It has been 37 years and the days of greats such as David Topliss and Trevor Skerrett since Wakefield Trinity were represented at Wembley for the Challenge Cup final, and although there is still one more hurdle to overcome before that wait can be brought to an end, this was another memorable evening for a group of players who are taking the club’s recent history of failure and tearing it up game by game.
Even before you get too absorbed with potential talk of a trip to the capital, Wakefield’s lack of success in recent years can be measured by the fact that it is eight years since their last appearance in the semi-finals of rugby league’s most famous competition: although, with Chris Chester at the helm, perhaps we should have known all along this would be Wakefield’s night.
Chester was the man who guided Hull KR to the Wembley final against all the odds last year. The closing moments of this enthralling cup tie drew some frantic searching in the record books to find out whether one man has led two different teams to the cup final in successive years – Chester is almost certainly the first.
“You walk around Belle Vue and see pictures of guys like Neil Fox and Derek Turner lifting the cup,” Chester said. “Hopefully one day we can see the likes of Max Jowitt and Tom Johnstone doing it – it would be incredible to create our own little piece of history with this group.”
As for Huddersfield, this felt like a night which brought their turbulent campaign to a premature end. Out of the Challenge Cup, a spell in the Qualifiers is looming in the second half of the season – although they will be too good to be sucked into the fight to avoid relegation –meaning preparation for their potential new coach will turn to next season already.
“The Qualifiers is looming for this club,” said Andy Kelly, the Huddersfield caretaker coach. “We didn’t start the game properly and it was a tough day at the office. This group has got to find a collective effort for the rest of the season from hereon out.”
Wakefield led 14-0 early on after an opening quarter in which they were near faultless. Tries for David Fifita and Ben Jones-Bishop coupled with three goals from Liam Finn put the visitors in control, but tries from Scott Grix and a fine finish from Jake Connor gave the hosts hope at 14-8 by half-time.
That first half ended with Huddersfield completely on top, a trend which continued into the second half before the Wakefield wing Tom Johnstone produced a moment of brilliance to turn the game on its head, plucking a Huddersfield pass from mid-air and raced the length of the field, with Finn converting to establish a 12-point lead which, in a game of this magnitude, always felt crucial.
Wakefield always seemed capable of producing the game’s more clinical moments, and when Finn sent Fifita over for his second just shy of the hour mark, it felt like a pivotal moment. Huddersfield would attempt to stage a late rally through two tries for Jermaine McGillvary, but it wasn’t enough. This was Wakefield’s night – and it may well turn out to be their year.
Success for Wakefield this year would have merely constituted finishing in Super League’s top eight: a job Chester has almost completed with weeks of the regular season still remaining. Taking the club to the last four of the Challenge Cup is an undoubted bonus – but guiding them through to Wembley next month would seal Chester’s status as a Wakefield icon just a few months into the job at his hometown club.
Huddersfield Grix; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Connor; Brough, Ellis; Crabtree, Hinchcliffe, Rapira, Symonds, Ta’ai, Lawrence. Interchange Murphy, Wood, Johnson, Mason.
Tries Grix, Connor, McGillvary 2. Sin bin Brough (14).
Wakefield Jowitt; Johnstone, Lyne, Tupou, Jones-Bishop; Miller, Finn; Fifita, Moore, England, Molloy, Ashurst, Sio. Interchange Arona, Anderson, Annakin, Walton.
Tries Fifita 2, Jones-Bishop, Johnstone. Goals Finn 6.
Referee G Hewer (RFL). Attendance 3,289.
