What a day.
Hull FC celebrate their 2016 Challenge Cup final victory. (Image: SW PIX)
‘Old Faithful, you’ll never win at Wembley’ was the cry prior to the 2016 Challenge Cup final between Hull FC and Warrington Wolves. Come full-time, and as per the board held up by then-prop Scott Taylor, it was a case of ‘What are you going to sing now?’
The ghosts of Wembley haunted Hull for 57 years, with the club only avoiding defeat in one of their previous eight meetings – a draw with Widnes in 1982, whom Hull would go on to defeat in the Elland Road replay.
But in 1959, 1960, 1980, 1983, 1985, 2008, and 2013, it was heartbreak that taunted Hull and heartbreak that then-coach Lee Radford, now of Scotland rugby union, shut out in what Andy Last called a ‘masterstroke’ leading up to the ‘16 final.
“I’d be here all day,” Last smiled when asked to recall his cup final memories. “I remember everything. It was a superb day for Hull FC and a special moment for that group of players and staff.
“This club hadn’t done it before so to be part of the team that broke that hoodoo was something that will live long in the memory. It was a rollercoaster of emotions during the match and a rollercoaster of a week leading up to it.
“Radders did a great job of playing the fact that Hull had never won at Wembley down. He took on a lot of pressure himself to keep it off the playing group, and I thought that was a masterstroke from Lee, and then during the course of the game, we weren’t at our best, but in finals, you don’t have to be at your best.
“You just have to be close, and what that group of players always had was that ability to stay in the game and on the scoreboard. We came back from behind so many times that year and we knew that if we were close, we still had a chance of winning the game.”
Hull did just that after trailing 10-0 on the hour mark and from then on in it was a Black and White surge.
“The Marc Sneyd 40/20 shifted momentum in our favour, and then the try was scored by Mahe Fonua, and then the try under the posts from Shauly (Jamie Shaul), a local lad, and then Sneydy knocked it over for us to win the game; it was amazing,” Last continued.
“Then that last moment of the game where the ball is getting pinged everywhere and Joe Westerman drops it and Mark Minichello dives on it, and then Radders is hugging me, and then there’s Rich Peats and Richard Horne in the box, four Hull lads sharing that moment together – that’s something I will take to my grave. It was special.”
Hull will celebrate the tenth anniversary of their first Wembley victory on Saturday evening – with Warrington fittingly the opponents for arguably the greatest day in the club’s history.
Asked if that serves as extra motivation to record back-to-back wins for the first time since March,“ Last said: “We’ve touched on that. There are some former players coming back and it’s our last home game of this season.
“It’s ten years since we won at Wembley against Warrington and we’ve got some added milestones, Tom Briscoe’s last home game before retiring and Herman Ese’ese making 200 career appearances, so there’s some emotion and sentiment attached to this match. Hopefully it will be a great game.”