Rugby League: Warrington 30 - 6 Leeds - Wolves devour Rhinos in cup final

Australian Chris Hicks became only the sixth player to score a hat-trick of tries in a Challenge Cup final as Warrington produced a masterclass yesterday at Wembley to retain the trophy in clinical fashion.

While Ryan Atkins and Hicks supplied the finishing touches, the man of the match was veteran stand-off Lee Briers, who had a hand or foot in three of his side's first four tries.

The Rhinos suffered a few injury problems but there was no doubting the Wolves' superiority.

Leeds created an early scoring oportunity when Kevin Sinfield and Danny McGuire combined to get Ryan Bailey through a gap but he was unable to ground the ball and Warrington made the most of the let-off with two tries in four-minutes.

Atkins leapt high to gather Briers' kick to touch down for his first try after defender Brett Delaney crucially lost his footing and then Hicks took Matt King's inside pass to finish decisively for his first.

The Wolves then defended superbly to keep their lead intact before striking again on the counter-attack six minutes before half-time. Left winger Chris Riley appeared to be offside when he took the ball from McGuire's towering kick but there was no whistle and he raced away to halfway to set up the position for Atkins to sprint clear from dummy half to score his second try.

Leeds did enough at the start of the second half to suggest they could come back but Warrington's defence stood firm despite the best efforts of Delaney. He was pushed back at the line on one occasion and when he eventually got over was denied by outstanding full-back Richard Mathers, who got his body under the ball.

The Wolves had no problem finishing off their chances and they put the game to bed after 61 minutes when Hicks leapt above Ryan Hall to gather another accurate kick from Briers and grab his second try.

Westwood's touchline conversion made it 20-0 and, although Leeds briefly threatened a fightback when winger Lee Smith went over for a 67th-minute try, Warrington were irresistible. Mathers was denied a try by video referee Ian Smith because of an obstruction, but Hicks was not to be denied a hat-trick as he took Ben Westwood's pass to cross at the corner and second-rower Louis Anderson completed the rout by powering through a tiring defence for his side's sixth try.