Key events
76 mins. Wigan run four around halfway before Smith drills a diagonal kick into touch. This is a slow death for KR.
74 mins. Hull KR knock on.
I’m not making this up, I promise.
72 mins. Wigan are simply running solid sets now and inviting KR to have a go from their own half. The latest possession for the Robins is unbelievably no lost forward, but the Warriors defence disarm another Lewis bomb kick.
70 mins. THe Robins have the ball again and you’ll never guess what just happened? I’m struggling to find a new way to describe a knock-on now.
68 mins. Another lost ball from Hull KR as they look to carry out of their own half puts them back under the cosh. The Yorkshiremen are looking tired and like they are running out of ideas and composure.
67 mins. The Warrriors continue to squeeze the game into the KR half, with a final tackle play moving left at pace to Wardle. However, the Robins manfully cover across again to force him into touch.
NO TRY! Wigan (Jake Wardle)
64 mins. On the fourth tackle just inside the KR half Wigan move it left to Field who is free and running up the touchline. He pops inside to Wardle who looks to have the line at his mercy but Hall, covering across the field from the opposite wing, does enough in the tackle to force the Warriors centre to hit the ground and lose the ball short of the line. The video ref confirms it.
What a tackle from the old man.
62 mins. The Robins need two scores and unfortunately for them this Wigan defence presently looks like they could play until the heat death of the Planet Earth without allowing someone over the line.
PENALTY! Wigan 9 – 2 Hull KR (Adam Keighran)
61 mins. Lewis slips when attempting the drop out making it skid along the ground for the Nsemaba to run it back. ON the next tackle Lewis tip-tackles Farrell to give away a penalty.
Keighran calls for the tee and under a cacophony of noise slots it with 0% fuss.
59 mins. Bevan French wakes up and has a trademark run through the line and bears down on the covering defence. He chips it forward and falls theatrically but the ref is having none of it as Burgess is forced to carry it dead.
57 mins. 23 minutes remain, one score in it, the hailstones are back. Drama incoming?
PENALTY! Wigan 7 – 2 Hull KR (Mikey Lewis)
56 mins. In the midst of that final play there was obstruction on Minchella. It’s just left of the post and looks a gimme for Lewis. Under a chorus of boos and howls from the Wigan end he pulls it horribly but it still just about goes over.
55 mins. An increase in pace from Hull KR on the fourth tackle in the Wigan half has them moving into the 20 metre. On the last they go for the powerplay, working through hands to the left corner but the Wigan defence is organised and impenetrable AGAIN!
54 mins. It’s no longer hailstoning in Old Trafford…
53 mins. Hull KR have some territory for the first time in a while as they attack in the Wigan half. It looks even better when the ref resets the tackle count for a Warrriors infringement, but on the very next tackle Sue spills the ball. GAH!
52 mins. It’s hailstoning at Old Trafford…
50 mins. The ball is kicked into the KR in-goal. Mikey Lewis gathers and under the not inconsiderable attention of Nsemba he wriggles clear to run it out. That was fantastic work and I bet he’s fuming two tackles later when Whitbread chucks a stupid offload to lose possession on the forty metre.
48 mins. The big prop Mago is on for Wigan, and this is worth remark as it’s their first official interchange of the game (excluding Nsemba’s head assessment). It feels like they are about to tighten the vice.
46 mins. KR work the ball left at pace to Ryan Hall a few metres from the line, but he’s repelled by this unbelievable Wigan defence. They’ve not conceded a point for three and a half games now and that’s no accident.
44 mins. The ball pinballs in the Wigan 20 and when it settles it falls to Wardle who feeds Marshall with nothing but open pasture between him and line, but he drops it! That was the game right there, instead Hull KR are back on the attack.
That’s woken the crowd up, let me tell you”!
42 mins. Set each from either side forms the same pattern as the first half. Settling of both the game and blood pressure, with very little to convince that either side fancy taking much of a chance.
SECOND HALF!
It’s Wigan’s turn to receive the ball, and we’re back underway.
An email from Sue Lawrence.
