Dave Craven: Olympic omens could result in Rhinos ending barren spell

In the end, I didn’t do any of the above as, amid my crippling indecision, the moment passed without any real note.

I felt I’d let the country down, let alone myself, failing to acknowledge their presence.

But then a crescendo of horns behind left me sure they had not gone by unnoticed and they had received the acclaim they must now be getting so accustomed to.

At the same time, it also gave me yet another ‘feeling’ that this might just be Leeds Rhinos’ year.

The sight of the Brownlee brothers running through Cookridge the other day clearly has no real relevance whatsoever to whether their home town club will lift the Challenge Cup tomorrow. But when it comes to Rhinos’ baffling record in this competition, you have to cling on to every tenuous sign possible.

Here was the Olympic triathlete champion and his fellow medal-winning sibling from those seminal London Games – an instant, delectable and, tangible reminder of the glory Team GB had achieved just a couple of weeks ago. I instantly experienced what the ‘feelgood factor’ is all about. Not only was I proud to be British, but also proud to be a Yorkshireman.

I felt ready, willing and more than able to get out and join them a la Forrest Gump. With the petrol gauge flashing malevolently, I knew I might have to.

Admittedly, a sizeable fish pie devoured not half an hour earlier may also have ruined that performance, but it all got me thinking about the Rhinos.

Their recent record in Challenge Cup finals is too well documented already to be dredged up here again, but let’s just say it’s caused some frustration since 1999.

Many thought this year would be different as they had easily dispatched favourites Wigan Warriors with a supreme semi-final performance and seemed pitch-perfect in readiness for Warrington at Wembley.

The likes of Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow and Jamie Jones-Buchanan would finally add that missing piece to their jigsaw, the Challenge Cup winners medal slotting in perfectly next to those Super League and World Club Challenge mementos.

But McGuire’s cruel injury suddenly shifted the goal-posts.

Such has been his form this term, only perhaps the loss of captain Sinfield could cause more problems to Leeds’ line-up.

Ask almost anyone outside of the Headingley camp and they’ll say it is now simply too steep a mountain to climb. It seemed their hopes would be ruined for yet another year. Warrington’s odds for victory shortened to 3-1 on, remarkable pricing for what remains a two-horse race and still features two real thoroughbreds.

There is normally a surprise sprung from at least one side today when the clubs have their traditional Wembley Walkabout.

Someone is often spotted with a limp, while often it is announced a big-name has been omitted from the matchday squad. Maybe Wire will yet have their own absentee?

Some Leeds fans are buying into the rumour that McGuire may miraculously appear having made a remarkable recovery, but that is too much to hope for.

Seeing those Brownlee brothers publicly lend their backing to the Rhinos, though, along with another gold medal winner in Leeds boxer Nicola Adams will offer a timely reminder to everyone of what is possible.

Admittedly, aside from Leeds’s own failures, there has not been a Yorkshire winner in the Cup now for almost seven years.

Undoubtedly, Leeds will need to produce an effort of Olympic proportions to emerge victorious, but given this summer of sporting heroics, hope remains.

I saw Hull’s Olympic champion Luke Campbell on Sunday too – it has to mean something.

All I need now is to be sat next to Andrew Triggs-Hodge on the train down today, bump into Katherine Copeland on the tube and see Jessica Ennis at breakfast tomorrow and the stars will, at last, be aligned.