Leeds Rhinos 'my favourite match' - Francis Cummins recalls the 1994 Challenge Cup semi-final

Francis Cummins makes a break during Leeds' Challenge Cup semi-final win over St Helens in 1994. Picture by Steve Riding.

That is a record Cummins, who was a try scorer in Leeds’ 26-16 defeat, still holds. The former winger returned to Wembley the following year, when his side lost 30-10 to the same opposition and crossed the whitewash again in 1999 as Rhinos finally got their hands on the trophy, hammering London Broncos 52-16.

But it is the 1994 semi-final - and its immediate aftermath - which sticks in Cummmins’ memory as his favourite match.

He said: “I had been a Leeds fan all my life, but I had missed the Yorkshire Cup final in 1988 - I was watching them then, but I didn’t go to that - and I had never seen Leeds do anything.

Francis Cummins celebrates Leeds' first return to Wembley for 16 years, after the 1994 semi-final win over St Helens. Picture by Steve Riding.

“I went to watch the semi-final the year before, against Widnes at Central Park when we got hammered and that was probably the first time I expected them to do something.

“I didn’t think 12 months later I’d be playing there.”

Cummins watched the game recently on Rhinos’ YouTube channel.

Leeds who had beaten Rochdale Hornets, Warrington and Bradford Northern to reach that stage, had lost their four previous semi-finals, so there was delight among players and fans at the final hooter of their 20-8 victory over Saints.

Francis Cummins with Garry Schofield, centre and Graham Holroyd, right in the Central Park, Wigan, changing rooms following Leeds' semi-final success 26 years ago. Picture by Steve Riding.

Ellery Hanley scored two tries, Richie Eyres also crossed and Graham Holroyd kicked four goals, but Leeds’ defensive effort paved their way to Wembley.

“The game itself was tough, we kept dropping out and tackling and tackling,” Cummins recalled.

“Look at the stars we had at the time and that team probably should have done a bit more.

“The attacking play we had was very good, but we weren’t known as a defensive side - in fact, a few weeks before Wembley we drew 46-all with Sheffield.

Ellery Hanley scored two tries in Leeds' 1994 Challenge Cup semi-final win over St Helens. Picture by Steve Riding.

“But we defended really well that day, they kept getting repeat sets; Graham Holroyd had a great boot on him, but his drop outs were going 20 metres so we were just stuck at our end.”

But of why he remembers that match so fondly, Cummins said: “It was more what happened after.

“It was an era when they [fans at the end of games] were still coming on the field.

“I think they were trying to stop it, but the scenes afterwards were just huge with Central Park full of Leeds fans, all on the field.

“I remember going back to Headingley and having a night out - though I was 17 so I wasn’t drinking! I had stayed at Neil Harmon’s, or somewhere like that and Richie Eyres took me back to Headingley and they were queuing for tickets for the final.

“The club hadn’t seen anything like it. I remember, a few weeks after, them queuing for tickets all around the cricket field. It was great to see.”

Cummins, now 43, made his Leeds debut in 1993 and spent his entire playing career at the club.

After retiring in 2005 he had spells as assistant-coach at Rhinos and Bradford Bulls and in charge of Bradford and Widnes Vikings.

He has also coached in rugby union and recently left Doncaster Knights.

Asked if he was aware of the record he was about to set 26 years ago, he said: “I think I was, I remember my uncle saying, after we beat Bradford in the quarter-final, he’d worked out if we got to the final I would beat Shaun Edwards by a day.

“When I was young my dad used to go to Wembley every year with his mates. The amateur club used to go and he said we’d go, but the amateur club stopped doing it so the first time I went to Wembley I actually played in it.

“He used to say ‘I’ll take you’. He didn’t, but in the end I took him.”

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