“Finals are notoriously bad games! Still hoping for a Wigan win.”
They can be Sue, certainly. The good thing is that low scores can lead to late drama, as Welsby at the death for Saints in 2020 demonstrated.
HALF TIME!
The hooter squeals to brings the fist half to a close.
DROP GOAL! Wigan 7 – 0 Hull KR (Harry Smith)
40 mins. Smith calls for it a slots one over to end the half.
39 mins. The ball is worked to the right wing by Wigan, but Ryan Hall uses all his canny experience to block the ball. It’s a knock on, though.
38 mins. Wigan have a penalty after a high tackle by Luckley on Wardle. They will have a full six tackles starting on the KR 20 metre line. THis would be a brilliant time to score for them, and and equally awful time for the Robins to concede.
36 mins. Wigan are beginning to use French and more width on the 3rd and 4th tackles, which is moving them up the field with more consistency. The ball is worked to Nsemba who spills it in the tackle on the KR forty metre.
34 mins. The Robins up the tempo near the Wigan line and work it left to Lewis who shows and goes to the line where he’s held up by the Warriors tacklers. The next four tackles have lots of offloads and trickery but no way through. The attack splutters to a turnover of possession and the Wigan fans are voluminous in their delight at the defensive effort of their men.
32 mins. Bevan French hears my reporting and has a run. It looks like it’s about to become interesting around halfway but his run goes behind his own player to give KR a penalty.
30 mins. More huffing and puffing in the sets from both teams. This a poor game, I’m sorry to report.
27 mins. That was a huge call as more points for Wigan at this stage had the feeling of a mountain for Hull KR to climb.
Junior Nsemba has passed his head injury assessment and is back on the park.
NO TRY! Wigan (Liam Marshall)
25 mins. Marshall has the ball down after he chases a Smith kick, half-volleys it forward and was first to it to ground in-goal.
But wait! The Wigan players who were near him were in front of Smith on his original kick, and because they were within 10 metres of Marshall when he played the ball and had not retired, they are ruled offside and so it’s NO TRY!
It’s a weird law, but it’s a law nonetheless. We play on.
That was largely against the run of play, but this is why you have players like French in your team. It would be easy to point at the ease with which he stepped through the Hull KR line, but great players tend to make defences look crap.
TRY! Wigan 6 – 0 Hull KR (Bevan French)
22 mins. A wasted attacking set from KR, who end up in about seven minds on the last tackle an allow Wigan to wrap them up and turnover the ball.
On the next set, French decides all this dull competency is not for him and throws a dummy to burst through a gap on halfway before stepping two more defenders and racing in to open the scoring.
A dazzling intervention from the Wigan star.
19 mins. The good 10 mins for Hull KR continues with a strong run from Tanginoa giving Lewis another platform to dart forward on the Wigan 20. He puts and awkward chip through and Field can do nowt but shovel it dead.
Wigan will have a goal-line drop out.
17 mins. Mikey Lewis is using the good work of his forwards to force Wigan back towards their own line again with his kicks. The defence contains the Warriors’ attempts to run from deep, but again the boot of Smith sends it miles to give his team a breather.
15 mins. The Warriors can’t get anything going when play restarts on the Hull KR 20 metre line, but their defence is ferocious on the turnover and all KR can do is kick away to invite Wigan to have another go.
13 mins. That has sparked the game to life. Hull KR have a dart on the next set before Wigan decide they need to up the intensity through a big Thompson carry and a dancing French run before Nsemba is hit hard by Batchelor.
It was a legal low tackle, but such was the force that the Wigan second row spun and fell onto his head and it appears he’s been knocked out. He’s up on his feet, but he’s going off and it’ll be a surprise if we see him again.
NO TRY! HULL KR (Mikey Lewis)
10 mins. Lewis has the ball down on the stretch after take of a kick by Miski is disrupted by May. The ball comes loose and the Robins half grabs and grounds it!
But the ref has doubts and asks the video ref to review…. and it looks like May nudged it forward onto Miski before Lewis got his mitts on it. NO TRY!
