Jamie Peacock on Burrow and the Challenge Cup

In his latest Daily Mirror column and ahead of an emotional day at Wembley when Rob Burrow's life will be celebrated, Jamie Peacock picks out his main Challenge Cup memories of the little maestro who sadly died last weekend...

When I think of Rob Burrow and the Challenge Cup, it’s not finally winning it with him for Leeds in 2014 and again the following year.

Yes, he was great for us against Castleford in ‘14.  It was his kick that saw Danny McGuire jump up for that try and part of the reason we won was we had that simple gameplan, stuck to it, and did it over and over again. Rob’s kicking was at the heart of it all. Then, there was the record win over Hull KR in ‘15.

But, for me, my biggest Rob Cup memory is when I played for Bradford against him, beating Leeds 22-20 at Cardiff in 2003.

He got injured and had to come off. I’ve always thought if Rob had stayed on we’d have lost that final. His speed, guile and bravery would have caused a lot of trouble against a massive Bradford pack. It shows how important he was.

After Rob’s death last weekend, it will be an emotional occasion today at Wembley. But everything the RFL has done so far to recognise how special Rob is and his contribution to the game is spot on: a minute’s silence before the Challenge Cup finals, a minute’s applause after seven minutes of all the finals and moving kick-off to seven minutes past three are all great things to do to remember Rob and the impact he’s had on the sport.

I’m looking forward to the game itself to see what Wigan and Warrington do.

But given the emotion going into this, it will resonate with players on both sides. They’ll want to give great performances regardless but it could see them go to another level and hopefully we’re in for an amazing final befitting Rob.

His battle against MND and his death not only touched everyone in all of rugby league but it goes deeper, across the whole country.

It’s interesting, too, with Sam’s [Burgess] connection with his own dad having died from MND. As he prepares to lead Warrington out, he will understand what Rob went through.

Wigan have suffered two big losses with Adam Keighran and Tyler Dupree banned.

But the key thing is, at the moment, they’re the best team around at sudden death rugby: when there’s no second chances.

They have been beaten in knockout games since last year’s Challenge Cup semi-final loss against Hull KR and even that came in extra-time.

They’ve won all their play-offs, the Grand Final, the World Club Challenge against Penrith and all the Cup games to get to Wembley today.

Read the rest of Peacock's column on the Daily Mirror website.