Peter Smith’s verdict: Leeds Rhinos produce a wet weather masterclass to demolish Wigan Warriors

The venue, St Helens’ TW Stadium, was different, but Rhinos’ dominant 80 minutes was reminiscent of their great nights at Old Trafford in Super League Grand Finals.

Leeds had a half-back who ran the show and produced a kicking game out of the top drawer; their finishing was outstanding and everything they did came off the back of a rock-solid pack display.

Speaking the day before the tie, Rhinos coach Richard Agar said it would need a “phenomenal” performance to win it. His side delivered.

The way they played was a model of wet weather rugby. Leeds got off to a strong start and never let up, at least not until the final five minutes when Wigan, by then 26-0 adrift, ran in a couple of converted tries to make the scoreline more respectable.

Rhinos’ first half in particular was not far short of perfect. Kruise Leeming was dragged into touch, which could perhaps have been a Rhinos penalty, Leeds were penalised once for offside and Matt Prior fumbled at a play-the-ball. Other than that, Rhinos, in driving rain, did not put a foot wrong and were full value for their 20-0 lead.

On their way to Wembley in 2015 – the last time Leeds won the trophy – they faced Hull in a quarter-final on a filthy night in East Yorkshire.

On that occasion Rhinos got their game plan spot on – defending solidly behind an commanding kicking game from captain Kevin Sinfield and taking points whenever they could.

This semi-final was similar, with the captain – now Luke Gale – calling the shots. Gale’s move to Leeds was a gamble by both parties, the player leaving a Castleford Tigers team who had consistently out-performed Rhinos in recent seasons, while the club signed someone who was sidelined for much of 2018 and all of the following year.

Now Gale has led Rhinos to a major final, his first in the Challenge Cup, so the risk on both sides has clearly paid off.

Three years ago Gale failed to perform on the big occasion when Leeds shocked league leaders Castleford in a rain-lashed Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Lessons were clearly learned and Gale was a deserved winner of the semi-final man-of the-match award.

That said, there was no shortage of competition in Leeds’ ranks. This wasn’t a one-man show, Rhinos were outstanding across the board and Gale would not have been able to control the game the way he did if his forwards hadn’t got on the front foot from the opening moments.

Ava Seumanufagai and Mikolaj Oledzki are developing into a formidable front-row pairing and though the former has had some off days this year, this wasn’t one of them.

Prior, likewise, did the hard yards and got some nice offloads away and both second-rowers, Alex Mellor and Rhyse Martin dug deep and outshone Wigan’s dangerous duo of Willie Isa and Liam Farrell. Martin, who scored the first try, must have run Gale close for the most valuable player award.

Cameron Smith – on his comeback from a broken jaw – did some really tough work off the bench, in tandem with James Donaldson and after a strong stint by Leeming, Brad Dwyer came on and caused Wigan problems with his pace out of acting-half.

Dwyer and Smith both returned at the expense of Luke Briscoe and Adam Cuthbertson.

The only change in the starting line-up from the recent Super League win over Hull KR was Konrad Hurrell’s inclusion at centre in place of Harry Newman.

Hurrell looked to be struggling from early on in the game, but then came up with a pass to create a try for Tom Briscoe, as well as having a touchdown ruled out by video referee Ben Thaler.

Jack Walker is now fit, but Richie Myler continued at full-back and contributed another top-class effort in very challenging conditions.

Myler was unfairly maligned during his two-year spell as Rhinos’ first-choice half-back, but since his switch to full-back has highlighted what a quality player he is.

An intriguing subplot of the Cup final against Salford Red Devils will be Rob Lui’s stand-off battle with Tui Lolohea, the players having swapped clubs last year. Lui was very good in the semi-final, his highlight being a pass which carved out an opening for Martin to score the opening try, late in the first quarter.

That came in the set from Gale’s superb 40-20 kick. Martin had earlier kicked Leeds ahead with a penalty and he added another soon after the try, which he also converted.

Rhinos really got a grip of the game in the final 10 minutes of the half through tries by Ash Handley – after Liam Sutcliffe and Myler had kept Gale’s kick alive – and Tom Briscoe from a Gale-Hurrell combination.

Dom Manfredi and Hurrell had touchdowns ruled out on video evidence in the third quarter and Handley was similarly denied before confirming Leeds’ win with a try created by Sutcliffe 11 minutes from time.

Martin then added a penalty before Harry Smith and Zak Hardaker – who converted both – ran in late consolation scores for Wigan.

Their big threats, Bevan French and Jackson Hastings, were never allowed to play and Rhinos were more convincing victors than the 12-point margin suggests.

Referee Chris Kendall handled the game sensibly in the conditions. Both teams were awarded two repeat sets and the penalty count was five-five (two-one to Rhinos in the first half).

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