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| MATCH NOTES : Match played at Marrayfield in Edinburgh |
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1999 SLGF
2001 WCC
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COACH : Ian Millward (2000-03-17 : 2005-06-17 ) |
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MATCH REPORT |
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MATCH REPORT : By Andy Hampson, PA Sport Kris Radlinski got off his sick bed to help one-time trophy kings Wigan reclaim the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge Cup in a Murrayfield thriller. The 26-year-old full-back, confined to a hospital bed for most of the week, produced a fairytale performance as the underdogs led throughout to claim their first Cup success for seven years. Wigan, famous victims of a stunning upset at the hands of Sheffield Eagles in 1998, turned the tables on holders St Helens, who suffered their first final defeat of the Super League era. Radlinski, passed fit on the morning of the match after failing to train all week because of a blood disorder, went through the pain barrier to produce an all-action display that earned him the prestigious Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match. The Great Britain full-back defied a foot injury to pull off some stupendous stops as the Warriors, who lost top defender Mick Cassidy with a dislocated shoulder, held their arch rivals at bay with some magnificent tackling. Wigan, whose fans were outnumbered two to one by the confident Saints following, were also indebted to the prompting of scrum-half Adrian Lam and leadership of Andrew Farrell, whose marksmanship proved to be the difference between two evenly-matched sides. While Farrell kicked all three conversions and a penalty, Sean Long - man of the match at Twickenham 12 months earlier - lost his accuracy when it most mattered, putting all three kicks wide of the target. Radlinski provided an early glimpse of his bravery when his last-ditch cover tackle on Saints second rower Tim Jonkers dislodged the ball as the tryline beckoned. Radlinski then began to show his bag of tricks in attack, setting up the game's first try on 10 minutes with a magnificent one-handed pass through his legs to the supporting Terry Newton. Lam's long pass found Gary Connolly in space and he timed the final pass to perfection to get winger Brett Dallas over at the corner. Four minutes later, David Furner's superb offload split the Saints defence and Lam sidestepped full-back Paul Wellens for a second try. Farrell's second goal made it 12-0 and the Wigan skipper, acutely aware of St Helens' ability to claw back deficits, tried to open up a lead of three clear scores with a drop goal but his kick barely got off the ground. One of Saints' biggest threats was expected to come from the 'bombs' of Long and the Great Britain half-back duly obliged on 21 minutes when right winger Darren Albert went up with his opposite number Paul Johnson and came down with the ball for the try that sparked the fightback. Keiron Cunningham had a touchdown disallowed when the video referee ruled he had failed to ground the ball but impressive centre Martin Gleeson demonstrated clinical finishing eight minutes before the break when he stepped inside Johnson and stretched out of Radlinski's tackle to score. Long was wide with both goalkicks as Saints trailed 12-8 at the break but Paul Sculthorpe thought he had levelled the scores early in the second half when he reached the tryline only to discover that Gleeson had been penalised for an incorrect play-the-ball. The Saints loose forward did cross the line on 59 minutes after Cunningham and Darren Britt had kept the ball alive but Wigan had extended their lead by then with a smartly-engineered try from Gary Connolly. Stand-off Julian O'Neill, who recovered brilliantly from a disastrous start in which he knocked on with his first touch, made the most of a rare missed tackle from Cunningham to put Johnson away and he sent Connolly racing to the posts. As Saints pummelled away at the Wigan line, Radlinski had to be at his best and his courageous effort was summed up by a crashing tackle on Albert and a precious save on Jonkers just short of the line. Lam gave his side some breathing space with a 69th-minute drop goal and, with Saints down to 12 men following the sin-binning of Darren Britt, Farrell finished them off with a penalty. |
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