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Wigan Warriors are back into the Challenge Cup Final after defeating the current holders St.Helens in a thrilling game of Rugby League after a spirited comeback from the Saints, but a late 80m try from Liam Marshall sent his side to Tottenham.
The one-off event at the new and developed Tottenham Stadium already has Wigan fans booking hotels and pricing up travel before sales go up in the next couple of hours. The same day as the Champions League Final and well-known festival Neighbourhood, will cause trouble for Wigan fans because the fans have to go through Warrington in order to go down south.
The 62,850 seated stadium will welcome Rugby League fans for the first time, but it isn’t the first time there has been an oval-shaped ball at the stadium, they have had the NFL playing there the last couple of seasons since the stadium opened back in 2019.
As mentioned, this is Wigan’s first Challenge Cup Final in FIVE years. The last time they were in this position was back in 2017 when Hull FC were victorious with tries from Fetuli Talanoa and a Mahe Fonua double giving the Black and Whites back-to-back Challenge Cup trophies. However, four years prior to this game, the two sides were at Wembley again and Wigan defeated Hull FC by 16-0 with tries from Iain Thornley and Sam Tomkins. Pat Richards kicked four conversions to give Wigan their 19th Challenge Cup.
Since 2017, Wigan have had been through a tricky spell in the cup suffering defeat the year after by Warrington in the quater-final 23-0. Then, a year later they played Warrington again but under a new coach in Adrian Lam, in a brilliant spectacle where they fell short 26-24.
2020, Wigan went one further in the cup as they got to the semi-finals, the Warriors played an in-form Leeds team behind closed doors during the season that was affected by Covid, and once again, to the fan’s disappointment, got beat 26-12. Finally, in 2021, behind closed doors at Headingley, the Warriors came up against Hull FC in the Quater-final as FC came out on top 20-10.
The 19 Challenge Cup champions have given the Warriors the title of “Challenge Cup Kings” and with their domination in 1985-1995, they won NINE out of the eleven Challenge Cups final,, with them being unbeaten in the Challenge Cup in eight seasons from 1988-1995. The year after that in 1996, they were defeated in the 5th round by Salford City Reds by 26-16 to end their unbeaten run in the cup.
But after a superb performance against their nearest rivals, they will travel to the capital once again to take on the winners of Huddersfield Giants vs Hull Kingston Rovers at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium on May 28th.
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