Keiron Cunningham: I still get excited and I was nervous before today's game

Jul 28 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

ST HELENS captain Keiron Cunningham will be just as excited when he makes his eighth Challenge Cup final appearance next month as he was when he made his first 12 years ago.

The evergreen hooker led from the front as Saints gained an outstanding 26-16 victory over Leeds in a high class semi-final at Huddersfield’s Galpharm Stadium on Saturday to book a return trip to Wembley on August 30.

Saints will be looking for their sixth win in eight years and their third in a row under coach Daniel Anderson before he returns home to Australia at the end of the season.

Cunningham, who played in the first Wembley final of the Super League era in 1996, is now second in the all-time list of Challenge Cup final appearances, having drawn level with Wigan legends Andy Gregory and Denis Betts.

Only Shaun Edwards, who made 10 Wembley appearances for Wigan from 1984-95 and played for London Broncos in the 1999 final, is ahead of the triumvirate and Cunningham admits Edwards’ record is out of his reach.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, not unless I play three in one year,” said the 32-year-old afterwards.

“The feeling is the same as the first one. I still get excited and I was nervous before today’s game.”

There was never any doubt over Saints’ 16th successive League and Cup win once Sean Long sent Chris Flannery over for the opening try just seven minutes into the match.

Further tries from Leon Pryce and Jon Wilkin put the holders 18-2 ahead after 48 minutes before Leeds staged a second-half rally but the Yorkshiremen were easily second best on a day when little went right for them.

Already without New Zealand Test full-back Brent Webb, who failed to shake off a back injury, the Rhinos lost influential scrum-half Rob Burrow after only 17 minutes when he came off much the worse from an attempted tackle on Lee Gilmour.

Stand-off Danny McGuire struggled from the early stages with a leg knock and centre Clinton Toopi, who had earlier been placed on report for an alleged spear tackle on Paul Clough, hobbled off with a knee injury five minutes before the break.

“It felt pretty good in the first half when we had plenty of the ball and were competing well,” said Cunningham.

“In the second half, Leeds had a bit of a purple patch and we kept dropping everything. It was a tough 10 or 15 minutes but we weathered that and got a vital try from Bryn (Hargreaves).

“It was difficult for Leeds to re-adjust with the injuries they had but they’ve got a team full of international players and they seemed to handle it well.”

Cunningham says he has not yet decided whether to hang up his boots at the end of the season.

He is out of contract and, although the club have made it clear they are keen for him to continue for another year, the former Welsh international admits he is finding it increasingly difficult to prepare for matches.

“I’ve got to see how it goes,” he said. “I’m having a really good year and things are going well for me.

“I don’t need the added pressure of worrying about contracts yet. If I’m going to finish this year, I’m going to finish on a real high, and, if I go around again next year, I want it to be one of the best years I’ve had.

“When you’ve been running around on the field since you were 17-year-old, it does take its toll on the body and for the next couple of days I’m going to be like a 60-year-old bloke getting round the house.

“I could play until I’m 40 if I just had to play – it’s the training and stuff during the week which makes you retire.”

Meanwhile, England scrum-half Burrow underlined his reputation as arguably the most courageous player in Super League with his valiant performance for Leeds.

At 5ft 5in, Burrow is the smallest player in the competition but he demonstrated that he has probably the biggest heart by shaking off the effects of concussion to re-enter the action at the Galpharm in a bid to help his side reach Wembley.

Burrow had knocked himself out attempting a tackle on Saints second rower Gilmour early into a furious and fast-paced match and, after being taken off, was thought unlikely to return.

But he caught a bit of the action on television while coming round in the dressing room and defied expectation by going back on for the last quarter as the Rhinos tried in vain to claw back a big deficit.

“It’s one of those things,” said Burrow. “I have had it happen to me a few times.

“I’ve not had a lot of luck in the Challenge Cup. I got knocked out against Bradford a few years back.

“The game is just a blur at the moment. It was one of those occasions when you watch it on telly and you can’t believe it happened. You just remember waking up in the changing rooms.

“As soon as I could start thinking straight, I wanted to get back out there and I did.

“The doctors gave me a thorough check and obviously it’s up to me as well. If they didn’t think it was right they would have stopped me but I was all right to go so I went back out there.”

Leeds are now left to concentrate on Super League and, level on points with their arch rivals with five matches left of the regular season, Burrow admits that Saturday’s defeat could aid the defence of their League title.

“It’s disappointing because everyone wants to be part of the Challenge Cup,” he said. “But good luck to Saints, they were better than us on the day.

“We’ve had this in our sights for a while but the fact that we’ve just got the Super League to concentrate on means we’ll put all our emphasis on that and build and finish strong.

“You learn a lot from times when you hurt, it’s all part of being a rugby player. You just have to deal with it.”