‘The monkey’s off our back’ – Hull KR star Jez Litten sets sights on more glory amid Challenge Cup final faith admission

Hull KR hooker Jez Litten admits there was a point in Saturday’s Challenge Cup final when he thought his side might be destined to miss out on glory once more. Rovers got their hands on the cup for just the second time in the club’s history this weekend as they edged out Warrington Wolves 8-6 in dramatic fashion.

Warrington were the better side for much of the contest and they led for a chunk of the game at the national stadium. However, a Tom Davies try in the 77th minute gave Mikey Lewis the opportunity to kick for glory, with the half-back making no mistake from the kicking tee.

That signalled pandemonium in the East side of Wembley and as the final hooter went, the relief was palpable, on and off the field.
Willie Peters’ side never lost faith and they got their rewards but that belief was tested at times, particularly as the clock ticked down towards the final five minutes of the game.

“When Sneyd hit that 20/40 I thought could this be another year,” Litten told Serious About RL. “But like what this team does, we’ve done the hard training where we stick in there and I knew we’d get another opportunity and we took it.”

Reflecting on the achievement, Litten added: “It’s unreal. We didn’t play the best through the game but we just stuck in there with our defence and that’s what we do, we’re a defence focused team, we got our opportunity and we took it.

“This team has got grit and I think it’s shown it in recent times. We’ve been so close in semi-finals and finals but that was our time and we took our chance.

“We had the chance to win it. He sent it up as a try and I saw Tommy’s hand get on it and I just thought ‘get in!’. Mikey kicked the goal, and you ‘re thinking a Sneyd short kick-off anything can happen but when Batch got on the ball off the short kick-off, I knew we’d done it.”

The trophy was Rovers’ first in 40 years, but as the dust settles, Hull KR, who are in the driving seat in Super League, are already looking at what might be next, with two more major trophies on offer this season.

“It’s like the monkey off our back now,” Litten added. “Hopefully we can build on this and go further, there’s two more trophies to go for this year and we’re going for them.”

The Challenge Cup is heading to EAST HULL! 🏆❤️#UpTheRobins🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/I1zenOAN9J

— Hull KR (@hullkrofficial) June 7, 2025