WATCH: Leeds Rhinos boss Richard Agar hails squad's "commitment" proving doubters wrong to get to Wembley

They produced a stunning performance to beat favourites Wigan Warriors 26-12 in today’s Coral Challenge Cup semi-final.

Leeds were so dominant in a game played through constant driving rain that they led 26-0 until their vanquished opponents finally scored twice in the last five minutes.

Rhinos, reaching the final for the first time since lifting the Cup in their treble-winning campaign of 2015, will face Salford Red Devils behind closed doors in a fortnight’s time.

But Agar referenced their shock Challenge Cup sixth round defeat to part-timers Bradford Bulls last May - just days after he was put in interim charge following Dave Furner’s sacking.

Back then, the former Super League champions were badly struggling for form and in danger of relegation but the 48-year-old former Wakefield Trinity chief has helped forge a real turnaround with Rhinos now challenging on both fronts.

“I’m just really happy on a number of levels,” said the coach, after seeing his side master the dreadful conditions.

“I’m really happy for the players, who have committed to everything we have asked of them.

“Last year we got knocked out by Bradford in an earlier round which was a very difficult week, as I remember, and a difficult day for the club.

“In terms of pulling together when everyone wants to give you a good kicking we stuck together and, at the moment, we’re in a Challenge Cup final and currently in the top four.

“I can’t pay tribute enough to our players for the commitment they’ve shown to each other.

“Internally, too, to the club and coaching staff for how hard we’ve worked to try and turn it around. It’s fair to say we’;re doing that at the moment.”

Captain Luke Gale delivered a kicking masterclass to pin Wigan back in the first period, Ash Handley, Rhyse Martin and Tom Briscoe all scoring tries for a 20-0 interval lead.

Asked if it was a perfect wet-weather display from the Rhinos scrum-half and his colleagues, Agar - who took Hull FC to the 2008 final but lost to St Helens - said: “I think so. There’s two strands to that.

“I've got a really big rating on Wigan as a team and I think they have some dangerous players and defensively they're aimed up for the bulk of the season really, really well.

“We thought they’d be a tough team to break down but we had a bit of a gameplan and, looking at long-term forecasts for the weather, we knew this (rain) might be on its way.

“But either way we felt we had some tactical planning that, if the weather was wet or not, it wouldn’t really change what we’d do.

“We still felt that despite difficult conditions there’d be points in the game we’d have to pass the ball and move them around a bit.

“I thought we didn it magnificently in the first half; we rolled down the pitch, executed our kick plan really well, chased and gave ourselves field position.

“If you get field position you always have a chance of coming up with one or two tries.

“But I thought our ability to take our chances when they came were excellent.

“Our halves and spine did a terrific job today and were manfully backed up by a forward pack that, apart from the last five minutes, looked like they could have defended all day.”

Winger Handley scored his second try and Martin added a third penalty before Wigan even got a sniff.

There was an even bigger shock in the second part of the double-header at St Helens as spirited Salford came from behind to beat holders Warrington Wolves 24-22 and reach their first Challenge Cup final in 51 years.

Warrington led 14-8 at the break as scores from Toby King and Blake Austin were answered by a Kallum Watkins try.

Krisnan Inu touched down to cut the lead, only for Ben Murdoch-Masila to again extend Warrington's advantage.

But James Greenwood gave Salford hope before Joey Lussick dramatically powered over to set up their meeting with Leeds on October 17.

The last time they were at Wembley was when they lost to Castleford in 1969 and their only success in the competition was 1938 but - 12 months after reaching a maiden Grand Final - they now have a chance to emulate that success.