9 mins. Wigan take the first opportunity to put some shape on their attack in the backs, French calling for it and working it right to Field on the fourth tackle. The Robins defence is up to it and again, Smith is forced to kick on the last.
7 mins. This is a good start from KR, with their latest attacking sets edging further up the pitch each time. Nobody has looked like scoring yet, but the momentum appears to be moving slowly towards East Hull.
This very nearly all changes as Smith nearly pings a 40:20 for Wigan, but it rolls into touch just short of the mark.
5 mins. A couple of sets each which are all so far, so textbook. Hull KR find themselves a bit more territory on their latest which allows Lewis to pin the Warriors deep in their own half. There’s not much ground made with the carries, but Harry Smith gets his howitzer boot out to relieve the pressure.
3 mins. A solid if not particlularly impressive opening set from KR has Lewis kicking from his own 40 and finding Minski. Wigan cycle through the carries before a punt puts Burgess under pressure.
The Robins wing takes the ball to his chest, but he’s clamped on his five metre line by the Wigan chase.
KICK OFF!
Harry Smith whomps the ball deep into Hull KR territory and we’re away!
The teams are strutting onto the field serenaded by The Lathums, an indie outfit from Wigan.
All a bit odd.
A moving moment as the three children of dear departed Rob Burrow bring out the new trophy for player of the match renamed in his honour.
Rob Burrow is a man about whom I need add no more context as his name carries so much emotion and meaning in those three little syllables themselves. Incredible power and impact in an unexpectedly small package… reminds you of something doesn’t it?
Weather Watch
It’s not too cold, but it’s a squally Mancunian night with heavy showers passing over regularly. Could be a tricky match to get a fast tempo going, which you have to imagine favours Wigan with their structured and throttling gameplan.
Quality all over the pitch today.
Man Of Steel Mikey Lewis will be bristling and chopsing as he has all season at scrum-half for the Robins, his attitude more than matched by his outstanding form and ability. The forwards led by Batchelor and Minchella will need to not make the errors Leigh made early in the match last weekend.
Bevan French, the brilliant stand-off for Wigan will be feeding Jake Wardle in the centres – he’s has had the best season of his career – and both will be following in the wake of the incomparable Junior Nsemba, the young powerhouse second row.
A mention for veteran Hull KR wing Ryan Hall, the 36-year-old will be bringing all the experience of the part he played in Leeds Rhino’s imperial phase to the big game. What a way this would be to bookend a career.
Hull KR team
Wigan Warriors team is in
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Pre match reading
Our man at the ground tonight, Aaron Bower, offers his preview
And our columnist Jonathan Liew takes a look at the tale of Hull KR’s return to very nearly the top
Preamble
The Autumn weather has officially arrived. The drawing in of night necessitating the deployment of the living room big light or lamp in the early evening gloaming. All this the harbinger of a lot of moaning about the weather, a government spending review, and the pilgrimage to Manchester for Super League Grand Final.
Tonight is the twenty-sixth installment of this showpiece and there have been a number of cycles in the competition since the Sky money switched it to summer and the play-off system. Wigan, Bradford, St Helens and Leeds have each had their periods of domination the last quarter century. What hasn’t occurred is time spent with a team from the East Riding of Yorkshire taking a turn atop the summit of Mount RL and Hull KR will want to plant their flag this evening.
The story of the Robins’ emergence as a force from their recently depleted position in East Hull has been told better elsewhere and Willie Peters and his team have put themselves in with a shout here. But they are going to have to shout in unison at Brian Blessed levels to drown out the relentless hum of a Wigan side that chewed up all in their path in recent weeks. Their defence in particular is astounding, conceding zero tries in their last three games and not giving away a single point in their suffocating walloping of Leigh in the semi-final.
Hull KR have given the Warriors more trouble than most in the league this season, with an early season win at Craven Park and narrow loss in the return fixture last month. Predictions are a mug’s game – this liveblogger has made enough to know – but a win tonight for the Yorkshiremen is not out of the question. They will, however, need all the spirit, ability and inspiration of their long journey here to move through the sinews of their team to deliver such an historic win.
