Why match-winning Hull KR try was given as laws explained and key moment picked out

Hull KR have defeated Warrington Wolves 8-6 to win the Challenge Cup with a controversial last minute try, which has now been explained.

The Robins scored in the dying minutes through Tom Davies with the winger grounding the ball when Warrington centre Arron Lindop failed to do so as the ball skidded on.

It was one of the few occasions where the wet weather worked in Hull KR’s favour with Willie Peters’ side kicked to death by Marc Sneyd, who won the Lance Todd Trophy for a record-tying third time.

All the major moments in the game seemed to come from Sneyd’s boot until that final one when Lindop failed to either ground or bat the ball away, allowing for it to skid on through to Tom Davies to score.

From there, it was no easy kick but Mikey Lewis nailed the conversion to make it 8-6 to Hull KR and help them end their 40-year trophy drought.

Key topics discussed by the BBC pundits post-match were Sneyd’s excellence, the loss of Matt Dufty and how that derailed Warrington, and also whether Hull KR’s try should have been awarded.

Why Hull KR didn’t see their match-winning try disallowed against Warrington Wolves

Jon Wilkin moved to explain why the try was perfectly legal, clarifying that defending players cannot ground the ball with their chest, something which Lindop looked to have done as the ball scurried under him.

The former St Helens captain explained: “There’s a question mark over the try isn’t there? I think for Warrington fans, they’ll be saying ‘Well was it grounded by the defensive player with his chest’?

“Well the ball cannot be grounded by a defensive player with their chest. It has to be an attacking player who can ground a ball with their chest in a genuine attempt to score a try.

“Defensive players cannot ground the ball in the same way as attacking players, henceforth the decision that was given.”

There’s a chance that Matt Dufty might have been there to sweep up had he still been on the field but he left with a suspected broken eye socket, something Sam Burgess would also allude to, and Kevin Brown highlighted that as a major turning point.

Assessing where Warrington almost won it but ultimately lost it, he said: “When you want a kicker, you want a kicker in the wet and you pick Marc Sneyd every day of the week.

“I think Matt Dufty has fractured his eye socket and I thought that when he came off with seven or eight minutes to go, that was a real real negative for the Wolves because he was so dangerous.”

Jamie Peacock, who retired with Hull KR, agreed about Marc Sneyd, adding: “I think if you put Marc Sneyd in Hull KR’s side then they double win. His performance was one of the best I’ve seen in a final”.

🏆 @hullkrofficial are the 2025 @Betfred #ChallengeCup winners! pic.twitter.com/6nMWxgeCoC

— Betfred Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) June 7, 2025