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Hull KR are off to Wembley

Albert Kelly's Hull KR want to do better than the Challenge Cup this season. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)
Roar Guru
4th August, 2015
6

24 hours before Hull KR’s first Challenge Cup semi-final for nine years, I was sat under a canopy in the bar of my hotel, sheltering from 45-degree temperatures following an early morning swim in the gorgeous pool in the South West Turkish resort of Marmaris.

Watching England finish off the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston, I was waiting for the coach transfer to Dalaman Airport for a late flight to Leeds Bradford Airport.

We landed at Leeds Bradford 1:30am on Saturday, and the first thing I felt was rain – welcome back to the UK. We arrived home in Hull shortly before 4am.

After just four-and-a-half hours’ sleep two of my sons, Kelland and Kingsley, and I headed back west to Leeds to watch the mighty Hull Kingston Rovers take on Warrington Wolves for the right to play in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday August 29 – exactly 120 years to the day since the birth of the game in the George Hotel in Huddersfield.

Rovers have not played in a Challenge Cup final since losing to Castleford in 1986, one of three Cup final appearances in the 1980s – all of which I attended. Warrington have won three Challenge Cup finals in the last six years, and have also appeared in two grand finals since Tony Smith took charge in 2009 and turned them into winners after years of under-performing.

2015 has been an inconsistent season for both teams, more surprisingly for the Wolves than Rovers, who have had a large number of new signings come in throughout the season and failed to qualify for the top eight.

I expected the Wolves to take out the grand final this year, but they have struggled to string wins together and haven’t had a settled halves partnership throughout the year. They finished sixth after 23 rounds and will find it hard to break into the top four after the next seven rounds of fixtures, which will determine who plays for the right to play in the grand final in October.

When the semi-final draw was made, the vast majority of Hull KR fans were delighted with drawing Warrington – we had played well in the quarter-final defeat of Catalans and comfortably beaten the Wolves in the league just a couple of weeks earlier, so felt confident that if we finished the season well, we had a real chance to win the semi-final.

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Two days after the semi-final draw we edged Salford Red Devils at home for our fourth straight win. Confidence was high and the Wolves were struggling, having only just overcome the challenge of Championship favourites Leigh Centurions in the quarter finals.

So, after a few hours sleep and a quick breakfast at McDonald’s, we headed west along the M62 looking forward to a good day out but certainly not daring to dream about a first visit to the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium.

Having found a decent parking spot half a mile from the ground, we walked towards the stadium and became engulfed in a sea of red and white, and primrose and blue.

Officially, Rovers had sold over 6500 tickets for the semi-final – the most of any of the four semi-finalists – but there must have been at least 9500 Rovers fans in a crowd of around 13,500. The atmosphere when the two teams came out was exceptional, with the Rovers fans making far more noise than their Wolves counterparts.

We made the worst start possible as we cocked up the Wolves kick off, had to drop out, and then conceded a try to Ryan Atkins. To say we felt deflated and worried was an understatement, as the Wolves continued to pummel our defensive line.

But something happened that hasn’t too often this season – some wonderful last-ditch defence held the Wolves at bay.

Somehow we managed to restrict the Wolves to just one try, and then we started to get a foothold on the game in the second quarter. A great backline move saw Kieran Dixon put Super League’s top scorer, Josh Mantellato – signed from the Newcastle Knights NSW Cup team – in at the left corner. Mantellato did really well to score the try as the pass from Dixon was high and he had to collect it at pace and throw himself in at the corner.

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Mantellato hit the post with the conversion but it wasn’t long before Rovers hit the front.

A great high kick by Albert Kelly saw Ken Sio jump higher than his opposite wingman Gene Ormsby to juggle the ball before collecting and diving over for Rovers’ second try. Mantellato converted this time and Rovers led 10-6.

The game was now on and Rovers were giving the Wolves a real hammering in defence. Ben Harrison felt the effects of the tough tackling when he had to be taken from the field suffering from concussion, not to be seen again in the match.

It wasn’t all Rovers though.

The Wolves backline was looking dangerous, and their swift handling moves were causing problems – but the Rovers defence held firm.

The problem was that Rovers were making headway into the Wolves half but would then make an unforced error or concede a penalty, and then be consistently defending within their own 10-metre line. Anyone who has played the game will tell you that this is the toughest area of the field to defend because you are under constant pressure. But unbelievably they didn’t crack, and the Wolves started making some unforced errors of their own.

Rovers eschewed a couple of earlier opportunities to kick penalty goals but eventually they did so at the third time of asking and Mantellato made it a 12-6 halftime lead.

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I expected the Wolves would come out fired up after halftime, and Rovers needed to get the first score – I had seen this position so many times as a Rovers fan and seen us blown away in a quick fire 10-15 minute spell. I was not certain that this would not happen again. I still did not dare to fully believe!!

But Rovers made the stronger start.

French second rower Kevin Larroyer somehow took four defenders with him and managed to squeeze a hand out near the line to touch the ball down. Referee Richard Silverwood went to the video referee, having given the no try signal, but it was clear that Larroyer got the ball down and the try was awarded – cue hysteria among the Rovers contingent.

Mantellato converted and kicked his second penalty shortly afterwards and Rovers had a 20-6 lead – this was scarcely believable.

Scrum half Richie Myler kickstarted the Wolves’ comeback, as he forced his way over. It was now 20-12 and those Mantellato penalty goals were looking very important.

Within a few minutes of Myler’s try, the Wolves thought they were over again – creating the overlap for Joel Monaghan to go over in the right corner, but the cover tackle of Kieran Dixon and Kris Welham dislodged the ball from former Australian Test winger’s grasp, and after a number of views by the video referee it was declared a no try.

But the pressure was still on and Rovers started to make unforced handling errors near their line, and Wolves quickly moved the ball left to see Ben Currie charge over the line. There was now just two points in the game with 13 very long minutes to go.

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The confidence was draining out of me, but the boys were showing tonnes of character and spirit in tough conditions and the Rovers fans were making enough noise to carry them through.

We needed a score and it came in the shape of Cumbrian hooker Shaun Lunt who, somehow, managed to break a couple of tackles, quickly push off from the ground and just about touch the ball down on the line. It was another decision that went to the video referee and when the try was awarded the roof came off Headingley as every Hull KR fan realised we were going to Wembley for the Challenge Cup final for the first time since 1986.

I missed Mantellato’s fifth goal of the day as I was still busy celebrating with my two boys, singing ‘We’re Hull Kingston Rovers’. The final couple of minutes played out to a chorus of Hull KR songs, and the noise was so loud it reminded me of our trophy-laden heyday of the 1980s.

At the final hooter we raced down to the side of the pitch and waited for the players to come around, singing ‘A little respect’ by Erasure.

As the players came around in the pouring rain we had a handshake with Shaun Lunt, a big hug with Kieran Dixon, who looked in shock, and got a wave from Chris Chester and John Boudebza – what a find the French hooker has been this season!

Mantellato took the official man of the match award, and he played very well as he always does – again, what a find he has been – but the stand out performer was left centre Kris Welham. He tackled everything in sight and constantly made good yardage from dummy half. He really has been outstanding this season after looking like he was on his way out of the club before the season started.

There also has to be a special mention for Maurice Blair – he might not grab the headlines like his former Gold Coast Titans teammate Albert Kelly, but we would be a lesser team without him, and his defensive effort, along with all of his teammates, was absolutely brilliant.

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See you at Wembley.

I still can’t believe it!

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