St Helens Win Messy Challenge Cup Final

Aug 31, 2008 League Freak Rugby League Challenge Cup 0

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St Helens have defeated Hull FC 28-16 in the 2008 Challenge Cup Final.

If you went to cook two minute noodles as the game kicked off, the microwave bell had yet to sound and Paul Sculthorpe went from the field injured.

Going into this game Sculthorpe amazingly wrote in his newspaper colum that HE has yet to decide his future at St Helens and no one was going to make him rush his decision.

Erm….Earth to Sculthorpe…..the club has public ally stated already that you will not be re-signed for the 2009 season!

I was actually shocked they named him in the side. He is so injury prone, its just a farce to name him these days.

Another funny note going into the final was my favorite morbidly obese player, Keiron Cunningham, claiming no club will ever match St Helens Challenge Cup Final record.

Erm….Earth to fat arse…..last decade Wigan’s Challenge Cup record makes you current record look like Leeds record in big games. If you honestly think you are THAT special then its no wonder you decided to not play games out side of your little comfort zone in Northern England!

If you were coming here looking for me to praise the game none stop with positives…..you are going to be disappointed.

About all I can say it that its great to see the Final at Wembley Stadium and what a fantastic crowd it was, huge by any standards.

I find it very hard to watch these big finals from England simply because its rubbish football as far as I’m concerned.

One thing about English player, they got to shit when the pressure is on, and the pressure doesn’t get much bigger than the Challenge Cup final played at Wembley Stadium in front of 82,000 fans.

In pressure situations, Super League teams panic in defense, making terrible decisions, and they fail to execute in attack.

It wasn’t helped by the fact that Hull FC basically don’t have a halfback to speak of and, incredibly in this day and age, looked a lot less fit than St Helens. Still, St Helens didn’t look much better with panic football the order of the day for both sides.

Growing up in Australia where intensity and building pressure is the game, I find it shocking to see the way Super League defenses open up so easily, the way players make simple errors and how the supposed big game players over there are a mess of nerves.

Its not wonder Great Britain fails like clock work when Test matches roll around.

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• Challenge Cup, Hull FC, St Helens, Wembley Stadium, Wigan

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