Hull KR set up clash of titans in Challenge Cup final against Wigan
As everyone expected, it will be the irresistible force against the immovable object at Wembley in three weeks’ time,Every great era-defining athlete or team needs an adversary,Ali v Frazier,Manchester United v Arsenal in the early Premier League years,Prost v Senna.
Perhaps in the years to come, this will be viewed as rugby league’s equivalent; a modern clash of the titans.You have to go back to 2022 to find a major final that did not include Hull KR or Wigan.They have contested the past two Super League grand finals against one another, winning one apiece.Both have won a treble in the past two seasons, with Wigan sweeping the board in 2024 before Rovers did the same last year.Both have beaten NRL opposition and been crowned world champions in that time period too.
And later this month, for the first time in history, these champion teams will do battle for what is arguably rugby league’s most prestigious prize.The manner of how both teams booked their place in the Challenge Cup final underlined the superiority they have over the rest of the domestic field.On Saturday, Wigan were at their resplendent best with the ball and defensively faultless in embarrassing local rivals St Helens 32-0.Hull KR, by their own coach’s admission, saw what they did and decided to emulate it.For 80 minuteson Sunday afternoon in Doncaster yesterday, the reigning holders of the Challenge Cup were sensational, leading with their defensive efforts to strangle Warrington into submission and lay the platform for their attacking players to take control.
They won 32-12.Rovers are a juggernaut to behold on afternoons like these.They master every aspect of the game with and without the ball.And with players of the ability of Mikey Lewis and Tyrone May, Hull KR’s all-conquering half-back pairing that caused havoc all afternoon, they look near enough unbeatable.There was no doubting that victory in the World Club Challenge over Brisbane in February, coupled with the early-season trip to Las Vegas, took its toll on the Robins.
But they are now resembling the team who dismantled all in front of them throughout 2025 to win all three trophies on offer, and it would take a brave man to back against them at Wembley,But Wigan themselves have the time-honoured trait the rest of Super League are craving in games like these: when the stakes are at their highest, Hull KR and Wigan produce the best they have to offer,If they each do that at Wembley, we could be set for one of the great Challenge Cup finals,“There’s a lot of respect between both clubs but at the end of the day we both want to win,” Hull KR’s coach, Willie Peters, said,“We spoke about Wigan’s performance before the game.
Defence wins big games, and both big games were won on defence.”Of course, the competition would thrive with new teams looking like credible threats.Leeds are perhaps the next closest cab off the rank.But at a time when Super League is trying to sell itself to the world through a new broadcast deal, perhaps this narrative is one that really matters: two monsters of the game, playing at Wembley.Super League has had plenty of teams who have dominated for periods of time and left the chasing pack behind.
But two at the same time? It is a moment that could, and perhaps should, be sold to the masses if the game’s administrators have any clout about them.Neutrals could not fail to be captivated by this rivalry.Yes, it would be great to see more clubs emerge from the pack and pose a meaningful threat to the two dominant forces Super League has to offer.But on the other hand, what a joy it will be to see two historic teams go toe-to-toe in the sport’s biggest match once again.That is something that should be celebrated – and savoured.
Circle Saturday 30 May in your diary because we could be set for a final for the ages between two sides in pursuit of yet more history.
The Guide #242: Everyday Hollywood film comedies have faded but can they make a comeback?
There was a striking moment during this week’s episode of The Rewatchables, the wildly popular film-recap podcast that I reach for when I’ve had my fill of history/football/glum current affairs pods. The episode was revisiting 90s comedy There’s Something About Mary, a film that in some ways holds up hilariously, and in others has aged about as well as a bottle of semi-skimmed on a summer’s day in Death Valley. As part of the episode, the podcast’s panel were going through their favourite comedy films by decade and were spoilt for choice – until, that is, they reached the 2020s, when they seemed to collectively draw a blank. “The Drama’s pretty funny …” one offered tentatively. Finally, host Bill Simmons cut through the umming, ahhing and awkward silence to get to the heart of the matter: “Do we have comedies any more? What happened to comedies?”Yes, what did happen to comedies? Or rather, what happened to the “everyday” American comedies like There’s Something About Mary that once set up a permanent frat house residence in cinemas? You know the ones I mean: those that took a familiar real-world situation – teens trying to lose their virginity, a man clashing with his girlfriend’s dad, a maid of honour struggling to arrange a hen do, stunted adolescents refusing to fly the nest – and stretched them to absurd and lurid extremes
Ah, ah, ah, ah - I saved my dad’s life with a little help from The Office and the Bee Gees
When my father collapsed suddenly, an episode of the US comedy in which Steve Carell does CPR to the tune of Stayin’ Alive sprung miraculously to mindIt was a boiling hot day last summer, four days after my dad’s 73rd birthday. Mum was plating up dinner and Dad was on the sofa complaining about how stifling it was. I was meant to head to work, for my job as a personal trainer, but decided to take the evening off. It was just as well: as I turned back to Mum, Dad collapsed backwards and suffered a massive cardiac arrest.Mum was hysterical
From The Sheep Detectives to Rivals: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson star in a farmyard mystery, while the spirited bonkbuster returns for a smutty second outingThe Sheep DetectivesOut now Few can claim a writing career as varied as Craig Mazin, creator of TV’s Chernobyl, co-writer of several Scary Movie and The Hangover films, and co-creator of The Last of Us. Here, he turns his hand to a comedy-mystery about sheep, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. Adapted from a novel by Leonie Swann.KokuhoOut now Two-time Japan Academy film prize best director winner Lee Sang-il directs this prestige adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s novel. It holds the record for the highest-grossing Japanese live-action release ever in Japan – an impressive feat for a nearly three-hour-long period drama set across five decades in the kabuki theatre world
Reflections on the Festival of Britain | Letters
Celebrating the legacy of the Festival of Britain 75 years on by considering “how art can bring people together in the darkest times” is a fine sentiment (Editorial, 1 May). But far too many in this country have no opportunity to share in that legacy. We need to recognise that this country is a very different place to that of 75 years ago – it is divided and more diverse. We are now a multicultural nation – but a fractured one.A possible solution to the many racist and prejudiced attitudes we see around us is to have another festival of Britain, but with a very different focus
‘Tisio peint? Or: Do you fancy a pint? | Letters
I was delighted to read Phil Coughlin’s nostalgic account of Spike Milligan’s border-straddling pub in Puckoon (Letters, 1 May).But, here in Wales, we have the real thing in the little village of Llanymynech in Powys, where the border between two nations goes through the Bradford Arms hotel. Sunday drinking was illegal in Wales until 1961, so customers would crowd into the private bar, which, being to the east of the border, was not under Welsh drinking laws. For the rest of the week, most customers were more comfortable in the public bar, on the west side of the border.Nowadays you can drink in whichever bar you like, and no, people will not start speaking Welsh the moment you go in
Colbert on McDonald’s supply chain concerns: ‘Perhaps this will finally show Trump the true cost of war’
Late-night hosts covered the ongoing war in Iran and how the Trump administration is refusing to focus on rising gas prices back in the US.On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert told viewers it was day 69 of the war with Iran and despite Trump’s “one-page peace offer” it remains ongoing.Republicans are hoping to get a deal before the midterms with more than eight out of 10 Americans struggling to cope with rising gasoline prices. “The other two Americans couldn’t talk right now because they were busy sucking gas out of their neighbour’s Subaru,” he said.The war is also affecting other supply chains with the McDonald’s CEO warning this week that it might affect the burger chain’s business
Dubois rewrites quitter narrative in strangely uplifting night for boxing
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Hull KR set up clash of titans in Challenge Cup final against Wigan
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