Challenge Cup Quarter Final
Warrington Wolves 20 Widnes Vikings 18 - Friday, 24 June 2016
After
weeks of build-up and anticipation the Quarter Finals finally arrived and with
it a second trip to a Super League ground this season. The Halliwell Jones Stadium was the venue and
the Vikings were the visitors in what was billed to be a blistering local derby
between Warrington and Widnes.
A lot has
changed in the seven weeks since Warrington comfortably saw off a spirited
Oldham side in Round 6. The
Wolves have dropped two places to third in the Super League table with Hull FC
taking their place at the top and Wigan leapfrogging them into second during
that time. Widnes on the other hand have
stumbled since their early season blitz with just two wins from six games since
their win over Halifax in the previous round but sit comfortably in eighth
place in the table.
Having
been accompanied by a friend in the last round I offered out the chance to come
along with me to this game and, for the first time this season, my old man took
up the offer. As the ground wasn’t too
far from home the wife agreed to spend an evening in M&S with my mother
whilst dad and I enjoyed an evening at the rugby (seemed fair to us!).
As I
needed to pick up the tickets before the game we got to the Halliwell Jones in
plenty of time and my dad even managed to blag a parking spot literally outside the
doors of the club shop where the ticket office was located (“if
you don’t ask, you don’t get” was his quip). A quick snap of the outside of the ground was
taken and off we went through the South Stand turnstiles.
There was
a good 45 minutes to kick off by the time we had made our way into the stand
and that gave us time to have a look at the very impressive club history that
had been laid out on huge boards right down the full length of the
stand. It was great to spend a bit of
time reading some of the illustrious histories of one of the oldest rugby
league clubs in the country and I was so engrossed that I almost missed Jonathan
Davies making his way through to the BBC commentary box! Unfortunately I missed a great chance to try
and get a ‘selfie’ with him.
Being a
rugby man all his life my dad was enjoying looking round at the blokes walking through
the stand suited and booted trying to remember if and where he knew them from.
As we
were finishing our pre-match pint a young Warrington supporter walked past and
out into the stand with a rather large drum to take up his usual spot and my dad
looked at me and insisted that “we’re not standing anywhere near him!” Luckily he was stood at the other end of the
stand and we took up a position near the half way line.
It was at this point that my dad realised he
had made a major wardrobe error. He was
standing in the middle of thousands of Wolves fans wearing a black and white
striped t-shirt!! I therefore told him
to keep his coat on and then jokingly reassured him that if anything did kick
off, he shouldn’t need to worry about me as I’ll be the first one to run away.
Even
before kick off the atmosphere was rocking as the near 7,800 Wolves and Vikings
fans were giving as much as they got from each other in songs and chants. The visiting fans were all congregated in the
West Stand terraces and were playfully using Warrington’s drum beats to enjoy
chants of their own throughout the game.
After
both club’s mascots had got the crowd going even further the teams came out and
I was particularly looking forward to seeing Chris Sandow for the Wolves as he
was out injured in the last round against Oldham. The game was billed to be a close encounter
and it certainly lived up to it. Despite
Warrington taking an early lead the breakaway blitz I was kind of expecting
didn’t happen and two quick tries turned the tide in the visitors favour and
the Wolves fans congregated around us were almost stunned into silence. Was another Challenge Cup upset on the cards? Thankfully not, as another unconverted try
four minutes before the break saw the home side trail 10-12 at half time and it
was game on for the second half.
Being stood
in a packed terrace it was handy during the game to lean against the bar and
stand on the step behind to get a bit of extra height to see over any taller
people further down and get a full view of the big screen situated at the far
end of the South Stand for any big decisions.
Unfortunately, the poor bloke behind me joked that he would bill me for
new feet after the amount of times I accidently stood on his squeaky-clean
trainers.
One of
those decisions came early in the second half and for the first time this
season I was able to witness a decision by the video ref and it culminated in a
disallowed try for Warrington. Luckily,
ten minutes later, they had equalised through a penalty and soon
after they took the lead again thanks to another converted try. With only six points between the two sides it
was inevitable that Widnes would score again, and they did to make the game
very interesting at 18-all with just over ten minutes to go.
There
were no further tries but it took a final Kurt Gidley penalty to seal the
victory and send the Wolves into the final four.
My Road
to Wembley has taken me on an unsuspecting journey to six different grounds
that I wouldn’t normally have gone to over the last few months right across the
north of England. I have been lucky to
avoid any last-minute, hastily arranged, trips to France in the process so, as
a re-cap, here are the places I’ve been to on my Challenge Cup journey in
2016...
Round 1 –
Leigh Miners Rangers 14 Underbank Rangers 20 – Twist Lane
Round 2 –
Kells 42 Underbank Rangers 6 – Old Arrowthwaite
Round 3 –
Kells 12 Hemel Stags 6 – Copeland Stadium
Round 4 –
Oldham Roughyeds 40 Kells 6 – Bower Fold
Round 5 –
Hull Kingston Rovers 22 Oldham Roughyeds 36 – KC Lightstream Stadium
Round 6 –
Oldham Roughyeds 10 Warrington Wolves 70 – Bower Fold
Quarter
Finals – Warrington Wolves 20 Widnes Vikings 18 – Halliwell Jones Stadium
Semi Finals - TBC...
