Hull KR and Wigan took drastically contrasting approaches to prepare for next weekend’s Challenge Cup final: and the result was a disastrous look for Super League and an exhibition of men against boys, with Rovers inflicting a heavy defeat on the Warriors.
While the Robins decided to go practically full strength in anticipation of next Saturday’s Wembley finale between the two sides, Wigan coach Matt Peet opted to do the complete opposite. Wigan rested almost the entirety of the 17-man squad that will walk out in next weekend’s cup final, handing out eight debuts and fielding just three players over the age of 23.
The outcome was one of Wigan’s biggest losses in the modern era and a result which, given how tight the upper echelons of Super League are as we approach halfway in the season, could yet be pivotal for where they finish inside the playoff places. But in terms of a warmup for Wembley, it is fair to assume we learned nothing.
Willie Peters’ side did the job at hand. They ran in 11 tries and were 42-0 up by half-time to move to within two points of the leaders, St Helens. It will not grab the headlines on a night like this but the defending Super League champions are now motoring into gear after a shaky start.
Mikey Lewis’ hat-trick inside the opening quarter set the tone, with a try for Tom Davies on top making it 22-0 in the blink of an eye. Jez Litten, Jai Whitbread and Rhyse Martin also scored with relative and understandable ease against a group of Wigan youngsters simply unable to live with the might of the champions.
How you viewed this night perhaps depends on your allegiance. Wigan are entitled to pick whatever side they think with Wembley in mind if they see fit and the Warriors were adamant in the week there were some key players who were one disciplinary charge away from a ban that could have ruled them out of the final, as well as some others with injury doubts.
But at a time when Super League’s TV contract is up for renewal and the outcome of it is more important than ever to the sport’s health, this was an appalling look for rugby league executives. The prospect of the game’s two most recent champions squaring off the week before a final should have been mouthwatering: instead, it descended into a non-event.
Quite what sponsors, administrators and potential TV companies made of it is anyone’s guess. The Rugby Football League insisted this week that Wigan would face no action for their decision to omit almost everyone that will play at Wembley next weekend having contacted the Warriors over their squad.
Peet said in the week that his club were being ‘intelligent’ in managing players’ workloads. But the scale of their turnover will almost certainly come under further scrutiny now – especially after Salford were docked points last year when it emerged they deliberately left players out for a game against St Helens.
There was no shortage of effort from Wigan’s youngsters. That was underlined when Nathan Lowe scored their one and only try with a long-range effort at the start of the second half but it was brief respite. Dean Hadley, Noah Booth, Sam Luckley and Jack Broadbent all added their names to the long list of scorers.
We will only find out which approach was the right one in nine days when the teams meet under the Wembley arch. But for Super League, this was a night the competition will be keen to forget as quickly as possible.
