´óÏó´«Ã½

St Helens and Wigan will be live on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two and 5 Live Sports Extra Photo: Getty

- I'd sat through 75 minutes of a pulsating arm-wrestle between Leeds and St Helens before Darren Smith dived in to give Saints a six-point lead with a kick to come to finally kill off the Rhinos' Wembley charge.

By the time had set up the kicking tee to attempt to put his side eight clear I anticipated it would be game over with just a couple of minutes left, and so sprinted off to beat the M62 traffic to an evening engagement.

I heard Scully miss the kick on my walk to the car park, followed by the roar of 20 year-old Danny McGuire's sensational injury-time try and touchline conversion to tie the game.

I then listened to McGuire clinching a dramatic extra-time victory on the radio driving home shaking my head, and vowed never to leave a sporting event early again.

That is the kind of unrivalled drama that this sport can produce when you least expect it.

Leeds lost the final that year and have lost two more since as they bid to end what is now a 12-year wait to lift the sport's most famous silverware. Castleford will provide a huge test on Sunday.

Saturday's first semi is a blockbusting Wigan v St Helens derby in Warrington, live on ´óÏó´«Ã½ television and on radio 5 live Sports Extra.

I'm heading up to commentate with Stuart Pyke and Sean Long and am expecting a classic. Talking to Ian Millward last week at Salford, he reckons this should be the final.

Having coached both teams, Millward told me Saints may sneak it against the Super League champions. These Wigan-Saints game are always bruisers.

Warriors coach Michael Maguire calls it a "special" fixture and he's spot on. Wigan's defence this season has been sensational and Saints are going to have to find something a bit special to break them down.

They will be buoyed though by Warrington's purple patch in the quarter final which saw the Cup holders breach that watertight Wigan backline to the tune of 22 points in little over quarter of an hour, before being ultimately undone by a ruthless second-half riposte.

Prior to Warrington's back-to-back Challenge Cup successes, this competition was owned by , who scored a hat-trick of wins between 2006 and 2008.

Saints are desperate for their trophy back. When Wigan last won the Cup in 2002 they did so at Murrayfield by beating St Helens in the final.

Nine years is a long wait to win it again for a team like Wigan and Maguire's side may feel that the toughest obstacle this year is the one immediately ahead in the semi.

A few eyebrows were raised by the RFL's choice of venues of these semis, with two big derbies being played at the relatively small stadia of Warrington's Halliwell Jones and Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium.

Both stadiums should be pretty much packed out but I felt the game's governing body could have been bolder.

However they will feel vindicated after consulting all four clubs about the choice of venue with tickets still available on Friday morning.

At 8am on Friday Leeds still had 1000 of their 7000 allocation remaining.

There is a feeling that the Doncaster venue has put fans off with several disruptions to the main route in, while cynics suggest Rhinos fans may be counting their chickens and saving up for the final.

Wigan and St Helens were both happy with their choice of venue. St Helens haven't yet beaten Wigan in three games this season and will need to stifle the effervescent Sam Tomkins to keep Wigan at bay but Saints themselves are running hot.

With the rugby-union bound Kyle Eastmond back in favour and the enigmatic Leon Pryce back from injury, Saints have racked up 186 points in their last four games, including 54 in their 10-try demolition of Hull KR in the quarters.

If Saints attack continues in the mood it is in against Wigan's miserly defence it should be an absolute

Castleford's hopes will be greatly boosted if their star man returns from Australia in the right physical and mental shape to play.

Rangi Chase has been sublime this season, the Tigers' playmaker has, in my opinion, been the player of the season, with a tip of the hat too to Michael Monaghan.

The halfback has had a round-the-world trip for a court hearing in Australia this week. If he is jaded, or worst still unavailable, I fear the Tigers' hopes will be massively hit.

Tigers winger and part-time male modelcalls this the biggest game he will have played in. It will be for most of the Tigers team. Can they beat Leeds and reach Wembley in coach Terry Matterson's final season? Absolutely, but they will need Chase.

It is in the halfbacks that Leeds have calls to make too. Rob Burrow has found himself on the bench in his testimonial year under Brian McDermott.

He excelled in a rare start last week at Salford, and was the Rhinos man of the match off the bench in their quarter final win at Hull FC.

McDermott favours playing Kevin Sinfield in the halves with Danny McGuire, leaving Burrow on the bench. I feel Leeds are at their best when all three players are on the pitch.

All four of these clubs are desperate to win this competition which should provide the platform for a memorable semi-final weekend.