The Sunday Times May 29, 2022 17
Rugby League
shrugged off one man and ploughed
over as defenders hurtled across.
The game was breaking up, with
Field charging 50 metres when it
looked as though Huddersfield might
benefit from loose ball. Both sides
were out on their feet and in sight of
victory. As so often, it fell Wigan’s
way. “I can sit here happy that I know
people are happy,” Matt Peet, the
head coach, said.Scorers: Huddersfield Giants: Tries Leutele
(16min), McQueen (32), McGillvary (57). Goal
Lolohea. Wigan Warriors: Tries Smith (25), Field
(42), Marshall (76). Goals Smith 2.
Huddersfield T Lolohea, J McGillvary, L Cudjoe,
R Leutele, I Senior, J Cogger, O Russell, C Hill,
D Levi, O Wilson, J Jones, C McQueen, L Yates.
Interchange M English, J Greenwood, O Trout,
A Golding.
Wigan J Field, B French, I Thornley, J Bibby, L
Marshall, C Cust, H Smith, B Singleton, B O’Neill,
L Byrne, L Farrell, J Bateman, M Smithies.
Interchange T Leuluai, P Mago, K Ellis, E Havard.
Referee J Child.
Attendance 51,628.Wigan Warriors won their 20th
Challenge Cup through Liam
Marshall’s 77th-minute try, extending
Huddersfield Giants’ wait for glory in
this competition to at least 70 years.
This was a tight final and
Huddersfield felt like the better team,
an assessment with which both head
coaches agreed. They gave 69 years
of effort but fell to one piece of late
magic from Harry Smith. With Wigan
trailing 14-12 and most of the players
concentrated on the right, Thomas
Leuluai flung a long pass left to
Smith, whose dinked grubber kick
arced perfectly to Marshall. The wing
scored, the Wigan fans roared and
the Huddersfield heartbreak goes on.
Wigan have won this competition
more than anyone. Huddersfield
were seeking their first Challenge
Cup since 1953 and it was their first
final in 13 years, Leroy Cudjoe the
only remaining member of that team.
The Giants harried Wigan into
error after error and led 10-6 at the
interval, but could not make them
suffer more. “Our game plan was to
keep it simple: kick, chase, tackle,”
Chris McQueen, the man of the
match, said. “It’s been an amazing
occasion, but nothing will make us
feel better about the loss.”
Huddersfield fans will also lament
that — apart from an early penalty —
Tui Lolohea missed everything off
the tee.
Fans flocked to Tottenham
Hotspur Stadium, many of them
neutrals wearing the jersey of an
absent club. There was a significant
Smith ensures more Huddersfield heartbreak
number of empty seats at the 62,850-
capacity ground, but those present
ensured there was a boisterous
welcome.
Huddersfield were given several
scoring opportunities in the first half
but made only two of them count.
Wigan twice knocked on in the early
tackles of a set and were penalised at
a scrum. Ricky Leutele dummied
between the two fringe defenders
and muscled his way over, Lolohea
hitting a post from the touchline.
The Giants were deprived of the
colossal Chris Hill after 20 minutes.
He limped off with an afternoon-
ending calf injury having been
“killing it”, in the words of Ian
Watson, Huddersfield’s head coach.
Many in the southern end of the
ground, where Wigan fans were
prominent, missed Hill’s exit as they
were facing upwards to witness a
number of disturbances in the crowd.
Wigan responded. Morgan
Smithies carried hard and, with two
defenders clinging on, offloaded
brilliantly to Smith for a try he would
convert himself. The Giants came
back and manipulated Wigan’s left
edge. Lolohea passed behind Cudjoe
to McQueen, who dummied and
stepped inside for their second try.
The Warriors started the second
half with more oomph than they had
shown before. Attacking on the
halfway line, Leutele blitzed from the
outside but failed to shut down
Wigan’s flyers. Bevan French
cantered up the wing, drawing the
last man to send Jai Field over. Smith
converted to give Wigan the lead.
Wigan were on the up and Lolohea
missed a goal from 40 metres out,
straight in front. Yet Huddersfield
regained the lead when they broke
away from one kick and Smithies
piled into Leutele with something
approaching a swinging arm, for
which he was penalised and perhaps
deserved a card.
From the next set, Cudjoe
offloaded cutely to Jermaine
McGillvary in the corner; the wingMarshall picks up Smith’s grubber to claim the winning try at Tottenham
Hotspur Stadium where Wigan celebrated more Challenge Cup successHUDDERSFIELD GIANTS
14WIGAN WARRIORS
16Elgan Alderman
At Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
CHALLENGE CUP FINAL
JAMES HEATON/NEWS IMAGES