were clinging on. Ultimately, the Wolves attack was too strong for a tired Hull defence after a Joe Westerman error led to Joe Philbin kicking the ball through and collecting his own kick to score.
A strong showing from both sides but Warrington just had a little extra to give on the day. Can the third time be the charm for the Wolves at Wembley?
FOUR POINTERS
Battle for second in Super League
Despite this being the Cup semi-final, these sides are also battling it out for second spot in the league. Currently Warrington have the upper hand and are two points ahead of Hull. Will this loss spur Hull on in the league and go for another visit to Old Trafford? Can Warrington handle the pressure of going for two titles this season?
Ratchford adds something extra
With the return of Stefan Ratchford for the Wolves, this adds some stability in defence for them as well as another option going forward. He’s been missing since mid-May and they have only won 50% of their games since his injury.
Naulago – surprise find of the season?
Lee Radford has thrown praise all over the Fijian-British soldier in recent weeks and it seems the rest of Super League has caught on. Although the semi-final was not his best game, he is still learning about the game yet already looks impressive. He can come up with a magic moment in both attack and defence.
The magic of the Cup no more?
It seems that after yesterday’s games, the attendance didn’t quite reflect how good the games were. Just over 24,000 turned out for the games, which is 4,000 shy of the capacity. Fans didn’t seem too happy about the choice of stadium again so will the triple header return in 2020?
THE RESULT
Warrington 22
Tries: Goodwin, Currie, King, Philbin
Goals: Ratchford 3
Drop Goals: n/a
Hull FC 14
Tries: Faraimo, Taylor
Goals: Sneyd 3
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
Warrington: Ratchford, Lineham, Goodwin, King, Mamo, Austin, Patton, Hill, D. Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, J. Clark.
Interchanges: Philbin, Murdoch-Masila, Davis, Tasi.
Hull FC: Shaul, Faraimo, Griffin, Tuimavave, Naulago, Kelly, Sneyd, Taylor, Houghton, Paea, Lane, Minichiello, Westerman.
Interchanges: Ellis, Bowden, Fash, Connor.
