GAMES like Sunday’s Challenge Cup semi-final are the type that define players and teams.

For any rugby league player with designs on making it to the very top, these are the games in which you need to step up and shine.

The beauty of Super League is that anyone who has an off-day will have the chance to put it right in the next game.

If anything goes wrong on Sunday, there is no next week. Therein lies the ruthlessness of the Challenge Cup.

This is why The Wire’s recent trend of panicking in pressure situations is at best poorly-timed. At worst, it’s a little alarming.

Three of their past four games have been incredibly tight. With a little more composure and game management, Steve Price’s side would have won all three.

Instead, they drew with Catalans and lost to rivals Wigan and St Helens.

With this in mind, plenty of Wire fans are concerned and rightly so. How will this team handle things when the pressure is cranked up once again?

We can only hope they will respond in kind, as they have done in their Challenge Cup games so far.

Their last knockout match saw them completely dismantle Wigan to set up the clash with Leeds. It was by far and away their best performance of the campaign.

From 1-17, The Wire were faultless that day and it just goes to show they have it within them.

Those players have the chance to write themselves into the history of this club, and make sure their names will be remembered long after they leave.

For someone like Tyrone Roberts, this could be especially significant.

He has taken a lot of criticism this year and in all three of those tight recent games, he has fluffed drop-goal opportunities.

If he can steer The Wire back to Wembley and beyond, however, all of that will be forgotten in a heartbeat.

Games like Sunday and the Wigan last-eight tie are the ones in which he will earn his marquee wage.

He stepped up then, and his team need him to do so again. It’s the same for everyone who pulls on the primrose and blue jersey on Sunday.

Their head coach continually insists there is another level to their game. Now is the time to find it.

They will start as favourites against a Leeds side that appear to be in complete disarray.

Consigned to a second Middle 8s campaign in three years and with newly-installed director of rugby Kevin Sinfield at the helm, Rhinos fans can be forgiven for thinking their team’s run will end here.

However, the prospect of one of their greatest ever players leading them back to Wembley is the kind of fairytale story Leeds tend to thrive upon.

They will be expected to cruise through the Middle 8s, so they will be pouring all of their energies into this game.

They will be up for it, but The Wire should not be scratching around for motivation either.

If the chance to win their first trophy since 2012 wasn’t enough, the Warrington players will only need to look around them for a pick-me-up on Sunday.

When they stride out onto the University of Bolton Stadium pitch, they will be greeted by a sea of primrose and blue. An army of fans that will far outnumber their rivals.

If they need any more motivation than to send those adoring supporters home skipping, something is badly wrong.