Ratchford expects tough forward battle with Leeds

Warrington utility back Stefan Ratchford believes that controlling the middle of the pitch will be vital to who wins the Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday.

While Ratchford thinks that opponents Leeds Rhinos have plenty of threats out wide, he also thinks that whoever wins the battle of the forward packs will probably win the game.

“I think they have got threats all over the park,” he said.

“They’ve got a big pack who like to get them going forward, and on the back of that they have quite a strong kicking game.

“If their forwards dominate, the they like to try and entertain a bit, and get the ball wide with Moon, Watkins and Hall.

“So the biggest task and the first job is trying to get control of the forwards.

“I think the team that does that will give themselves the best chance of winning the game.”

While the promise of a Wembley final is glittering on the horizon for the winners of the game, Ratchford insists that Warrington are keeping their focus on the immediate future, and winning the semi-final first.

“The ultimate goal is getting to Wembley, but we can’t really afford to focus on that at the moment,” he said.

“We’ve got a massive game to get through before we can think about that.

“I suppose we’ve got to take into it the mentality we had last week, when we were just focusing on Catalan.

“This week we’re focused on a big performance. The reward at the end of it is little bit more than two points, but ‘ll be equally as happy with it.”