Hull KR find themselves this week preparing for a second Challenge Cup final in three years. Many of those who played two year ago, in the golden-point loss to Leigh Leopards, will be pulling on the red-and-white under that famous arch once again, those wounds still festering, with eyes on righting historical wrongs.

Across the pitch from them will be the Warrington Wolves, wanting to right some wrongs of their own, their loss to the unstoppable 2024 Wigan Warriors team fresher still in the memories than Rovers’ loss in 2023.

It’s a game between two of the sports’ teams who have been subject to ridicule for their lack of relative success¹ when compared to the size of their followings. Warrington fans bristle at every “it’s always your year” comment, just as Rovers fans do at the “since 1985” taunt, which comes predominantly from our rowdy neighbours, with their more recent successes in the cup only serving to add to that sting.

I have said myself in previous pieces on this very website that more than wanting, Hull KR need a trophy, sooner rather than later. All of the progress the club has made on and off the field in the past few years will mean very little if our trophy cabinet is not added to soon. To many (myself included) the Challenge Cup is the trophy to be winning, it is the sports most prestigious honour, and one we have only lifted once. While a domestic treble is a mouth-watering prospect that seems all the more realistic with each passing week, the Challenge Cup is the first true step of establishing the club as one that is here to stay with the big boys. We may yet win another trophy on top of the Cup (providing we win on Saturday, of course), but that is something to think about in the months to come, right now, a date with destiny awaits on the hallowed turf of the national stadium.

Not that Saturday is anything close to a foregone conclusion. Anyone who underestimates Warrington, even with their slump in form, does so at their own peril. Just six years ago, they were party poopers for St Helens at Wembley, and you can guarantee that will be their aim once again. The Wolves may have struggled in recent weeks (prior to their victory over Castleford this past weekend), but rest assured that they still have fearsome teeth, enough to put the fear of God into even the most brave of grannies.²

Many will point to the return of George Williams³ as a reason for the Robins to worry. I’m not so sure. This isn’t to say that Williams isn’t a high quality player, because he is. On his day he’s one of the best in the competition, but history tells us that bringing a player into a Cup final who isn’t 100% is a bad idea. Rovers fans will remind you of the decision to play Albert Kelly in the 2015 final⁴, older fans will recall Gavin Miller in 1986. It’s a massive risk, especially for a player who is so pivotal, and doubly especially when question marks still hang over the fitness of his half back partner, Marc Sneyd as well. Time will tell, but the Wolves seem to be playing a dangerous game.

For many a Rovers fan, Wembley holds more painful memories than good ones. Our solitary victory in the Challenge Cup there in 1980 remains the only bright spot among many disappointments. Since beating our cross-city rivals on that fateful day in May of 1980, we have played, and lost, a further four finals, and have been runners-up seven times in total. Many would say that numbers like that means that we’re well overdue for a win, and perhaps the time is now right to make some new memories to add to the nostalgia of the 1980.

By virtue of the clubs one and only cup win, only fifteen⁵ ex-Hull KR players can lay claim to having won the famous trophy as a Robin. One of those fifteen, Dave Hall, who played full back in that game, is quoted as saying that he hopes another seventeen names can be added to that total in a video released by the BBC in anticipation of Saturday’s final⁶. “We’ve probably got one of the best squads… since our day, actually” he says, adding “I fancy us to go all the way”.

There’s no doubt that Hull KR go into Saturday’s clash as the bookies favourites, but it is important to not let that play into the team’s thinking when the big day comes around. Willie Peters is a smart enough coach to know that Warrington will turn up to play, and will have their eyes set on upsetting the party. The Robins have to go into Wembley with the same mindset that has seen them win twelve out of thirteen of their league games thus far, with dogged determination to put their best foot forward at all times. If they play as well as they have been, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with for any team, and have already shown Warrington what’s in store for them a mere two weeks ago, but that game should be put out of everyone’s minds. Cup rugby is different, anything can happen, and the squads will be different, especially for Warrington, making the game itself impossible to predict with any confidence.

Both teams will go into the game wanting to etch their names into the history books, of course. Both teams have their respective monkeys to get off their backs, but I would argue that Hull KR’s monkey is larger and louder than Warrington’s, and the only way to stop its shrieking is to finally get over that line and lift that famous trophy. Immortality awaits, and there’s a chance for seventeen Robins to forever write their names amongst the greats such as Clive Sullivan, Roger Millward, and Phil Lowe. These are the games that make or break your legend as a player, and as a team, and neither team can afford to allow that chance to pass them by.

Written by Nathan Major-Kershaw (Site editor & Hull KR fan)

1. Arguably more unfair in Warrington’s case. They have won four Challenge Cups in the past twenty years. ↩︎
2. This is a Little Red Riding Hood reference, I’ve not gone mad. ↩︎
3. At time of writing, he is expected to feature, although things may change in the coming days. ↩︎
4. Although, truth be told, he wouldn’t have made much difference in that game either way. ↩︎
5. There were only two interchanges back then. ↩︎
6. https://www.facebook.com/reel/10090229441015796 ↩︎