On Saturday, Wigan Warriors will host Hull KR looking for revenge after their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat at the home of Leeds Rhinos against the Robins earlier this year which saw Hull KR book a place at Wembley against Leigh Leopards.
After securing that final spot there were huge celebrations from Hull KR fans as you might expect and some fans even ran onto the pitch.
This saw the club receive a fine recently and hoping to avoid another fine the club have made the following request of fans headed to the DW Stadium:
“We will be on the national stage again and supporters are reminded that they are representing the club and the city when they support us.
“Please under no circumstances enter the field of play, throw objects onto the pitch or bring pyrotechnics. The club will take a zero tolerance approach and issue bans to any supporters who are found to be in breach of any stadium or RFL regulations.”
The teams will face off for a fifth time this season at the DW on Saturday for a 12:45pm kick-off with Wigan sitting as heavy favourites having won the League Leaders Shield and earned themselves a bye week.
As for Rovers they enter having dispatched Leigh Leopards at Craven Park last week in a professional performance that made it six wins on the spin, but against Wigan they face a team that are on a winning run of eight games.
During that spell of eight games Wigan hosted the Robins but they faced a much changed and very youthful KR side and put them to the sword 64-6, however the previous three meetings have been far tighter.
Rovers won on opening day before then losing in golden point thanks to an incredible Bevan French break that set up a Liam Farrell hattrick.
The other clash between these two was another semi-final with Rovers edging Wigan 11-10 in golden point drama once again to make it to the Challenge Cup Final and the Robins will be trying to draw on that experience.
They face no suspension issues for Saturday but head coach Willie Peters outlined that prop Jesse Sue would be “unlikely” to play, however Dean Hadley would be fit to return and cover the overseas prop.
It’s now confirmed that Sue does miss out, not named in the 21-man squad, whilst Hadley does feature but on the whole it’s a very strong squad once again for Rovers who are getting fit at the right time of the season.
As for Wigan they remain without Liam Byrne who copped a season ending injury as he was coming into devastating form and they’ve evaded any suspensions thanks to the ‘loophole’ that saw Bevan French, Kaide Ellis and Harvie Hill miss the Reserves Grand Final instead.
Consequently Matt Peet has been able to name a very strong side as Wigan aim to reach Old Trafford for the first time since 2020.
It’s just one change for Wigan with Iain Thornley being replaced by Willie Isa who could be set for his 200th game, whilst skipper Liam Farrell could hit 350 Wigan appearances.
The match will also potentially be Hull KR skipper Shaun Kenny-Dowall’s last with the former Kiwi international set to retire at the end of the season, whilst it’s yet another ‘Battle of the Kings’ between brothers Toby and George.
The two 21-man squads are listed below.
Wigan Warriors
1: Jai Field
2: Bevan French
3: Toby King
4: Jake Wardle
5: Liam Marshall
6: Cade Cust
7: Harry Smith
9: Sam Powell
11: Willie Isa
12: Liam Farrell
13: Morgan Smithies
15: Kaide Ellis
17: Kai Pearce-Paul
19: Joe Shorrocks
20: Patrick Maho
22: Brad O’Neill
23: Abbas Miski
26: Harvie Hill
27: Junior Nsemba
32: Ryan Hampshire
34: Tyler Dupree
Hull KR
2: Ethan Ryan
3: Tom Opacic
4: Shaun Kenny-Dowall
5: Ryan Hall
7: Jordan Abdull
9: Matt Parcell
10: George King
12: Kane Linnett
13: Elliot Minchella
14: Jez Litten
15: Rhys Kennedy
16: James Batchelor
17: Matty Storton
18: Jimmy Keinhorst
20: Mikey Lewis
22: Dean Hadley
23: Louis Senior
26: Sam Luckley
27: Yusuf Aydin
34: Jack Walker
37: Brad Schneider
