Warrington using Cup final defeat as motivation

James Gordon

Warrington coach Steve Price says they are still hurting from their Challenge Cup final defeat to Catalans, and will use it as a motivation to beat St Helens in the play-offs on Thursday night.

The Wolves suffered a surprise 24-16 defeat at Wembley as the Dragons became the first French side ever to win the famous competition, having themselves beat St Helens in another shock result at the Macron Stadium in Bolton in the semi-finals.

Runaway league leaders St Helens host Warrington in the first of the Super League play-off semi-finals on Thursday night, with a place in the Grand Final at Old Trafford at stake.

Price said: “It’s still burning all the playing group. It was a performance which doesn’t sit well with us, and I’d like to think it’s a driving motivation come Thursday and the lessons we’ve learnt from that game.

“We seem to perform against the teams that have been above us this season, and Saints have been the most consistent team to date, but that counts for nothing come Thursday.

“I have got a very experienced team who have played on the biggest stage and I’m very confident in the playing group that if they go out there and stick to the game plan, we will give ourselves every chance to be able to get that win.

“The club’s had a really consistent season, we set ourselves the goal to be a top four Super League club, we’ve achieved that; we got to Wembley and though we’re disappointed with how we played that day, we have a really good opportunity to put that right on Thursday.”

Warrington have appeared in three of the last six Grand Finals, losing all of them, as they still wait that elusive first Super League title.

Price welcomes back first choice half-backs Tyrone Roberts and Kevin Brown, while Tom Lineham is also back after suspension.

Warrington 19-man squad v St Helens: Atkins, K Brown, Charnley, Clark, Cooper, Goodwin, Hill, Hughes, G King, T King, Lineham, Livett, Murdoch-Masila, Patton, Philbin, Ratchford, Roberts, Thompson, Westwood.