Warrington stun St Helens to win Challenge Cup – talking points & player ratings

Drew Darbyshire 24 Aug 2019 5:04 PM

Warrington shocked St Helens 18-4 at Wembley to win the 2019 Challenge Cup.

There was no Blake Austin for Warrington on the teamsheet due to an ankle injury, while Harvey Livett and Ben Westwood were the players to miss out from the 19-man squad.

James Bentley and Danny Richardson were unfortunate players not to make the matchday squad for St Helens.

St Helens loose forward Morgan Knowles will feel hard done to as he thought he had scored in the opening minutes but referee Robert Hicks deemed it to be a 20-metre restart for St Helens.

Joe Philbin opened the scoring and put the Wolves ahead in the 25th minute thanks to a bulldozing carry, while Ben Murdoch-Masila extended their advantage on the half hour mark. They were 12-0 to the good at the break.

Warrington’s defence in the final was phenomenal and Bryson Goodwin made a try-saving tackle to deny Tommy Makinson scoring a try shortly after the second half restart.

Theo Fages pulled one back for Saints on the hour mark but Warrington were just too powerful on the day. Daryl Clark went over for the Wolves in the 71st minute to seal an 18-4 win for his side in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

Three talking points

Warrington defence sublime

Wolves boss Steve Price will be immensely proud of his side’s defence in the first half. They defended like Lions who were keeping intruders out of their den.

St Helens had a number of sets on the Warrington line in the first 40 but Warrington somehow managed to keep them out.

It was the best Warrington have defended all season. They fought for one another and they can certainly be proud of that when reviewing the game.

Lance Todd Trophy winner

Warrington hooker Daryl Clark won the Lance Todd Trophy and it was fully deserved. The former Man of Steel was at the heart of everything the Wolves did.

He has to be in the Great Britain squad for the Lions tour of the southern hemisphere this autumn. He has been phenomenal for Warrington this year.

Without taking credit away from Clark, there could have been a couple of players in the Warrington team to pick up the award. Jack Hughes, Stefan Ratchford and Bryson Goodwin were superb.

St Helens dream farewell over for Holbrook

Justin Holbrook will not leave St Helens with the fairytale ending he would have wished for. A lot of people were tipping them to win the treble this year but Warrington ruined a lot of bets on Saturday.

The Saints sit 16 above second-placed Warrington in the Super League table and were massive favourites heading into the Cup final – but they were left stunned by the Wolves.

Holbrook already has the League Leaders’ Shield in the bag this season and will want to go out with a bang this October as they now turn their attention on reaching the Grand Final.

Line-ups and ratings

St Helens: Coote (5); Makinson (6), Naiqama (7), Percival (7), Grace (6); Lomax (6), Fages (6); Walmsley (7), Roby (7), Thompson (7), Taia (6), Peyroux (6), Knowles (6). Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook (5), Amor (5), Ashworth (5), Paulo (6).

Tries: Fages Goals: Coote 0/1

Warrington: Ratchford (8); Lineham (7), Goodwin (8), King (7), Charnley (7); Currie (8), Patton (6); Hill (7), D Clark (8), Cooper (7), Murdoch-Masila (8), Hughes (8), J Clark (7). Subs: Akauola (7), Philbin (8), Davis (7), Mamo (7).

Tries: Philbin, Murdoch-Masila, D Clark Goals: Ratchford 3/3

Attendance: 62,717

Drew’s views

What a performance from Warrington. They defended like true champions and having the underdogs tag did them the world of good heading into the game.

On the other hand, it was a display from St Helens that we are unusual to seeing this year. They came up with more errors than normal and looked scattered in attack at times.

I was impressed with Ben Currie and Hughes who played phenomenally well – tackles, tackles and more tackles.