On the day where two of the greatest wingers in rugby league history, Billy Boston and Martin Offiah, were immortalised outside Wembley in the statue to mark the 120th anniversary of the sport, it was perhaps apt that another winger etched his name into Wembley folklore.
Many would have expected that had a winger from Leeds played a key role in their quest to retain the Challenge Cup, it would have been the man they affectionately dub World’s Best Wing, Ryan Hall. But while the herculean 26-year-old grabbed the honours when he won the Lance Todd Trophy 12 months ago at Wembley, it was his partner in crime who claimed the prize this year.
Tom Briscoe knows both the highs and lows of Wembley; a loser on two occasions with former club Hull FC – breaking his foot in the 2008 loss to St Helens in the process – Briscoe ended his and Leeds’ barren run in the Challenge Cup by beating Castleford last year – but this performance from him and the Rhinos was on a whole other level.
Leroy Rivett infamously became the first man to score four tries in a Challenge Cup final during Leeds’ 1999 win against London Broncos, but Briscoe topped that here to become the first man to score five in a final in the game’s 120-year history – a feat that will take some topping in terms of individual performances.
This was not quite the spectacle many hoped from the Challenge Cup final on the 120th anniversary of the game’s formation, but to Leeds, it will not matter a jot.
At times this year they have been simply unstoppable and they completed the first leg of what would be a historic treble for the club by dispatching Hull KR in ruthless fashion.
“We handled the pressure of being favourites really well,” the Leeds coach, Brian McDermott, said. “I said to the players in the buildup that if we’d thought: ‘It’s only Hull KR,’ then we’d have probably lost – so credit to the players for how they performed.”
Even with a, as it turned out, slender 16-0 lead at the break, Leeds never really looked troubled at any point throughout the game. The Robins’ decision to play half-back Albert Kelly for the first time since the semi-final win against Warrington backfired, as their first appearance in the final for 29 years ended with the ignominy of suffering the heaviest defeat in the history of the final on a thoroughly miserable afternoon for the club.
And although the match itself didn’t live up to the considerable hype placed on it, the pre-match entertainment more than fitted the billing. Rugby league joined football as the second sport to have representation in the form of a statue outside the ground before the game, as five legends – Eric Ashton, Billy Boston, Gus Risman, Alex Murphy and Martin Offiah – were immortalised in bronze in a special ceremony before the match as part of the sport’s 120th anniversary celebrations.
What followed as the game prepared to kick off was equally special, too; Lizzie Jones, widow of the Keighley half-back Danny who tragically passed away during a game in London earlier this year, was chosen by the Rugby Football League to sing the traditional pre-match hymn, Abide With Me, and the 80,140 people in attendance afforded Jones a touching standing ovation as she left the field.
Briscoe’s first try and scores from Brett Delaney and Danny McGuire had established that comfortable lead at the break, and after Briscoe scored the try of the game by running the length of the field seven minutes after the restart, Leeds already had one hand on the cup.
Kelly and KR continued to toil in the Wembley heat to no avail and after the forward Brad Singleton charged over for Leeds’ next, their race was well and truly run.
To Briscoe’s credit, all of his tries still had to be scored, after his third and fourth were neatly sandwiched either side of a Rob Burrow try from another thrilling Leeds break, Briscoe secured his place in the history books with that fifth to bring up the 50-point mark.
“I’m not here to make excuses,” conceded the Hull KR coach, Chris Chester. “They were too quick for us, and champion teams like Leeds punish you when you make mistakes. Some of the boys maybe froze on the big stage but I’m proud; it’s been a great journey and we’ve got to learn from it.”
