Daily Mirror - 26.08.2019

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mirror.co.uk/sport MONDAY 26.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^43

RL CHALLENGE CUP FINAL

ST HELENS........ 4

WARRINGTON.. 18

MOTO GP: SILVERSTONE

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO watched his title

chances go up in smoke after Alex

Rins stole British MotoGP victory in a

sensational Silverstone scrap.

Dovizioso was taken out at turn one

by Fabio Quartararo and his Ducati

caught fire. Both suffered concussions

but no other injuries. Rins (above),

riding his Suzuki Ecstar, crossed the

line just 0.013seconds ahead of

defending champion Marc Marquez.

It was Rins’ second win of the year

and he said: “Unbelievable. Now I have

beaten two legends – Valentino Rossi

in Texas and Marquez at Silverstone.”

Rins wins but

Dov Ducs out

GOLF: EUROPEAN TOUR

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK was pipped

to the Scandinavian Invitation title as

Erik van Rooyen sealed his maiden

European Tour win.

The Englishman finished one shot

behind as the South African held his

nerve on the final day in Sweden.

Fitzpatrick, who won this title in

2016, has now finished runner-up

three times this season, and said: “I

didn’t put a foot wrong, I didn’t really

miss a shot. I had no luck out there.”

Both players shot six-under 64s on

the final afternoon, but Van Rooyen

hung on to claim victory.

Fitz Scandi bid

is Rooyen-ed

TENNIS: US OPEN

FROM GARY RALSTON in New York

NOVAK DJOKOVIC is too focused on

becoming the most successful male

tennis player in history to revel in his

Wimbledon triumph.

The Serb (below) revealed his

dramatic five-set victory over Roger

Federer ranks alongside

his historic Australian

Open success against

Rafa Nadal in 2012

as his top moment.

Djokovic, 32, won

his 16th Slam at

Wimbledon, but as he

prepares to defend his

US Open crown, he said he

does not have time to relish his

achievements because he is too fixed

on becoming the best of all time.

“This sport can be a little bit cruel

when it comes to celebrating your own

success because the season keeps

going,” he said.

DJOK WANTS

TO BE BEST

OF ALL TIME

de

n

s

KING OF

THE HILL

CHRIS HILL saw the

emotion of six

straight final defeats

pour out of him when

the final hooter

sounded at Wembley.

The Warrington

captain was comforted

by coach Steve Price,

who planted a kiss

(above) on the head of a

man who had played in

all four Grand Final and

two Challenge Cup final

losses since 2012.

Written off before the

game and without in-

jured talisman Blake

Austin, Wolves pulled

together behind Price,

who masterminded a

memorable upset win

over Super League’s

most dominant team.

And England prop

Hill admitted he

couldn’t contain himself

at the end of the game.

He said: “Steve just

said to me, ‘We’ve done

it.’ We’ve so much belief

in this group.

“We didn’t class our-

selves as underdogs – a

performance like that

isn’t one of an underdog.

“To lift the trophy as a

captain brings a tear to

my eye.

“I hadn’t thought

about lifting it, whereas

last year I probably did

because we were heavy

favourites and you get

wrapped up in it a little

bit. The experience of

those six finals helps,

and so does that feeling

of losing.

“You don’t want to go

through that again and

you go to places that you’ve never been

mentally and physically.”

Warrington went into the match on

the back of five straight Super League

defeats, but first-half tries to Joe

Philbin (right, top) and Ben Murdoch-

Masila (right, middle) put them 12-0

ahead at the break.

Theo Fages’ try gave Saints brief

hope, but Lance Todd Trophy winner

Daryl Clark (right, bottom)

settled it late on.

Just as important was

a stunning try-saving

tackle by Bryson Good-

win on an air-bound

Tommy Makinson

(right) early in the sec-

ond half - and the

Wolves centre revealed

he had done his home-

BY GARETH WALKER

Rugby Lge Correspondent

@garethwalker

The emotion of six straight defeats

in finals poured out of skipper as

Wire shock the Saints at Wembley

work. “You see him score a lot of tries

like that, and nine times out of 10 he

dives no matter what,” said Goodwin.

“People go to push him out and it’s

impossible to do that because he’s in

the air. When he dives like that there’s

only one place he can put the ball – a

tiny square of grass.

“I said during the week that if he

does it, I’m just going to dive for the

ground where he puts the ball.

It sort of flashed through

my head, I hit his arm

and he dropped it. I

spotted it because he

scored on me the

other week when I

tried to push him out.

“I was just doing my

best and it sort of

helped win the game.”

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BY GARETH WALKER

MORGAN KNOWLES insists

referee Robert Hicks should

have sent his controversial ‘no

try’ to the video ref – but does

not believe it cost Saints the

cup.

The back-rower (above)

thought he had opened the

scoring from Theo Fages’ third-

minute kick, only for Hicks to

rule it out on the field.

Replays showed Knowles

grounded the ball, and Saints

were never in front during their

shock defeat. The Wales

international said: “I can’t see

why he wouldn’t send it up but

it’s done and gone now.

“It still doesn’t win us the

game, we weren’t good enough,

but I can’t understand why he

wouldn’t even check it.

“I was bewildered – you can’t

be that sure when there’s

blatantly a score. But

Warrington were the better

team on the day.”

KNOWLES IS BAFFLED

BY REF’S VIDEO VETO

HIGHER

AND WIRE..

Warrington

players party on

on the Wembley

pitch after their

memorable win

SO CLOSE Fitzpatrick and Van Rooyen