Warrington Wolves hammer St Helens to cruise into Challenge Cup semis

Warrington Wolves have landed the upset to defeat St Helens on the road and book their spot in the Challenge Cup semi-finals in an absolute hammering at The Totally Wicked Stadium.

Both teams entered the game with the same record in Super League, five wins and two losses, but spirits were considerably higher at Warrington Wolves with Sam Burgess having taken to his role as head coach seamlessly.

Just Catalans Dragons have beaten Wire this season with victories in both Round One and Round Six but Warrington have impressed mightily with Matt Dufty looking like a new signing given his incredible form.

As for St Helens, they’d lost to Salford Red Devils before falling short to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan in a game that could have seen them head to the top of Super League. That was a loss that triggered plenty of reaction from fans regarding the team’s lack of cutting-edge in attack.

Today was a similar story with the Red Vee scoring just once and that try coming through a fortunate bounce that deceived winger Matty Ashton and bounced perfectly for St Helens to pouch and allow Konrad Hurrell to score.

Warrington Wolves had taken the lead earlier on through Josh Thewlis in the corner with the winger unable to convert his own kick and those two scores marked the only tries of the first half.

Thewlis did knock over a penalty and seconds from half-time George Williams knocked over a drop goal to hand Warrington the one-point advantage and crucially a mental advantage too.

Saints re-took the lead through a Jon Bennison penalty but that would be the only score that the Red Vee would notch in the second-half with Burgess’ side taking control and announcing themselves as genuine contenders for silverware this season.

Matty Ashton grounded in incredible fashion in the corner before Connor Wrench was then the beneficiary of a George Williams kick that Jack Welsby misjudged, the Saints full-back only getting fingertips to the ball which saw it float through for the centre to quickly collect and ground.

That made the lead 19-8 and Warrington could maybe find themselves unlucky not to have the game killed off minutes later when Matty Ashton was adjudged to have knocked on when collecting his own kick, a decision that was made on-field by Jack Smith and one that video referee Chris Kendall couldn’t see evidence to overturn.

Warrington continued to put St Helens under the pump and that paid dividends when James Harrison powered over to book Burgess and his team a spot in the semi-finals.

The misery was compounded when Matt Dufty broke the line and set up Man of the Match George Williams for a walk-in to make it 31-8.

Who will Warrington Wolves play in the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals?

The draw for the Challenge Cup semi-finals was actually made at half-time of the game at The Totally Wicked Stadium and it saw Warrington Wolves or St Helens drawn against Huddersfield Giants, with Hull KR and Wigan Warriors facing each other in a repeat of last season’s dramatic semi-final.

The women’s draw recreated the semi-finals of last year with St Helens taking on York Valkyrie and Wigan Warriors facing Leeds Rhinos.

Games will be played on the weekend of 18th and 19th May at a neutral venue to be announced in the ensuing week.

Men’s Challenge Cup Semi-Final Draw

Hull KR vs Wigan Warriors

Huddersfield Giants vs St Helens or Warrington Wolves

Women’s Challenge Cup Semi-Final Draw

St Helens vs York Valkyrie

Wigan Warriors vs Leeds Rhinos

😮‍💨 The Betfred #ChallengeCup Semi-Final ties are set! pic.twitter.com/0NjhxQMIQf

— Betfred Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) April 14, 2024