The 2019 Challenge Cup Final was the deciding game of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisa ...

2019 Challenge Cup The 2019 Challenge Cup known as the Coral Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 118th staging of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a number of invit ...

competition, the 118th staging of the competition. The match was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 24 August 2019 with kick off at 15:00. The final was contested by the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warringto ...

and St Helens, the first time the two sides have met in a major final.

Background

The two sides have never met in a Challenge Cup final before. It had been 11 years since St Helens last won in the Challenge Cup Final, and despite final appearances in 2016 and 2018, Warrington have not triumphed since 2012. Warrington came into the game on the back of five straight defeats in

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

, and with being defeated by the Catalans Dragons in last season's final. On the other hand, Saints were leading the way at the top of the table, losing just three games all season, 2 two of which came at the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

(one of those games going to golden point

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

), with the other, away to

Catalans Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citiz ...

. They had not lost a home game so far in the season.

Route to the final

Warrington Wolves

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

escaped the sixth round with a narrow 26–24 victory over rivals

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. Warrington then faced Hull KR in the quarter finals winning 28 points to 22. Warrington's semi-final opposition was also a Kingston-upon-Hull side, this time Hull F.C., to which they secured their most comfortable win en route to the final.

St Helens

St Helens faced

side

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sha ...

in the sixth round, beating them 22–16. A 48–10 thrashing of

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...

in the quarter finals saw the Saints progress to the semis where they faced Championship side Halifax and getting a comfortable victory to progress to the final.

Match details

Teams

References

External links

{{2019 in rugby league Challenge Cup finals 2019 in English rugby league 2019 in Welsh rugby league 2019 in French rugby league 2019 in Scottish sport 2019 in Irish sport 2019 in Serbian sport Warrington Wolves matches St Helens R.F.C. matches August 2019 sports events in the United Kingdom 2019 sports events in London