Challenge Cup Semi Final
Warrington Wolves 56 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 12 - Saturday, 30 July 2016
This was
Semi Final day and from the moment the dates for the rounds were announced in
January I knew that today was going to be a tricky one. This was a game which could have easily not
happened for me and I faced the very real prospect of having my whole Challenge
Cup journey crashing to a halt at the penultimate hurdle.
It was
for good reason though as this round happened to fall on the same weekend of my
better half’s birthday. Not just any old
birthday either so I had to do a lot of grovelling in order to get her to agree
that I could go and leave the planned house party that we had arranged and invited
a good number of our close friends along to in the afternoon. I received a few raised eyebrows from said
guests when I left and had to explain where I was going.
I will
admit that I was hugely relived that the game would kick off early enough, at
2:30pm, and was arranged to be played around the corner to my home at Leigh
Sports Village, the shortest trip I’ve had to make since watching Leigh Miners
Rangers at nearby Twist Lane in Round One, so it was a nice, easy 15 minute
drive down the A580 to the stadium.
I had
bought and picked up my tickets a few weeks earlier through Warrington’s
channels (I’m starting to get to know my way around their website after the
last couple of rounds) and kept them sat safe on my bookcase over the next few
weeks. So, as game day arrived, I was
joined once again by my old man and we made our way to the ground.
We decided
not to try and park at the ground so, like many other supporters, we found a
good spot on the nearby main road and walked the short distance to the
stadium. It was still around 45 minutes
to kick off and already the atmosphere sounded electric and I could hear both
sets of fans going at it. I didn’t know
whether to feel sorry for or envious of the residents living in the shadow of
the stadium having to hear that every other week.
We got to
the ground in good time and made our way into the packed out North Stand which
had become a mini Halliwell Jones and, as you do, decided to get ourselves a
pint. The only problem was the massive
queues to each bar and we eventually managed to get a couple of drinks from an
over-spill bar which had been cunningly set up inside the entrance to a laundry
room and, judging by the reaction of my dad’s face after he took his first sip,
it might have even had some remnants of soap powder in the glass!
Once outside
we found a decent spot near the back of the stand and camped ourselves in
between a host of Wolves supporters who were giving it their all towards the
slightly smaller number of Wildcats fans at the other end. For those of you who remember from my last
blog, you’ll be pleased to know my dad’s ears were saved again as we avoided
standing anywhere near the Warrington drummer.
The teams
came out to raucous applause from both sets of fans and the game got underway
bang on time. It wasn’t long before the
first try was scored and it went to the Yorkshire side much to the frustration of
the fans around me. Thus ensued my first
experience of the ‘Viking Clap’ as the Wakefield faithful performed their own,
pretty well rehearsed I might add, version of the chant made famous by the
Icelandic contingent during Euro 2016.
The lead
didn’t last long as the favourites were back level and had quickly taken the
lead by the end of the first quarter.
Warrington were playing some impressive rugby at this point and were
sailing towards Wembley when they added three further tries for a comfortable
24-6 lead at half time.
As in the
last round we were treated to Ladbrokes’ half time Crossbar Challenge and even
though we were both waving our arms in the air like lunatics we weren’t picked
up by the camera zooming across the stand.
Rightfully, an avid Warrington fan was picked out from just behind the
sticks and after the usual blurb of introductions he came very close to
grabbing the £100,000 prize that was being offered. Apparently that will now roll over again and
hopefully handed out at the Final.
The game
resumed and so did the Warrington juggernaut as they continued to add further
tries every two to four minutes. The
Wakefield side were visibly shattered by the hour mark when Warrington reached
the 50 point mark thanks to Ben Westwood’s try and when their fans attempted
another somewhat half-hearted rendition of the ‘Viking Clap’ the supporters at
the opposite end couldn’t help themselves and reacted in the only way possible
... “What the f****** hell was that?”
Thankfully
for the Wildcats some pride was restored with a well-worked try to slightly
reduce the deficit but Warrington had the final say two minutes before the full
time hooter.
Now I’m
going to admit to something here, so brace yourselves... I committed what I consider
to be a cardinal sin – I left the game before it finished!! I have never done that before and plan to
never do it again but as I explained earlier, it was needs must in order to
beat the traffic, make a quick dash to Tesco and pick up a friend from a nearby
train station so I could be back at the party and enjoy the evening. Even the wife was surprised that I’d done
that and it may have possibly won me back some brownie points that I had lost
by even going to the game! She is yet to
confirm this in writing so I won’t hold my breath.
I then
had a gut-wrenching moment as we were walking back to the car. I noticed a small rectangular black and
yellow object stuck under my windscreen wiper.
After I’d got rid of all the expletives I could come up with in the
following 50 yards or so to pluck the plastic envelope from its resting place I
was quite taken aback by the fact that it wasn’t a parking ticket after all but
a flier offering cheap coach travel to the Final! I looked around and most of the cars parked
on the street had been given one and was highly relieved. It led me to agree that whoever came up with
the idea to make them this way would certainly get the attention they were
after.
This was
the third time I’d seen the Wolves in this year’s Challenge Cup and this was by
far their best performance. As for
Wakefield, they can now concentrate on finishing on a high in the Super 8’s.
In
hindsight, after the running around I did all over Leigh and the surrounding
towns and villages following the game, I may have to reassess my plans when the
fixtures come out next year when (sorry, I meant ‘IF’) I look to do this again!
But it
has definitely been worth it...
Now roll
on August 27th!
