Warrington coach Tony Smith said he was spoilt for choice after taking the tough decision to drop England scrum-half Richie Myler for the Challenge Cup final today against Leeds. The 20-year-old Myler was a try scorer in the Wolves' earlier Cup victories over Featherstone, Huddersfield and Catalans Dragons but he was the unlucky man when Smith finalised his line-up. Myler, who made his England debut under Smith, has made way for hooker Micky Higham in the only change to the side that won the semi-final earlier this month.
Higham missed that 54-12 victory over Catalans with a broken thumb but has done enough in Warrington's last two matches to earn a place on the bench. Michael Monaghan, the Lance Trophy winner as man of the match in last year's 25-16 win over Huddersfield, switches from hooker to scrum-half, with Jon Clarke starting as hooker. "Our halves and hookers have been terrific," Smith said. "Micky Higham has only been back a couple of weeks but he's been in terrific form, everybody has been able to see what Jon Clarke has been able to do after sitting it out for a year and Michael Monaghan has been exceptional all year."
He added: "After the game, if we lose people can say I got that wrong." Smith said he realized the move would be tough on Myler, but tried to put the change in perspective: "If you look back in history, there's been a lot of very good players who have missed out on either Challenge Cup finals or Grand Finals and gone on to be better players and better people." * Press Association