Briers dedicates Cup win to brother

Warrington's Carnegie Challenge Cup final hero Lee Briers will take the famous silver trophy to a cemetery in St Helens this week as a tribute to his late brother.

Brian Briers lost his battle with cancer eight years ago but Lee is convinced he is still watching over him and turned his thoughts to his brother after inspiring the Wolves to a 25-16 victory over Huddersfield at Wembley.

"This is for him," he said. "I'll take the Challenge Cup and my medal and go and show him what it was all about."

Warrington's victory ended a 35-year wait to get their hands on the prestigious Challenge Cup and produced an especially poignant moment for Briers, who has waited 13 years to win a trophy.

His son Rhys Brian (named after his brother) was mascot for the day and Wolves captain Adrian Morley invited Lee to join him in lifting the trophy.

"He didn't ask me, he told me he wanted me to lift the Cup with him and that was a very special moment," he said.

"That's the type of bloke he is. We're really close. It was a fantastic gesture from a fantastic bloke. This is what dreams are made of. I've had two kids in my life and this runs that close. It's awesome and I'll savour it."

Morley said: "Lee's been at the club the longest and he was captain before me so it was only right that he should lift the trophy with me."

Briers dedicated his man of the match award in Warrington's semi-final win over Wigan earlier this month to his brother, on what would have been his 43rd birthday, but he was happy to be edged out in the voting for the Lance Todd Trophy by team-mate Michael Monaghan.

"He was absolutely fantastic," said Briers. "He was badly done to in the semi-final when, to be fair, he was the man of the match."