Final four eye Wembley Challenge Cup opportunity
Wembley and a Challenge Cup final appearance is the carrot dangling tantalisingly above women's rugby league's four heavyweights, as the semi-finals take place this weekend. Reigning champions Wigan take on York Valkyrie in Warrington on Saturday (11:30 BST), backed by a bumper support also there to watch the men's side. Their vanquished opponents last year were St Helens, who after a trophyless 2025 are bidding to return silverware to the cabinet but will have to overcome old foes Leeds Rhinos in Doncaster on Sunday (13:00 BST) to do so.
The final itself will be a double-header with the men's fixture at Wembley on Saturday, 30 May. Wigan thrash Saints to win Women's Challenge Cup for first time Wigan's all-conquering 2025 campaign realised their potential and promise in spectacular fashion. With Izzy Rowe, Jenna Foubister, Grace Banks and Woman of Steel Eva Hunter to the fore, Wigan stormed to Wembley and thrashed fierce rivals Saints under the arch in a mesmerising display of attacking rugby.
They then took that knockout form into the league campaign and were equally dazzling, finishing top of the regular season WSL and beating Saints again in the Grand Final. For head coach Denis Betts, himself a multiple cup winner with Wigan, it means everything to see the players he has energised making their own history at a club synonymous with success. "It's massive this years to see those photos around the stadium of the girls that the club are so good at," Betts told BBC Sport.
"Most of these girls went and supported those Wigan men's teams that have their photos of success up, and now they see pictures of Izzy Rowe, Jenna Foubister, Grace Banks, Mary Coleman up around the likes of Liam Farrell. York now stand in the way of the holders' efforts to retain their crown on Saturday. If you are going to win a Challenge Cup, why not enlist the help of someone who knows their way around the competition?
York Valkyrie have done just that, appointing Leon Pryce - a man who played in five winning finals and also picked up the Lance Todd Trophy for joint-man of the match in 2007. While the Valkyrie have scratched their Grand Final itch, with back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024, the Challenge Cup always eluded them under former boss Lindsay Anfield. They have the talent, with full-back Tara Jane Stanley welcomed back after a long injury lay-off to add to the class of Savannah Andrade, Liv Wood and Canada international Megan Pakulis.