Wigan outclass Hull KR for 22nd Challenge Cup title

Bevan French was set to be missing until early July having suffered a hamstring injury in March

Tries: Farrimond 2, Nsemba, Keighran 2, French, Thompson Goals: Keighran 6

Bevan French scored on his return from a hamstring injury as Wigan Warriors earned their 22nd Challenge Cup title by thrashing Hull KR at a sweltering Wembley Stadium.

French had been absent since March and was expected to be out for four months but marked an early return to action from the bench with a try 15 minutes from time, which put the gloss on Wigan's victory.

Earlier, Jack Farrimond's sensational solo try got Wigan off the mark and he repeated the feat to extend their lead before Peta Hiku responded for Hull KR.

Wigan took control after the break, scoring 30 points, when Junior Nsemba dotted down and Adam Keighran scored a quickfire pair of tries.

Hiku went in at the corner to pull KR into double figures, but Luke Thompson raced in as Wigan capped off their win in style.

Wigan finished the match with 12 players, however, as Sam Walters put in a dangerous tackle on Bill Leyland with two minutes remaining.

The meeting, a repeat of last season's Super League Grand Final, means Wigan pick up their first trophy since their quadruple-winning 2025 campaign, having been shut out by KR's treble last term.

KR, for their part, were unable to offer a comeback as talismanic stand off Mikey Lewis suffered what appeared to be a foot injury in the first half.

Wigan's victory marks a historic double - with the women's team also beating fierce rivals St Helens in the Women's Challenge Cup final earlier on Saturday - the first time a side has won both trophies on the same day since the finals were grouped together at Wembley in 2023.

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The Warriors took an early lead to lay down a marker of what was to come.

Farrimond received Brad O'Neill's pass and dummied and weaved his way through the Hull KR defence to score.

Keighran swung what should have been a simple conversion wide, however, and an attritional first half then played out in temperatures approaching 30 degrees celsius.

Hull KR suffered a blow when Lewis picked up his injury midway through the half, but he carried on playing.

Yet he was a passenger as Wigan made a moment of pressure count, as Farrimond ran in, with Lewis unable to offer much in the way of defence as he was plagued by his foot injury.

Out of nowhere Hull KR hit back right on the verge of half-time as Tyrone May's sublime kick was met by Hiku, who could not believe his luck as he saw that he was able to run in virtually unopposed.

Yet Rhyse Martin - who had been deployed from the bench in the early stages due to a head injury to Dean Hadley - hit the post while trying to add the extras.

Wigan opened up their lead to 12 points just four minutes into the second half as Hull KR struggled from a high ball, and Farrimond continued his fine showing for the day as he sent a perfect kick through for Nsemba to catch and ground.

Another Wigan kick led to another try, this time as Harry Smith chipped in for Keighran to run in through a Hull KR defensive gap to score and the Australian was in again soon after as he scooped up a pass and outpaced KR again.

French made the difference moments after coming on to cap off a remarkable comeback, but there was still time for Hiku to race to the corner and Thompson to stun the Robins further before the hooter.

Adam Keighran scored two quick tries for Wigan after the break

Prior to the game, Wigan legend Martin Offiah described the final as being an "unofficial World Club Challenge" given that Wigan and Hull KR are the past two winners of that competition - and the tie did plenty to earn that moniker.

It was a bruising battle in the heat and yet it was genuinely impressive that the first half brought 14 points in the conditions and with such high energy action on show.

Wigan had raised some eyebrows last week when, in a Super League fixture against the Robins which teed up Saturday's final, boss Matt Peet had named a whopping 10 changes to his side ahead of their 62-4 thrashing.

Yet there was further surprising team news to come as French, who had been set to miss four months of the season with a hamstring tear in March, came back into the matchday squad and was named on the bench.

Likewise, Hull KR named Leyland on their bench, as his pair of tries while on a short-term loan with St Helens saw him help clinch a comeback win over Wigan in their Super League derby on Good Friday.

That defeat and subsequent reaction, inspired Peet's side to a 32-0 victory over Saints in the final to set up their place in Saturday's final, with Peet also saying that St Helens had "lost their identity" following Leyland's part in their Easter win.

Yet if there were any lingering fears that Wigan would falter and slip to what would have been an embarrassing defeat in light of last week's line-up, they were put to rest early on.

Wigan were at their very best for virtually the entire 80 minutes, but it was their second-half showing that inspired their win - with the 13-minute period where Nsemba and Keighran's double came being the turning point.

Hull KR were undone in that spell by three moments of genius, the first being Farrimond's pinpoint kick to Nsemba, Smith's perfectly weighted kick to Keighran and Keighran's run to evade the Robins defence to score.

French's try on his return may steal the headlines, yet this was a rounded team performance the like of which draws parallels with their wonderful 2025 season.

In addition to the brilliance, the game ended on a sour note for Wigan, as Walters saw red with Nsemba also involved in the reckless move on Leyland with the game virtually at its conclusion.

Hull KR assembled the first piece of their treble jigsaw courtesy of their dramatic late win against Warrington almost a year to the day to lift their first Challenge Cup since 1980.

This time around they lost Jai Whitbread in the build-up to this fixture as his partner was due to give birth and Hadley's early injury lay-off made matters worse.

That Lewis was also plagued with his injury meant they were swimming against a Wigan tidal wave which only ever increased as the 80 minutes wore on.

In a sapping first half, it was to Willie Peters' side's credit that they were within just six points of Wigan at the break.

Yet the wheels came off any potential comeback as Wigan dominated the second half and never looked back.

Peters is set to join new National Rugby League (NRL) side Papua New Guinea Chiefs for next season meaning that this is his last bow in the Challenge Cup.

It is a competition he knows well, having reached the final in 2023, won the competition last season and reached the 2026 showpiece.