“When you win something at this level it’s tremendous. I’m sure we will celebrate for a long time.”

Woods, who arrived in April as director of rugby before replacing the sacked James Ratcliffe as head coach in June, had taken his team to third in the table.

They then lost to Oldham in the qualifying semi-final but beat Blackpool in last week’s eliminator, and the Aussie said he was always confident of toppling the Roughyeds this time.

“I’ve been confident for the last couple of weeks. There’s just been something about the boys, about the way they’ve trained and their attitudes,” he said.

That confidence was there despite seeing his side bomb a few chances. Such missed opportunities had cost the Knights in the qualifying semi-final, and on this occasion kept the half-time lead to 10-4.

“We said at half-time there had been a few mistakes that had kept them in the game,” said Woods. “I wasn’t too worried about it. We addressed that and the second half was a good performance.

“At half-time we spoke about being honest with each other – knowing they could look each other in the eye and know they’re telling each other the truth. By that, we mean they would do anything for each other.

“They wanted to do it and they knew they could do it.”