WEMBLEY hero Lee Briers was “freaked out” at half-time in Saturday’s Carnegie Challenge Cup final after helping his side build a three-try lead over Leeds on their way to an impressive 30-6 victory.
What was expected to be a close-fought classic turned into the most one-sided final for 11 years, but one man who predicted it all was Warrington’s former Leeds coach Tony Smith.
Briers revealed how Smith had mapped out the six-try demolition of his old club with a game-plan that included the dropping of England scrum-half Richie Myler from his 17-man squad.
“You might not believe this but, when he was deciding on what team to pick, he said we probably won’t be chasing the game because we’ll be 18-0 up,” said Briers.
“If we had kicked those two goals, we would have been 18-0 up. I was freaked out by it. I’m going to ask him for the lottery numbers.
“He’s a good coach. He knows what he’s doing and we trust him.”
Centre Ryan Atkins, a player rejected by Leeds earlier in his career, scored two tries and Australian winger Chris Hicks got the first of his three as the holders established a stranglehold on the match with a 14-0 interval lead.
