Leeds Rhinos go for their 14th Challenge Cup Final win

Leeds Rhinos go for their 14th Challenge Cup final win when they face off with Salford at Wembley today.

History will be made with the final played behind closed doors for the first time.

Leeds are second only to Wigan for most Challenge Cup triumphs, but defeat would set a new record of 13 losses. They currently share the unwanted total of 12 with Hull FC.

Salford are appearing in their eighth Cup final going back to 1900, aiming for only their second victory and first since 1938. They're ending a 51-year wait to appear at Wembley.

Head Coach Richard Agar has named his 21 man squad. Only six of the squad have appeared in a Challenge Cup Final before with Tom Briscoe leading the way in his fifth Wembley Final.

Jack Walker, Adam Cuthbertson, Cameron Smith and Tom Holroyd, who all featured against Warrington Wolves on Tuesday in the Betfred Super League are included.

Richie Myler says his Leeds team-mate Jack Walker will bounce back after beating him to the full-back role.

Myler says he was up for a bench spot in Warrington's team for the match against Leeds 10 years ago only to lose out in coach Tony Smith's final selection.

He was then a similar age to the 21-year-old Walker, who got the Rhinos' number one shirt at the start of the season and has played in the last three Super League matches after recovering from a foot injury.

However, Agar has kept faith with Myler, a specialist half-back who deputised superbly at full-back during Walker's two-and-a-half-month absence.

"There were a couple of boys this morning who didn't get the greatest news,'' Myler told a press conference via Zoom.

"It's awful, it's the end of the world, it happened to me three days before the 2010 Challenge Cup final.

"Once the dust settles, you learn from it and you learn why it's happened, there's often a bigger picture.

"It's not a nice learning curve but that's rugby league and those boys will bounce back. And to be fair the boys have been tremendous today. They really ripped in.

"We've still got some other big games coming up. We want to be fighting for the top four.''

Salford have been dealt a body blow with centre or full-back Dan Sarginson ruled out after contracting coronavirus.

The Red Devils announced on Tuesday that two of their players had returned positive Covid-19 tests but only revealed their identity on Thursday lunchtime when coach Ian Watson announced his 21-man squad for Saturday's game.

Former Leeds forward Jack Ormondroyd, who would have been pushing for a place in Watson's Wembley squad, is the other Salford player ruled out through coronavirus and is self-isolating.