WIGAN 26, WARRINGTON 39

LEE BRIERS broke down in tears after dedicating Wolves' victory to his late brother Brian.

Briers scored a try and a drop goal as Wolves reached the final for the first time in 19 years.

But Briers cut short his celebrations and looked to the heavens to send a silent tribute to Brian.

He said: "My brother died eight years ago and it would have been his 43rd birthday today, so it was a bit emotional for me before and after the game."

Wigan raced into an early 8-0 lead but Briers and company responded with a devastating spell of three tries in five minutes.

They grabbed two more touchdowns before half- time and when Matt King grabbed his third try for a 32-8 lead, it looked all over.

But Wigan went hell for leather and grabbed three converted tries in 13 minutes from Sam Tomkins, Andy Coley and Thomas Leuluai. The lead was cut to six points and suddenly it was anybody's game.

Before Tony Smith took over earlier this season, Wolves would probably have crumbled.

But Smith has injected new steel into the side, none more so than one-time party boy Briers. He snuffed out Wigan's growing confidence with a 71st-minute drop goal before winger Chris Hicks sealed the win with a terrific individual try.

Briers said: "Momentum is a massive thing and Wigan had it, but over the past few months we have been building something. Even though we were dropping a lot of ball, we stayed calm and the talk was positive.

"It was probably not the best performance, but the best game I've played in as regards the end product."

Wolves boss Smith said: "It is good to celebrate but we haven't won anything yet. Once we get to Wembley we want to pick up that Cup and there's a lot of work to do."

Wigan coach Brian Noble said: "We are very disappointed. I thought we would show up better than we did but we gave ourselves too big a hill to climb.

"There was a period in the first half when we didn't touch the ball."

SCORERS - Wigan: tries Bailey, Tomkins, Coley, Leuluai; goals Richards 5. Warrington: tries King 3, L Anderson, Briers, Cooper, Hicks; goals Bridge 5; drop goal Briers.

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