Warrington Wolves hope to put their poor Super League form behind them as they head into their first Challenge Cup final in 19 years against Huddersfield Giants at Wembley today.
Despite recording only one win from their last six matches, and putting their play-off place in jeopardy, the Wolves coach Tony Smith is confident his team will rise to the prestigious occasion.
"Our form hasn't been great in the last couple of weeks. We haven't been pleased with what we've been producing, but we have had some disruption with injuries. We've had to put out players who are not 100 per cent," he said.
"Sometimes when you get form like we've got, it galvanises you as a team. We've been able to do that at times this year and turn things around quickly." As Warrington's injury troubles continue, hooker Jon Clarke was the latest Wolves player consigned to the stands after failing to recover from an ankle knock. Clarke will be replaced by Mickey Higham, despite the former Wigan hooker being sidelined since May with a ruptured bicep.
While a tight match is expected at Wembley today, Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown is backing his side's superior fitness to give them the edge over their Warrington rivals.
"We anticipate every game to be close," said Brown ahead of the Giants' second final in four years.
"We are going out there to put ourselves in a position to stay in the game and back our fitness to get ourselves a victory.
"We know they're a very talented side and we're going to have to play well. They're pretty strong all across the park. "
With forward Andy Raleigh left out of Huddersfield's 19-man squad, Brown will replace injured second rower Danny Kirmond with Martin Aspinwall. The 27-year-old, who was a try scorer in the Giants' 42-12 defeat by Saints in the 2006 final at Twickenham, got the nod over Simon Finnigan.
* With agencies
Huddersfield v Warrington, KO 5.30pm, Showsports 3
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Price, base: Dh5.1 million
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A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
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Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
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TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.