Saints-Wigan derby & rematch of 2025 final - Challenge Cup semi preview
Two intriguing men's Challenge Cup semi-finals are set to take place this weekend, with four of Super League's top-five teams going head to head. With the women's Challenge Cup semi-finals also on Saturday and Sunday, there is a colossal weekend for rugby league in prospect. St Helens and Wigan kick off the action in what will inevitably be a fierce derby match for a place at Wembley, with a repeat of last year's final on Sunday when Warrington take on holders Hull KR.
Both fixtures will be broadcast live on the BBC, with coverage across television, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. But what is the feeling among the respective camps as they try to book a place in the showpiece on 30 May? Wigan are set to take on St Helens for the second time this season.
The first occasion resulted in one of the greatest derby days of all time. Saints loanee Bill Leyland scored a dramatic late pair of tries as they fought back to beat Matt Peet's side 34-24 on Good Friday. That defeat saw Saints recover from a 14-point deficit late in the second half to win by 10 points.
"You've got to reflect on it, I mean obviously we did a little bit of reflecting out of the review process of that game," Peet told BBC Radio Manchester. "Some of that still stands and it's something we'll talk about again this week, but it's not just the last 10 minutes, it's lessons learned from the whole game. " Since that defeat by St Helens, Wigan have lost two out of four matches in all competitions - with one of the wins in that period coming in their thrilling Challenge Cup win at Wakefield last month.
"You can probably look at the last 10 minutes of why that happened and ways of changing momentum," Wigan half-back Harry Smith told BBC Radio Manchester. "When we don't have momentum how do we win it back quicker and be more effective in that aspect? We can definitely take some lessons from that game and the past three games as well.