Warrington Wolves chairman makes Marc Sneyd admission and ‘underdogs’ claim

Warrington Wolves chairman Stuart Middleton admits Marc Sneyd probably shouldn’t have played in the club’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Leigh Leopards. Sam Burgess’ side set up an intriguing Cup final against Hull KR by edging out the Leopards at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens.

Warrington won 21-14 with Sneyd making the difference by kicking four goals and a drop goal. The scrum-half was one of Warrington’s best on the day and the performance came just over two weeks after fracturing his eye socket.

Sneyd went under the knife to resolve the issue and just 16 days later, he put his hand up to play in the Wire’s biggest game of the season so far. It was a heroic effort from the half-back, while Middleton admits King shouldn’t have played either after being rated as a doubt going into the contest.

“Marc Sneyd and Toby King probably shouldn’t have played,” Middleton told the BBC. “They put their hands and said they’d get the job done and I’m very proud of them. I’m pleased for them now because they’ll play in the final and they deserve it as well.”

On the game, the chairman added: “I’m over the moon and I think my blood pressure has calmed down a bit now after they got their first try in the corner after a minute, I thought, ‘here we go, we’re not getting any luck today’.

“We got a few more injuries and I thought this is going against us, they’re a tough side Leigh and a lot of our old players have got a point to prove as well.

“It’s that resilience that we’ve been missing in the past and things went against us but everyone stood up and said ‘let’s get this job done’. That’s the difference, the resilience, that’s what Sam brings to them.”

Stuart Middleton on Warrington Wolves’ chances

The Wolves will now face the Super League leaders KR at Wembley Stadium as they head to their second Challenge Cup final in as many years. Middleton is under no illusions about how difficult the task will be of beating Rovers, though, claiming Warrington will be the underdogs on the day.

“There’s some good teams out there, as you can see in the league, it’s so tight and I think this year is extra special to get there and beat teams to get there,” he added. “With this team now with some bodies back like George Williams, I think we can do it because we have that mentality and resilience.

“Of they will (start as favourites) but that’s probably a good thing to be honest, we’re the underdogs, let’s not get fazed by that and let’s go out and do the job and Sam can get them geared up to getting that win.”