Hall plays down ClubCall effect

Leeds winger Ryan Hall says Wigan would have been silly not to have picked the Rhinos at the ClubCall decision a fortnight ago.

For the second successive year, the Rhinos were chosen as semi-final opponents, and just like with Warrington last year, Leeds went on to win the semi-final away from home, to reach Old Trafford.

It was either pick Super League champions Leeds, who finished 5th, or Challenge Cup winners Warrington, who finished 2nd, and Wigan went for the Yorkshiremen, who then turned them over 13-12 in a gripping match at the DW Stadium.

Hall said: “We’ve done it like we did last year, we had to go away to the side leading the competition, and we did it that way again. Each club are entitled to their opinion and Clubcall has to be done.

“Over the last two years both teams have said they would pick the lowest-ranked team, which is sensible. If we were in that situation we’d do the same thing, it just so happened that we finished there twice.

“If anything, Wigan would have been silly to pick Warrington, who finished second and beat them during the season.”

In the four years of ClubCall, the lowest ranked team has been picked each time. In 2009 and 2010, Leeds and St Helens defeated Catalan and Huddersfield having picked them, but the Rhinos have been victorious on both occasions when they have been selected as opponents.