Challenge Cup Final Preview - St Helens v Warrington Wolves

Are you nervous? A bit jittery? Not even a little bit? Me neither. Glory probably awaits as Saints get set to take on Warrington in the Coral Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday (August 24, kick-off 3.00pm).

It’s been a long wait. Perhaps so long that chickens should remain well and truly unaccounted for as we go into our first Wembley final for 11 years. The last time Saints went to Wembley Britain was weeks away from a financial crisis and subsequent recession, Rihanna topped the charts with something called Disturbia, Usain Bolt ran the 100metres sprint in an eye-popping 9.58 seconds at the Olympic Games in Beijing and Portsmouth were the holders of the FA Cup. They were strange times indeed. Saints’ cup win that year was among the more predictable events, it being the third year in succession that Daniel Anderson’s side had brought home the most famous piece of bacon in rugby league.

Despite numerous attempts to club it to death the old classic competition still survives and retains much of its gravitas. No amount of Grand Finals or Magic Weekends can take away the value of winning the Challenge Cup. It may be a little easier to win these days with top eight Super League sides only needing three wins to reach Wembley, but should your team be the lucky ones holding the trophy aloft around 4.45 on Saturday afternoon nobody will remember that. You’re not likely to remember your own address and you’ll end up being bundled out of a taxi in Soho. But you will remember winning the final. The Challenge Cup transcends the sport in a way that the Grand Final cannot hope to and doesn’t appear to even be trying to. Free-to-air TV coverage helps in that regard even if Robbie Paul is a great big heap of cringe.

As in Super League the clubs involved have each named a 19-man squad 48 hours before kick-off. As in Super League there is little to stop the coaches disregarding their own selections come game day but we’ll do our best to analyse the likely line-ups. Saints coach Justin Holbrook will lead his side at Wembley for the first and last time having already agreed to join Gold Coast Titans in 2020, and his preparations were hit by the disappointing news this week that both Matty Lees and Aaron Smith will miss out. Lees picked up an abdominal injury in last week’s win over Leeds Rhinos which threatens the rest of his season, while Smith starts a two-game ban for dangerous contact with Rhinos fullback Jack Walker early in the second half at Headingley. It’s a cruel blow for the pair who have been major contributors to Saints’ stroll to a second straight League Leaders Shield title.

Lees’ absence all but guarantees bench spots for Kyle Amor, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Jack Ashworth behind the starting prop duo of Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson. Smith has been sharing hooking duties with James Bentley in recent weeks but with James Roby expected to start as well as a likely return to action for Morgan Knowles it seems that Bentley’s best hope of involvement is the final spot on that bench. Joseph Paulo is fit again after a hamstring problem and will also challenge for interchange duties.

Lachlan Coote has not played since the July 12 win over Wigan but is set to feature. That means no place for the unfortunate Jack Welsby who has been superb in the fullback role in the absence of the Australian. Like Lees and Smith Welsby has youth on his side. His disappointment should be tempered with the knowledge that at the current rate of progress his time is almost certainly coming. Ahead of Coote Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace make up a three-quarter line full to the brim with Lance Todd Trophy contenders.

One member of the 19 likely to be disappointed when the team is named is Danny Richardson. He did himself no harm when given opportunities in relief of the rested Theo Fages and Jonny Lomax in the last few weeks but it was telling that Fages went straight back into the team at Leeds. Lomax’s place is non-negotiable by now. He has poured scorn on those who said his injuries would stifle his potential or that he couldn’t play in the halves. Converted by Holbrook from fullback to stand off when Ben Barba arrived Lomax has since gone on to become the best player in Super League in 2019. If Lomax plays well Warrington’s already limited chances get skinnier still.

All of which just leaves the back row, where Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux are the immovable objects. Should the need arise McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Knowles, Bentley and Ashworth can all be moved around the pack to cover any gaps that might appear.

