What happens when you mix a pack of blood-thirsty Wolves, a herd of Rhinos and a great big thunderstorm? The perfect Challenge Cup Final, that’s what!
On Saturday our local rugby team who we’ve sponsored for the past three years, the mighty Warrington Wolves, headed down to Wembley to take on Leeds Rhinos in the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final. I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the game and travelled down in convoy to London early on Saturday morning. The atmosphere was electric, there were rugby league fans as far as the eye could see- the pie shops must’ve been in heaven with all us Northerners descending upon the capital. Wembley stadium was really impressive, I was a bit worried the atmosphere would be lost in a stadium that size but it certainly didn’t disappoint with over 79’000 fans in attendance! The game had only been in play for 15 minutes when the heavens opened and the rain lashed down on the pitch (and most of the lower seats) Thunder and lightning ensued, at one point it hit the stadium roof lighting it all up..it just seemed to add to the drama of it all!
At half-time the game could’ve gone either way with Warrington narrowly leading 12-10 but Wire came back with fire in their bellies scoring try after try and leading the team to victory. We knew by the 60th minute that we pretty much had it in the bag and the stadium gradually erupted in to cheers and chants from the fans. The klaxon sounded after a last minute penalty and Warrington were crowned Challenge Cup Winners once more with a 35-18 win! What a feeling to win the cup for the third time in 4 years, a great weekend for the town and rugby league.
Congratulations Wolves, you’ve done us proud yet again!
