Sam Burgess has revealed the childhood memory inspiring his bid to guide Warrington to the Challenge Cup final – and party like it’s 1999.
Twenty-five years ago, Burgess, his parents and three brothers travelled from their West Yorkshire home to watch Leeds Rhinos crush London Broncos 52-16 at Wembley. It was the last Challenge Cup final played at the national stadium before it was rebuilt and ignited a fire within Burgess to get there himself one day. In his first season as Warrington head coach, he is now 80 minutes away from reaching Wembley with his side facing Huddersfield Giants in Sunday’s semi-final at St Helens.
The 35-year-old, a boyhood Rhinos fan, said: “I went in 1999 when Leeds beat London Broncos and Leroy Rivett scored four tries. We were sat on the front row as a family with my three brothers, so I understand the enormity of the competition and that whole day inspired me. I said ‘I want to play at Wembley’ and it took me 14 years to do it – for England against New Zealand in the 2013 World Cup semi-final.
“That was an unbelievable game to be a part of and probably one of the most frustrating of my career because we lost right at the death.”
Ex-Bradford and South Sydney hardman Burgess is loving life at Warrington having taken the job on a two-year deal last autumn. The Wolves are joint-top of Super League and Burgess has settled into life in the north-west with partner Lucy Graham, who gave birth to their daughter Robbie last October. Lucy ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon on Sunday and Burgess bumped into a few of his old Great Britain team-mates.
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Rhinos legend Burrow was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in December 2019 and Burgess’ dad Mark died aged 45 from the disease in 2007. He added: “Lucy ran the marathon in memory of my dad and to support Rob, so I went and watched. She did it after two weeks’ training and seven months after giving birth, so that was a fair effort.
Warrington Wolves' Sam Burgess (Courtesy of Warrington Wolves)“I saw Rob, Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Barrie McDermott, all Leeds legends who played together and remain connected from the success they had. That was pretty cool.”
On life at Warrington, Burgess added: “I’ve really embraced it – we can be ourselves here without worrying about things too much. I’m really enjoying coaching out of the spotlight and we’ve got great friends here. Lucy is close to her family, and it doesn’t feel like work most days, so I couldn’t be any happier.
“As a team, we’re going in the right direction and I’m happy with the progress but no way are we anywhere near the finished article yet.”
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