The main topic of conversation for Warrington is whether their talismanic half Blake Austin will play. He has not featured since turning his ankle in Perpignan three weeks ago and has not been included in coach Steve Price’s 19-man selection. This is not cause enough to write off his chances of playing given what we know about Price’s squad-selection shenanigans of recent times but either way it feels somewhat academic. If Saints hit form then this woefully out-of-form Warrington mob worrying about facing them without Austin is like Hugh Laurie worrying about going over the top without his big stick in the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth.

Better news for Warrington is that Josh Charley should feature. The former Wigan man is one of the best finishers in the game. Tom Lineham, scourge of Saints in the Super League semi-final last year, is free from suspension to take his place on the opposite wing which could be bad news for Jake Mamo. The former Huddersfield Giant has been given a run on the wing in Charnley’s absence through injury but is unlikely to shift either Charnley or Lineham nor move back to his old fullback role with Stef Ratchford now fit again. In the centres Bryson Goodwin is a major threat but Toby King probably less so.

We’re going to assume Austin will play alongside Dec Patton in the halves. Matty Smith has been filling in after joining on loan from Catalans Dragons but is not an option having signed after the Challenge Cup eligibility deadline. Kevin Brown must be somewhere near fitness, but not near enough to a first team return since he has been sent out on loan to Leigh.

The front row is the one area where Wire can boast similar strength to Saints. Props Chris Hill and Mike Cooper have been England internationals while hooker Daryl Clark is strong, indefatigable and extremely quick. Physically he has the edge on Roby at this stage of the latter’s career but whether Clark can match the Saints man for big-game know-how is questionable.

In the back row Jack Hughes has recovered from one of the most gruesome injuries in rugby league this or any other year, a ruptured testicle sustained in that ugly spat with the Dragons in the south of France. He should partner Ben Currie, a man whose most prominent Wembley memory is still that of being tackled agonisingly short of the line in Wire’s 2016 loss to Hull FC. Currie has done superbly well to recover from two nasty knee injuries since, but it is probably fair to say that the jury is out on whether he has rediscovered the form of old.

Bennie Westwood will be aiming to Mark his retirement season with a cup winners medal to add to those won in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He’ll compete for a bench spot with short-term wrecking ball and long-term turnstile Ben Murdoch-Masila, shoulder-charging’s Sitaleki Akauola and Matt Davis, a man whose rugby league development began in the unlikely surroundings of union hotbed Leicester. Jason Clark and Harvey Lovett complete the party.

A month or two ago this would have been a much more difficult game to call. Warrington have spent most of the season as Saints’ closest challengers in Super League. Yet over the last month their only win has been the semi-final success over Hull FC at Bolton that brought them to Wembley. They are staggering towards the playoffs, hanging on grimly to second place after losing 20-6 to Wigan last time out. The one factor that makes this tricky is that it is a cup final. Funny things happen. Think of Sheffield Eagles in 1998 (which we all should try in darker moments. It has often cheered me up). Final or not there is always scope for a shock in knockout rugby as Saints discovered when they were flayed by Catalans in the last four last year. Wire were still fancied to beat the French side in the final despite their semi-final heroics but it was Steve McNamara smiling at the end. The cup can be a bit of a leveller.

So maybe you are right to be a little bit nervous. A bit jittery. A little caution might be wise. But all things being equal Saints should get home by around three scores. After double disappointment in 2018 there are many who believe that Holbrook’s Saints legacy depends on it.


Squads;


St Helens;


Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Regan Grace, Theo Fages, Danny Richardson, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, LukevThompson, Zeb Taia, Joseph Paulo, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Kyle Amor, Dominique Peyroux, Jack Ashworth, James Bentley, Lachlan Coote


Warrington Wolves;


Sitaleki Akauola, Josh Charley, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Bryson Goodwin, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Harvey Livett, Jake Mamo, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Declan Patton, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Ben Westwood


Referee: Robert Hicks