Warrington play for their first title since 1955. Three of eight such sides won.
Warrington Wolves beat Leeds 14-12 to reach the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford on 3 October. Their last league title was in 1955.
What happened
Warrington Wolves beat Leeds Rhinos 14-12 at Headingley on and will play in the Super League Grand Final, one win from their first league title since 1955.
Warrington won their semi-final at Leeds 14-12 on . The score was 12-12 in the last quarter when Leeds were penalised for a bodycheck and Ewan Irwin kicked the goal. The Leeds coach, Brad Arthur, called it “a soft penalty”.
The Grand Final is at Old Trafford on Saturday , kick-off 6pm. Warrington will play the winner of the other semi-final, Wigan Warriors against Wakefield Trinity on . Wigan finished top of the table and have already won the Challenge Cup this season.
Warrington finished third in the regular season. A year ago they finished eighth and missed the play-offs, and the coach, Sam Burgess, was under pressure. Their last league title was in 1955, and this is their first Grand Final since 2018.
Sources: The Guardian, Super League, Sky Sports
The Pattern
We looked for cases where a British rugby league side that had waited more than 20 years for a league title, and had already lost a title final in that wait, played in another final. We found eight since 1961, and three were won. All three winners had finished top of the table. Four of the eight finals were Warrington’s.
Show the other 6 cases
The Read
History leans against Warrington. In the eight finals the long-waiting side won three times, and all three winners had finished top of the table. Warrington finished third. The four sides in the eight that had not finished top all lost.
The record is small and leans on one club: four of the eight finals are Warrington’s, three of them against Wigan. The losses were mostly close, by 6 to 8 points in four of the five. Older finals before 1973 were not checked, and the opponent is decided only on .
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