Two action packed semi-finals, including a comprehensive victory for Hull KR over Catalans Dragons and a hard fought victory at home for Warrington Wolves over Leigh Leopards, confirmed the finalists bound for Wembley Stadium on Saturday 7th June 2025.
Hull Kingston Rovers 36 – 12 Catalans Dragons (8,402 Attendance – LNER Community Stadium Record)Â
Hull KR (16) 36
Tries: Batchelor 2, Lewis, Broadbent 2, Burgess
Goals: Lewis 6
Starting XIII: Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Batchelor, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Whitbread, Minchella. Interchanges: Luckley, Tanginoa, Brown, Leyland.
Catalans (12) 12
Tries: Smith, Keary
Goals: Aispuro-Bichet 2
Starting XIII: Aispuro-Bichet; Makinson, Laguerre, Smith, Cotric; Keary, Fages; Pangai Jr, Da Costa, Bousquet, Sims, Whitehead, Partington. Interchanges: Satae, Navarette, Seguier, Sironen.
Hull KR secured their second Challenge Cup final berth in three years with a comfortable 24-point victory over 2018 Cup winners Catalans Dragons. The Robins led from the front with James Batchelor dotting down a Mikey Lewis kick in the fourth minute, having got a fortuitous bounce.
Embed from Getty ImagesThey caught another break with a positive obstruction no-call by TMO Ben Thaler that resulted in a second try for James Batchelor in the fourteenth minute. Catalans managed to stop the bleeding, however, with Remis Smith cutting through to score with eighteen minutes played. Luke Keary added to the total with a try of his own and the ensuing conversion put the Dragons in the lead with a quarter of the game played.
Embed from Getty ImagesMikey Lewis had the answers, however, crossing for a try with ten minutes of the half to play and forcing a penalty just after the half time break, which he converted, to stretch the lead to 18-12.
KR took control of the game – with the help of a lopsided penalty count highlighted by Steve McNamara – following that, with Jack Broadbent landing the next two blows with consecutive tries to put the game to bed with ten minutes to go – before Joe Burgess sealed it for good with a try in the corner in the 73rd minute.
Embed from Getty ImagesJack Harbidge
Warrington Wolves 21 – 14 Leigh Leopards (11,772 Attendance)Â
Warrington (15) 21
Tries: Tai, Vaughan, King
Goals: Sneyd 4 Drop-goal: Sneyd
Starting XIII: Dufty; Josh Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton; Ratchford, Sneyd; Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Holroyd, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Interchanges: Philbin, Crowther, Lindop, Harrison.
Leigh (4) 14
Tries: Ipape, Niu 2
Goal: O’Brien
Starting XIII: Armstrong; McIntosh, Niu, Hanley, Charnley; O’Brien, Lam; Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, O’Neill, Hughes, Liu. Interchanges: Hodgson, McNamara, Davis, Ofahengaue.
The Challenge Cup Semi weekend ended with Warrington making a second consecutive Challenge Cup Final by beating Leigh Leopards 21-14.
The Leopards started the game red hot with Edwin Ipape charging down a kick and raced his way to take the lead two minutes into the contest.
Embed from Getty ImagesWarrington hit back with two quick tries to take the lead after 15 minutes and before halftime, Marc Sneyd hit over a drop goal to take an 11-point lead into the break.
Leigh hit back right after halftime, with Tesi Nu following up a Gareth O’Brien run down the left-hand side and brought the Leopards back into the contest.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe next try was always going to win the game and in the 66th minute, Toby King struck to take the Wolves into touching distance of Wembley.
Niu scored again to put pressure on the Wire, but it wasn’t enough to stop Warrington from making the Challenge Cup Final for the second year running.
Ryan Kuzio
