Wolves' wise old heads benefit from Leeds' loss of momentum

Warrington 35 Leeds 18

Wembley

Suggested Topics

Tony Smith doesn't mind having the odd friendly dig at his more senior players. "The only reason I bring these two in," the Warrington coach said, nodding towards Brett Hodgson and Adrian Morley after the match, "is that they make me look young".

Sadly for Leeds, the two mid-thirty-somethings looked very much in the prime of life during the Challenge Cup final as the Rhinos failed again to win their "missing" trophy.

Hodgson, a 34-year-old skeleton of a rugby league player, was a deserving man of the match for the durability he showed in getting up from a legal but lethal tackle from Kylie Leuluai to orchestrate the Wolves' dance towards the finishing post.

It was an incident which showcased both the best and worst of the code. There was the extreme physical confrontation of Leuluai's crunching tackle, which was on the borderline of what is permitted in this toughest of team sports. There was also the uncomplaining way that Hodgson accepted it, insisting afterwards that Leuluai – "a champion bloke," he called him – had done nothing wrong. But there was, too, the interminable wait while the impact was shown and scrutinised time after time. It revealed nothing we had not seen the first time and it deprived both the game of much of its momentum and some of the 79,180 crowd, one suspects, of their will to live.

You could argue that Leeds never managed to get their momentum back. After Brett Delaney's no-try from the loose ball in the Hodgson-Leuluai collision, the Rhinos conceded three tries in 10 minutes, effectively scuppering their chances of a first Challenge Cup since 1999. Much of the damage had been done, however, a lot earlier than that.

Morley, the Warrington captain, would have been nettled to start on the bench. When he came on midway through the first half, he focused all the aggression that had been threatening to fly off in all directions. At 35, the man who first emerged as a hot-headed teenager at Leeds can still do the business on the big occasion.

The third of the Wolves' vigorous veterans, Lee Briers, had one of his less obviously eye-catching games, but his stealthy influence was still everywhere. That includes the performance of his half-back partner, Richie Myler, who made a number of Briers-style plays to put his team on top.

Two years ago, Myler was distraught to be left out of the Cup final side, but the heart that is broken at Wembley can be mended at Wembley, as he looked every inch a Test scrum-half. That healing process applied to Hodgson as well, because he was a member of the Huddersfield side beaten by the Wolves in 2009.

Briers paid fulsome tribute to him on Saturday, calling his "probably one of the best performances I've seen.

"He did a few outstanding things, but he was just so safe at the back. He gets whacked and whacked. You've got to be tough to do what he does."

As for Leeds, they were better than they were when they were thrashed by Warrington in the final two years ago, but not by much. They started strongly enough, with Jamie Peacock well to the fore, but once the game settled into a pattern they were always second best. The consensus, even among their own supporters, was that they would have been further behind at half-time had it not been for a monsoon downpour which turned part of the first half into a stalemate.

There is no doubt that they missed the injured Danny McGuire, with his 18-year-old understudy, Stevie Ward, struggling to make his mark on the game.

There were flashes of the potential of Zak Hardaker and, with his two late tries, Kallum Watkins, as well as the appearance of the first German to play in the final in the shaoe of the Leeds Metropolitan University student, Jimmy Keinhorst. But it did not add up to enough to trouble Warrington, which meant that the game never quite amounted to the classic it could have been. Rugby league, with its current climate of financial problems at clubs, could have used a more ringing vindication.

Even some Warrington fans seemed to find a reason to be pessimistic. Their side's challenge now is to regroup in time for a stab at the Grand Final, which they have never reached. Everyone is agreed that to complete that double will require something really special – and the Wolves, exceptional side though they are, might not quite have it. "Ah well," said one supporter, who had been through the celebratory phase and had arrived at the maudlin, glass-half-empty stage, "there goes our chance of winning Super League".

Scorers: Leeds: Tries Kirke, Watkins 2. Goals Sinfield 3. Warrington: Tries J Monaghan, Waterhouse, Riley, Atkins, McCarthy, Hodgson; Goals Hodgson 5; Drop goal Briers.

Leeds Ward, Jones-Bishop, Hall, Delaney, Watkins, Hardaker, Burrow, Sinfield, Ablett, Jones-Buchanan, Bailey, Leuluai, Peacock.

Replacements Keinhorst, Griffin, Kirke, Lunt.

Warrington Hodgson, Riley, J Monaghan, Hill, Atkins, Briers, Myler, Harrison, Ratchford, Waterhouse, Westwood, Higham, Carvell.

Replacements McCarthy, M Monaghan, Morley, Wood.

The final indignity: Leeds' half-dozen horrors

2000 Lost 24-18 to Bradford at Huddersfield

2003 Lost 22-20 to Bradford at Cardiff

2005 Lost 25-24 to Hull at Cardiff

2010 Lost 30-6 to Warrington at Wembley

2011 Lost 28-18 to Wigan at Wembley

2012 Lost 35-18 to Warrington at Wembley

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Caption competition
Caption competition
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Sport blogs

iBet: Mercedes and Hamilton to roar in Monaco

Monaco is a street circuit where driver ability is more important than anywhere else and if we take ...

by Gareth Purnell

On The Road at the Giro d’Italia: It sounds sadistic, but the team live for the mountain stages

Three weeks ago as I drove off the Eurostar, I remember thinking what a very long time it was until ...

by Martin Ayres

iBet: Rose has the ammunition for Wentworth

McDowell did brilliantly to land the World Match Play title in Bulgaria last week, but it’s a format...

by Gareth Purnell

       
Career Services

Day In a Page

James Pembroke: The man who's eaten everywhere

The man who's eaten everywhere

Few people know more about restaurants than James Pembroke, who only spent five mealtimes at home during his entire childhood.
A Berliner in 1963 – but did John F Kennedy once admire Adolf Hitler?

A Berliner in 1963 – but did John F Kennedy once admire Adolf Hitler?

The young JFK praised 'superior' Nordic races during visits to Germany
Banned Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof to attend Cannes Film Festival 2013, his first public appearance since prison

Banned Iranian director to attend Cannes Film Festival

Mohammad Rasoulof to make his first public appearance since being imprisoned three years ago
Seeing the larger picture: Inspiring images of space

Seeing the larger picture: Inspiring images of space

An exhibition explores images how photography has shaped astronomy
Eat Spam and carry on: Wartime pamphlets could teach us a thing or two about healthy, thrifty eating

Eat Spam and carry on

Wartime pamphlets could teach us a thing or two about healthy, thrifty eating
Facial hair: Cat beards and the purrrsuit of excellence

Facial hair

Cat beards and the purrrsuit of excellence
The 10 Best salt and pepper sets

The 10 Best salt and pepper sets

Whether they're for everyday use or to make your dining table look just right, it's worth getting a stylish shaker...
Ferran Soriano: Predicting success if Manchester City 'vision' is followed

Ferran Soriano: Predicting success if Manchester City 'vision' is followed

Chief executive says trophies will come if a 'core' of suitable players is in place
Thomas Müller: We couldn't handle losing a Champions League Final again

Thomas Müller: We couldn't handle losing a Champions League Final again

The Bayern Munich forward tells Tim Rich his side have to shed chokers' tag after two recent final defeats
Giro d'Italia: The Stelvio Pass - cycling's killer climb

The Stelvio Pass - cycling's killer climb

As the Giro d'Italia tackles the brutal climb, Simon Usborne takes on the snow and switchbacks – and soon realises what the fuss is about
National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

Sent down at the Old Bailey

A tour of the world's most famous court
Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
British football scores an own goal

British football scores an own goal

Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

James Lawton

Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again