Briers was in fine form as Warrington ended their long Wembley wait

Warrington's Lee Briers hailed the influence of coach Tony Smith after the Wolves beat Wigan 39-26 to reach the Carnegie Challenge Cup final.

Briers played a crucial role as the Wolves reached the Wembley showpiece for the first time since 1990.

"He's the best coach by a mile in this country and you can see the character he has brought," he told BBC Sport.

"He has turned my game around. You say you can't teach an old dog new tricks but he is certainly teaching me."

An emotional Briers said his man-of-the-match award was in honour of his brother Brian who died eight years ago, but would have celebrated his birthday on Saturday.

"What a game - I can't believe we are in the final at Wembley. Wigan came back strongly and we fell off the game a bit but the boys gave it back and it's fantastic," he added.

"It's my best win in terms of an end product, but probably not the best performance.

"It's really nice to get there and I'm on top of the world for the fans but we have not won anything yet."

Wolves fans booed their own team off the pitch after a 60-8 home defeat by Harlequins in March, with centre Matt King issuing an apology after making an abusive gesture to the supporters.

But King was a player transformed at Halton Stadium in the semi-final, crossing for a hat-trick of tries and showing the form that made him a star for Australia and New South Wales in his NRL days.

"Obviously the last few months have been good and the team's heading in the right direction," said King.

"It was great for us. We always worked hard. Things just weren't going our way but we're off to London in a few weeks and it's a great reward for everyone.

"It will be right up there with anything I've done. State of Origin is great and it's stuff to tell a lot of people about for a long time but it's not like achieving things with your team-mates.

King has rediscovered his best form since Tony Smith's arrival

"You get up every morning and come to training with these boys and spend so much time with them and to achieve things with them means more than anything you can ever do.

"I went down to watch the final last year and I got goose bumps just watching the boys walk out and the crowd going nuts. To think that 12 months later I'll be doing that is something very special. I can't wait."

Warrington, regarded as one of the biggest underachievers in the Super League era, were struggling at the foot at the table when Smith took over in March.

But Smith has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the team's fortunes, with Warrington climbing into the play-off spots in Super League and now making the Challenge Cup final.

The Australian himself has enjoyed much success in the British game, winning two Grand Finals with Leeds, but he has yet to win the Challenge Cup.

He will have the chance to put that right against St Helens or Huddersfield in the final on Saturday 29 August.

"We made hard work of it in the end after a great first half," he admitted.

"But you can see the determination the players have for each other and they have really pulled together as a group after getting some flak from time to time.

"I'm really pleased for them because they have worked so hard, and it is great for the club.

606: DEBATE Well done to Warrington, you were unstoppable WvGWHF

"I had a lot of faith we would do it but all credit to Wigan, they never folded and fought all the way to the end.

"We want to go to Wembley and compete and with that sort of spirit that we are developing, I think we will do that."

Wigan coach Brian Noble was left to reflect on another semi-final defeat for the Warriors.

"We started well but didn't go on with it and that's all credit to Warrington, they stuck in there," he said.

"In the second half we showed there is a lot of fortitude in the camp. They thought they could get back into the game and very nearly did.

"They're all disappointed, we thought we would show better than we did but we gave ourselves too big a hill to climb.

"It's important we learn the lessons of today, and it is cruel to have to learn them in a big game.

Noble also revealed afterwards that forward Phil Bailey was likely to miss the remainder of the season after suffering an Achilles injury during the game.

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