{"id":602289,"date":"2026-04-12T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602289\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:27:09","slug":"wigan-edge-out-wakefield-in-thriller-to-set-up-mouthwatering-saints-semi-final-challenge-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602289\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigan edge out Wakefield in thriller to set up mouthwatering Saints semi-final | Challenge Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wigan Warriors survived an attritional Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wakefield Trinity<\/a> to set up a mouthwatering semi-final showdown with their great rivals St Helens next month.<\/p>\n

Having suffered the rare of occurrence of back-to-back defeats coming into the standout tie of the quarter-finals, there was a fair argument that Wigan travelled across the Pennines as underdogs against a Wakefield side who are threatening to become a major force in Super League. But Matt Peet\u2019s side came through a gruelling and engrossing tie to keep their hopes of a record-extending 22nd Challenge Cup<\/a> crown alive, with Zach Eckersley\u2019s try in the final quarter ultimately the difference.<\/p>\n

The contest was never really settled until the final hooter, with the hosts looking set to lead at half-time until Harry Smith\u2019s try nudged the Warriors ahead. They responded well from being 12-0 down after early Wakefield tries for Jake Trueman and Ky Rodwell.<\/p>\n

Patrick Mago and Liam Marshall hit back with tries for Wigan, before Wakefield went back ahead through a spectacular finish for Tom Johnstone. However, Smith\u2019s try on the stroke of half-time was crucial, as was Eckersley\u2019s first \u2013 both of which came when the Wakefield forward Jazz Tevaga was in the sin-bin for kicking out at Marshall.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideQuarter-final roundup: Currie double sinks Leigh for WolvesShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Warrington’s head coach, Sam Burgess, hailed two-try Ben Currie after his side scored 18 unanswered points to beat Leigh 24-10 on Saturday.\u00a0Currie, 31, celebrated his new two-year contract with touchdowns in the 71st and 77th minutes (pictured) to seal Warrington\u2019s comeback, having trailed 10-6 after the interval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if he has incentives in his contract; the more tries he scores the more money he gets,\u201d said Burgess.\u00a0\u201cSeriously, Ben is a wonderful player. He is a very natural rugby player. He understands the game. He has the knack of being in the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has scored more than 100 tries which is unbelievable for a forward. He is very clever how he finds himself in good positions. We are grateful he is staying for another couple of years. If you ask him, he will probably tell you he is enjoying his rugby more than he has done previously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgess said Josh Thewlis being sent to the sin-bin at 6-6 was an unlikely turning point.\u00a0\u201cYou are not allowed to tell the truth,\u201d he said of the decision. \u201cYou have to say what they want you to say, otherwise you land yourself in trouble. But it didn\u2019t really hurt us. And when we went down to 12, we looked like ourselves. Maybe I\u2019m grateful for the yellow card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyrone May\u2019s hat-trick and an astonishing solo try from Mikey Lewis helped Hull KR, the\u00a0defending champions,\u00a0swat aside York 48-10 at Craven Park.\u00a0York produced a seismic shock in the opening round of the Super League season by edging out Rovers in February but last season\u2019s domestic treble and World Club Challenge winners gained revenge on Saturday.\u00a0May touched down three times but Lewis produced the highlight-reel moment by latching on to his own kick and grounding just before his momentum took him out of bounds.<\/p>\n

Paul Rowley said he believed there was more to come from his St Helens side after they overcame\u00a0Catalan Dragons on Friday.\u00a0Tristan Sailor scored 14 points and George Whitby added 10 as Saints followed up the previous Friday\u2019s Super League comeback win against Wigan.<\/p>\n

Rowley said: \u201cWe are in the draw for the semi-final, it gets exciting now, doesn\u2019t it? Performance-wise, where we are in the league table, a semi-final as well, we\u2019re in the mix of everything. We\u2019re cruising all right without being at our absolute best, but we\u2019ve done it with probably half a team missing.\u201d PA Media<\/p>\n

Photograph: Richard Walker\/Shutterstock Editorial<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Cam Scott\u2019s try for Wakefield shortly after Tevaga\u2019s return restored parity and made it 22-22 but it was Wigan who held their nerve in the final quarter, scoring the decisive try as a wonderful piece of play sent Eckersley over in the corner.<\/p>\n

All the pressure was applied by Wakefield in the final minutes as Wigan\u2019s line was severely tested but, despite some frantic last-ditch play from Trinity, the Warriors held on to set up a monumental tie with their greatest rivals. Hull KR, the holders, face Warrington in the second semi-final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors survived an attritional Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wakefield Trinity to set up a mouthwatering semi-final showdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-602289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}