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Rugby League’s Challenge Cup final is always a special event in the sport’s calendar, and Saturday’s cup finals day at Wembley proved why.
Rugby League fans across the country have struggled like most in the last 18 months with games being played behind closed doors, but as of today – July 19th- those famously passionate supporters will be allowed to pack out stadiums once again.
With the ABSundecks 1895 Cup and Challenge Cup Final played at the famous Wembley in a doubleheader last weekend, it was the perfect occasion for fans from all clubs to have a day trip out in the capital, and the games did not disappoint!
The 1895 Cup final between Featherstone Rovers and York City Knights opened proceedings, and what a game it was. In the opening half-an-hour, the game was end-to-end with York scoring almost instantly after Featherstone had taken the lead on numerous occasions.
Fev’s Dane Chisholm opened the scoring by handing off a defender and diving for the line before Ben Jones-Bishop replied within minutes for the Knights. Jones-Bishop – who appeared on the Rugby League Review podcast earlier in the week – rose highest to claim Mikey Lewis’ cross-field kick before scoring in the corner. Craig Kopczak then regained the lead for Rovers crashing over from close range but back came York again, Sam Scott with the try.
Back-to-back tries from Fev in the final minutes of the half sent Rovers in at the break with a 22-10 lead and one that most fans would expect the Betfred Championship league leaders to extend in the early stages of the second half. Of course, this game wasn’t going to be that easy for the side who are yet to taste defeat in the league this season and as they had done throughout the first half, York levelled the game inside seven minutes of the restart.
Kris Brining and Jason Bass got the two tries while teammate Kieran Dixon kicked both of the goals to add the extras and level things up at 22-22. Those early second half tries had clearly shocked James Webster’s Featherstone side, but after settling themselves down oncemore, they regained control of the game and grabbed three unanswered tries before Chisholm added one point with a drop goal to extend the advantage to 41-28.
York’s ‘never give up’ attitude shone through in the closing stages again as Perry Whiteley intercepted a loose offload and ran the length of the pitch for arguably the best try of the game, but unfortunately for the Knights fans, it was too late. Rovers came away with a 41-34 victory and are the second-ever winners of the AbSundecks 1895 Cup.
After the enthralling opening game, the 2021 Challenge Cup Final had a lot to live up to…
As fans from both St Helens and Castleford Tigers took their seats, the atmosphere within Wembley got increasingly louder, and as the first Tigers player made his way out onto the field, the roar from thousands of Cas fans expressed their passion but also let out the 18 months of pain felt by having to watch their side from afar.
From that one roar, everyone knew that we were in for a great game and that is exactly what followed. Once the warm-ups had been finished, a cauldron of noise took over the stadium and as the players re-emerged to make their way back out onto the hallowed turf, this was going to be a war between two great sides.
It was Saints who took first blood, a neat kick into the in-goal area from Jonny Lomax hit the posts and bounced kindly into the arms of the onrushing Theo Fages to touch down. However, The Tigers responded with a superb try of their own not long after to level things up.
They moved the ball out to the right, Peter Mata’utia made the break before his perfectly weighted kick back on the inside bounced into the hands of Gareth O’Brien who raced clear to score. Then, after being ahead early on, the reigning Super League champions – St Helens – quickly saw themselves behind in the game with O’Brien heavily involved again. His kick towards the posts was claimed by Jake Trueman who sent the Cas fans wild as he got in for a try!
That was to be the final score of the first half and a 12-6 scoreline in favour of the Tigers at the break sent Saints into their dressing room both shocked and confused. Their lack of creativity in attack came under a lot of criticism at half time but they are back-to-back Grand Final winners for a reason and the famous saying ‘Never write off the Saints’ came to fruition in the second half.
Completely dominated by Kristian Woolf’s side, the interchange of Jack Welsby in place of try scorer Fages was undeniably a bold move but an important decision and a big factor on the outcome of the game.
It didn’t take long for St Helens to level the game after the restart. Lachlan Coote’s high kick caused mayhem in the Cas defence. Mark Percival sent the ball backwards to Joel Thompson and he fed ‘captain fantastic’ James Roby who found the gap to score.
With the Tigers now in shock and suffering from the effects of a boiling hot sunny day under the Wembley arch, they were unable to get out of their own half and were handing Saints good field position, which the ‘Red V’ took full advantage of. Welsby’s cross-field run drew the Cas man in, and when he found Kevin Naiqama, the Fijian was able to feed Tommy Makinson in space on the wing who made no mistake with his diving finish.
Saints had full control of the game and a narrow four-point lead but never looked under any real threat from the Tigers. They kicked two penalties courtesy of the boot of Coote to extend their advantage. The icing on the cake however was a last minute Kyle Amor try, the big forward held off three Cas defenders before scoring under the posts.
So, come the full-time hooter, it was a 26-12 win for the Saints and a first Challenge Cup victory for them since 2008.
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