Wolves bite back to shock the neighbours
ST HELENS 4 WARRINGTON 18
Warrington made a mockery of the form book to pull off a stunning win over runaway Super League leaders St Helens in the 118th Challenge Cup final.
Wolves coach Steve Price called Saints the biggest favourites in Challenge Cup history after losing to them in all three league meetings this year and going into Wembley on the back of five straight league defeats.
It might have been different had referee Robert Hicks referred an early score from Knowles to the video referee because slowmotion replays, later displayed on the big screen, suggested it should have been a try.
When Hicks did call on video referee Ben Thaler for assistance, checking a potential try to centre Mark Percival on 23 minutes, the decision went against Saints and two minutes later Warrington were in front.
Substitute Joe Philbin, who scored the decisive try in his side’s 22-14 semi-final win over Hull, took the ball as first receiver from the outstanding Daryl Clark and powered his way to the line for the opening try.
Saints had barely recovered from that blow when they were dealt another, second-rower Ben Murdoch-masila proving unstoppable after taking Jack Hughes’ pass close to the line. That followed an uncharacteristic handling error near his own line by Coote, who had been prominent in his team’s encouraging start to the match.
Stefan Ratchford added the conversions as the Wolves led 12-0 at the break.
It might have been more. Tom Lineham tried to force his way over from dummy half early in the second half only to concede a penalty for obstruction.
His opposite number Tommy Makinson was also denied after slow-motion replays showed he lost the ball in Bryson Goodwin’s last-ditch tackle, which perfectly illustrated Warrington’s effective scrambling defence.
They finally cracked when, following a spell of sustained pressure, Theo Fages weaved his way to the line for Saints’ first try, although Coote missed the conversion, which summed up his day, and left his side still trailing by two scores.
Warrington never looked like relinquishing their grip and they made sure of the victory when Clark burrowed his way over for their third try nine minutes from the end and Dec Patton added the conversion.