Hull KR have reached their first Rugby League Challenge Cup final since 1986 and the Robins will now prepare to take on Leigh in the hope of winning the trophy for the second time in their history.
This is also an historic trip for the Leigh Leopards who have not won the trophy since 1971, but Leigh’s captain John Asiata says he is not feeling the pressure, stating that “it’s all about having fun. We’ve been put in a really good position. I myself don’t need to do much, I just need to be me. I don’t need to change who I am or what I do. It’s about enjoying it.”
Meanwhile, the Rovers’ head coach Willie Peters has said: “Lots of teams love that we’ve got to the final. We’ve beaten big teams to get there and earned it. It’ll add more to the game and bring neutral fans to the game. We want to put on a performance and make it a spectacle.
“We had an image of Wembley as that’s where we wanted to get to. Now we’ve got an image of the trophy as that’s what we want. We’ve had a strong focus on getting to Wembley, but you take it game by game. Then after the semi-final you think to yourself ‘we’re 80 minutes from lifting a trophy.’ We’ve had two average games against Leigh this season, so I like to think we can go down and play our style.”
As KR and Leigh prepare for what is sure to be a historic finals day, here is all you need to know about how to tune into the action…
When is the final?
The Grand Final will take place on Saturday 12 August, with kick-off scheduled for 3pm BST. The fixture will be held at Wembley Stadium, in London, and tickets are still available to purchase with fans able to buy remaining seats through the Rugby League website.
How to watch the Grand Final?
All of the coverage will be available to watch on BBC. The programme will start on BBC Two with the women’s Challenge Cup final before moving over to BBC One for the men’s final at 3pm.
For those unable to watch on TV, fans can live stream the fixture through the BBC iPlayer app and website as well as on BBC Sport’s website and app. There will also be radio coverage for listeners to tune into on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Who are the current holders of the Challenge Cup?
Wigan are the current champions of the Challenge Cup, after winning the 2022 title and extending their record to 20 trophies. Wigan beat Huddersfield 16-14 in the 2022 final and 2023 will now mark the first time in 37 years that Wigan, St Helens, Warrington Wolves or Leeds have not featured.
Here are all the teams who have won the Challenge Cup since 2010:
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2010: Warrington Wolves
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2011: Wigan Warriors
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2012: Warrington Wolves
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2013: Wigan Warriors
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2014: Leeds Rhinos
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2015: Leeds Rhinos
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2016: Hull FC
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2017: Hull FC
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2018: Catalan Dragons
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2019: Warrington Wolves
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2020: Leeds Rhinos
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2021: St Helens
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2022: Wigan Warriors
Squad news
Hull KR: Ryan, Opacic, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Parcell, King, Linnett, Kennedy, Batchelor, Storton, Keinhorst, Lewis, Milnes, Hadley, Senior, Johnson, Luckley, Aydin, Schneider
Leigh: Hardaker, Briscoe, Chamberlain, Charnley, Mellor, Lam, Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, Wardle, Hughes, Asiata, Nakubuwai, Reynolds, Holmes, O’Brien, Davis, O’Donnell, Wilde, Seaumanufagai
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