English Super League Challenge Cup Final: Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos

[moto748]

Tomorrow Wigan meet Leeds in the Cup Final. All being well, I shall be there. I seldom buy a ticket in advance. The game is usually 'nominally' sold out, but my experience has been you can always hustle your way in one way or another. The weather forecast is decent, which is good news for me, cos it will enable me to take my bike and avoid the worst of the nightmare London traffic and parking probs. And the sun nearly always shines on Cup Final day.

I'll need to take it steady in the pub tonight and aim for a fairly early start in the morning.

Will you guys be seeing it live (some God-awful hour of night for you I suppose)?

I noticed in the Cricket section there seem to be a fair few Aussie posters who are based in London. Seems none of them post here, though.

 

[dirtybird]

Great game, tho I didnt think that last try to Wigan was there.

 

[moto748]

Yeah, it looked a bit dubious. But didn't they take forever to make up their minds? I did think Wigan were a little off their game, and just prior to Lulelai's try, I really got the sense that the Rhinos believed they could win the game; their energy levels went up after scoring those two tries. I thought Lima's tries, especially the first one, were a bit soft; poor defence from Leeds. I've seen Wigan play much better this season.

78000 they said the crowd was, and although it was nominally a sell-out (no tickets on sale at the turnstiles), there looked to be plenty of empty seats to me. I never buy a ticket in advance, and had no prob today getting one; first people I spoke to were a bunch of Leeds lads who had a spare ticket.

 

[moto748]

I thought Rob Burrow deserved MotM, but they seldom give it someone from a losing team.

 

[storm fan]

Crowd: 78,482 for the knockout competition final.

Apparently record ratings this year moto?

from what i have heard it was a great game.

 

[moto748]

It was a decent game, I wouldn't say great. I've seen much better finals, and much better performances from Wigan. They were good enough, though. The lovely try by the two Tomkins brothers was quite special, though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/14692205.stm

Losing in the final two years in a row must be hard to take for Leeds and their fans. At least they can tell themselves they turned up this year after capitulating badly against Warrington last year. I do wonder about these crowd figures: do they count tickets sold, or numbers through turnstiles. Cos there looked a hell of a lot of empty seats to me. Capacity of the new stadium is around 90k. Wiki says 85k last year to see Warrington beat Leeds.

 

[moto748]

Have Nine shown it yet?

 

[CooperCronk]

Have Nine shown it yet?

NOT IN MELBOURNE

You know its the same old story here Moto.

I had plans to watch this game via my link, but was a bit upset with what happened during the stoush between Storm/Manly and cracked it

But I am going to check out my link to see if there is a replay...here's hoping that's the case, as I was looking forward to watching the game.

 

[dirtybird]

Over here in the UK on business and caught the game on TV.
If you get a chance to watch a replay its really was a good game.
Looked like it was going to be all one way traffic early on but Leeds lifted.
There was also that forward pass from Mossop (Wigan) that should have been pulled up.
I guess I was barracking for the Rhinos in the end.

 

[Bomber Bears]

Whole game is on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-0r_dN4iM

 

[storm fan]

It was a decent game, I wouldn't say great. I've seen much better finals, and much better performances from Wigan. They were good enough, though. The lovely try by the two Tomkins brothers was quite special, though.

We don't get to see many games over here, so perhaps that contributed to me labeling the game great.

Was good to see some professional Rugby League from overseas. Shows the strength of Rugby League around the world.

 

[moto748]

One thing's for sure; the officials didn't cover themselves in glory. I don't think there's much doubt that Wigan deserved their win, though. It's interesting actually to speculate on which, if any, of the young players on display will get into the England team for the Four Nations. We had two of the brightest young wing talents on display in Jones-Bishop for Leeds and Charnley for Wigan. Unfortunately they both play on the right. I wonder, too, if Luke Burgess will get a call-up on the back of his NRL experience?

 

[Bomber Bears]

I dunno, would love to see the english lift (as the Kiwi's are) to get a really good international game going, but they seem a bit off the pace. The best forwards are good (Ellis, Burgess) but unsure of depth, backline is mediocre (although Tomkins seems alright). Maybe a couple more years to get those youngsters you mentioned more experienced.

Wigan were pretty lucky in the end I thought, the better side but geez they were on the right end of some refereeing decisions all game.

 

[moto748]

We've got plenty of forwards. As for the backline, England might as well bung some of these youngsters in. I'm much happier with the outside backs we have now, but our real weakness is at 6 and 7. I do rate Rob Burrow, but he's not getting any younger. Sinfield is a solid performer for club and county, but he lacks the pace and invention to mix with the the best at international level. Of course, they could play Tomkins at 6. But they won't. And sadly Kyle Eastmond at Saints has rather gone backwards this season.

 

[Bomber Bears]

Sounds like Kyle Eastmond has signed for rugby union anyway

 

[CooperCronk]

Whole game is on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-0r_dN4iM

Thanks

 

[moto748]

Actually, going back to England for a moment, they should play Widdop at 6; I'd forgotten about him.

 

[storm fan]

Historical footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PB_lG2XLSaY#

 

[moto748]

Tomorrow lunch time the two best teams in the ESL meet, playing effectively for the League Leader's Shield, as Wigan travel to Warrington. Wigan are a point ahead with just two games left, so a win would effectively seal it for them, with the Crusaders at home in their final game. Can Warrington overcome their disappointment at being knocked out of the Cup by Wigan? Should be a cracking game, with Sam Tomkins v Brett Hodgson not the least of the contests in store.

 

[moto748]

A very entertaining first half from Hull FC and Castleford Tigers, with the Hull looking by far the stronger side and enjoying a healthy lead at the break. The thought persists that the Tigers are a bit of a one-man team, and they certainly seem to (overly?) rely on Rangi Chase to come up with something, and he certainly did to create the try of the half. Running at the defence, he dummied to kick long before chipping over the line, and then a wonderful re-gather and pass in the same motion to his lock, who found half-back Danny Orr in support to score under between the posts. However, Hull had scored four tries for their healthy 6-22 lead. Cas really need to win to make the eight. Meanwhile Hull KR are beating the Catalan Dragons in France, and if things continue in this vein, the two Hull clubs could both qualify and leave Cas out in the cold. So it looks like these three will go right down to the wire in the fight for 7th and 8th.

Final score 18-50, and an impressive display in both attack and defence from Hull, who look to be a real threat in the play-offs, coming into a rich vein of form.

 

[moto748]

I only saw the highlights last night of that Warrington/Wigan game (have rather neglected the ESL cos of the finals here), and it looked a cracker, with Warrington, perhaps not surprisingly after Wigan had just won the Challenge Cup, running away with it with a sparkling display, with Michael Monaghan the star of the show, winning by 39 points to 12. Warrington scored their 222nd try of the season, which I believe is a Superleague record, and testament to their attacking style. Yesterday they won 12-34 at Hull FC (no mean feat) to clinch the Shield and a home tie to Huddersfield for the finals.

I hope some of youse guys will see them when they play the Rabbitohs in that friendly in February, should be quite a game.