Wakefield beat Leeds & Wigan cruise past Bradford in Challenge Cup

Wakefield Trinity fought back to win a fiercely contested West Yorkshire derby with Leeds Rhinos, while Super League leaders Wigan Warriors made short work of Bradford Bulls in round four of the Challenge Cup.

Following a lengthy delay caused by a power failure at the DIY Kitchens Stadium, Wakefield took the lead through Harvey Smith.

Leeds hit back through two tries from in-form Maika Sivo and one from Ash Handley but Oliver Pratt’s score on the stroke of half-time reduced Wakefield’s deficit to two points at the break.

Matty Storton sent the hosts in front and Ky Rodwell went over to make sure of a 24-14 win and confirm Wakefield’s place in the quarter-finals for the second successive season.

Leeds have now failed to reach the last eight since winning the competition in 2020.

Wigan overpowered Bradford at the Brick Community Stadium, scoring first-half tries through Luke Thompson, Zach Eckersley and Liam Marshall.

The game at Wakefield was held up for 24 minutes early on when the floodlights went out, and Leeds were still switched off when play resumed to allow Wakefield to take control, with Smith opening the scoring.

Eventually Leeds woke up and Fijian Sivo went over in the corner before Handley cut inside to score his first try of the season and put Leeds ahead.

Sivo extended Leeds’ advantage with his 11th try of the season, in just his fourth game, before Pratt crossed on the half-time hooter to pull Wakefield back into the game.

Trinity built on this momentum change and Storton went over to restore their lead on 51 minutes.

Leeds tried to come back and James McDonnell made a costly knock-on in front of the posts before Harry Newman was sent to the sin bin.

Wigan have seemed unstoppable at times already this season, picking up four wins from four in Super League, and they gave Bradford little chance.

Warriors, who gave a debut to academy product Noah Hodkinson at full-back, scored after just seven minutes when Thompson went over for his first try of the season.

Bradford were guilty of an ankle tap on Jack Farrimond and Keighran kicked the penalty.

Eckerskey extended Wigan’s lead when he collected Ethan Havard’s kick before Marshall scored their third try on the half-time hooter when he grounded Harry Smith’s kick to make it 20-0.

Keighran touched down Brad O’Neill’s grubber kick for Wigan’s fourth try before Ryan dived over to at least put Bulls on the board.

Sambou had a Warriors debut to remember and he intercepted a Bradford pass to score his first try 16 minutes after coming on.