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Betfred Super League Grand Final

Hull KR (10) 24

Tries: Lewis, Burgess 2, Litten Goals: Mourgue, Martin 3

Wigan (2) 6

Hull KR became only the fifth team to win a Super League Grand Final as they put in a stunning performance to beat Wigan Warriors at Old Trafford and complete the treble.

Only Bradford Bulls, Leeds Rhinos, St Helens and their opponents Wigan had won a Grand Final before this breakthrough moment, in which Hull KR ensured they would add a third trophy to their 2025 locker, having already won the Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield.

Brad O’Neill’s first-half yellow card for a tip tackle on Tyrone May proved decisive, with Mikey Lewis and Joe Burgess running in while the Cherry and Whites were depleted.

Despite their commanding performance, it was Wigan – who had won the domestic treble themselves and the World Club Challenge in 2024 – who almost edged in front early on when Bevan French put in a defence-carving run to go in from Liam Marshall’s kick, but replays showed he dropped the ball before grounding.

A tempestuous opening, which had previously seen Jared Waerea-Hargreaves go in hard on French, came to a head when Wigan had O’Neill sent to the bin for his wayward tackle on May for which he was lucky not to see red.

And Hull KR wasted no time in making their advantage count as Lewis sold a sumptuous dummy to run in with ease right in front of Wigan’s supporters at the Stretford End for his 21st try of the season.

O’Neill’s yellow card became even more costly soon after as Hull KR worked the ball wide to Burgess, who touched down at the corner.

Wigan ended the first half with two points on the board after Adam Keighran’s audacious long-range penalty goal and, in much the same manner as Lewis’ first-half score, Jai Field sold a tremendous dummy to send Harry Smith through.

Whereas the 2024 final between these two sides was a tense and a low-scoring affair, Hull KR flipped that script on its head with this year’s war of attrition.

Gone was the caginess of last year. And nerves? What nerves? This was a side made for the occasion, that knew they were on the cusp of greatness and took their opportunity.

Yet it might not have been that way as they were off the pace in the opening stages, and were lucky not to fall behind when they failed to pick up French on the turnover prior to his score being chalked off.

Other than that if they seemed unnerved by the occasion, knowing they were 80 minutes from a history-making treble, they did not seem to show it.

Much had been said in the build-up to the game about Hull KR’s recent and distant past – whether that is relegation in the Million Pound Game in 2016 or finishing bottom of Super League in 2020.

Indeed, outside of some second-tier honours, you had to go back 40 years to the last time the Robins reigned supreme.

Bolstered by the retiring Waerea-Hargreaves – who almost missed the game through suspension prior to KR’s successful appeal this week – and Micky McIlorum, they soon carved open Wigan and never looked back.

Robins talisman Lewis has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons but, much like his team, this feels like the moment in his career where he truly came alive.

But this was a team performance. It was not won by individual moments of brilliance.

It was a display befitting a treble-winning side and masterminded by an elite coach in Willie Peters.

From the glory of grabbing everything they could in 2024, Wigan’s 2025 campaign ended without a trophy.

Hull KR have long been the consistent side this term and they underlined that during this Grand Final.

Wigan, despite having the pairing of French and Field and a matchday squad of 15 players from last season’s final, could not match the dominance of their rivals and the Matt Peet era had its first trophyless season as a result.

But this was an uncharacteristically poor Wigan display and, outside of a promising opening 10 minutes, they rarely looked like gaining a decisive foothold in the game.

Since Peet arrived in 2022, Wigan have seemingly played level-headed rugby which has paid off – resulting in trophies galore.

Yet they seemed unable to deal with Hull KR’s combative gameplan and heavy hitting, which proved O’Neill’s – and Wigan’s – downfall in a poor first-half showing.

Putting the blame solely at their door would be unfair to Hull KR, who executed their tactics to perfection and looked sensational in possession, attack and, for the most part, defence.

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live:

“I’m so proud. Regardless of the result I would have been proud but we’ve gone to another level after that performance.

“We had to fight tooth and nail, we knew that Wigan were going to come back, they’re a champion team so we had to fight but there’s a lot of fight in our team.

“I said at half-time that we had a nervous start and Mikey [Lewis] sort of corrected me, he said he had an excited start, we were too excited and he was right.

“The players were ready but over-excited. Once we started completing some sets then we started to find our groove a little bit and they settled.

Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella speaking to BBC Radio5 Live:

“I don’t think we started the game great, it was pretty nervous and we were over-trying. The big stage can make you do that, and we dodged two bullets.

“If they scored the two tries, then the game looks pretty different – so we were probably lucky in those 20 minutes. But after that we found our groove and settled down.

Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live:

“I’m proud of the team. Hull KR deserve to win and the night belongs to them. Sometimes I think these things are written in the stars and this season belongs to them.

“They’ve worked so hard as a club, as a playing group, the coaching staff. There are things that we’ll look back and rue but it’s different tonight when your’re in the moment.

“We missed a few opportunities early on and I did wonder if that would come back to bite us but I love my team, proud of them and Hull KR deserve all their success.

Hull KR: Mourgue; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, McIlorum, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella

Interchanges: Litten, Luckley, Whitbread, Martin.

Wigan: Field; Miski, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall; French, Smith; Byrne, O’Neill, Thompson, Walters, Farrell, Ellis.

Interchanges: Harvard, Nsemba, Mago, Leeming.

Nottingham Forest will consider Sean Dyche as a replacement for Ange Postecoglou should they decide to part with their under-pressure head coach.

BBC Sport reported last week that Postecoglou’s future at the City Ground was the subject of increasing uncertainty following a seven-match winless start to the Australian’s reign.

The 60-year-old remains in charge of Forest, but last Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League loss at Newcastle – which was viewed internally as a pivotal game in determining his future – has placed the former Tottenham boss’ position in further doubt.

The 54-year-old Dyche has been out of work since leaving Everton in January. He was linked with the vacant manager’s job at Rangers last week, but sources have told BBC Sport he is unlikely to be interested in that role.

Forest, however, are likely to be of greater interest to Dyche, who lives in relatively close proximity to Nottingham and was a youth player at the club at the start of his career.

Former City Ground favourites Ian Woan and Steve Stone have also been long-term members of Dyche’s coaching staff during his managerial spells at Burnley and Everton.

Forest will not be required to pay any compensation should they move for Dyche.

They might be underdogs, but they possess two of the world’s best.

England were not favourites going into this World Cup, but if captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was fully fit and firing, and if spinner Sophie Ecclestone could exploit turning pitches at her disposal, there was a nagging sense of ‘what if?’.

Both hopes have come to fruition after their three opening games, with England sitting top of the table unbeaten and, though there was a near-miss against Bangladesh, it has mostly been smooth sailing.

Yes, the fixtures have been kind to Sciver-Brunt’s side, but they are doing all that is in their control, which is to simply keep winning.

Beat Pakistan on Wednesday, as they should, and they will be in a very promising position to seal a semi-final spot without having yet played favourites India or Australia.

Regarding the latter of those two teams, England have scars after the 16-0 Ashes thumping at the beginning of the year, but under coach Charlotte Edwards they are beginning to heal.

Sciver-Brunt is the quiet, composed captain who lets her cricket do the talking – exemplified by a sparkling 117 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday. Her ability to bowl again after injury has also completely rejuvenated the balance of the side.

Her fifth World Cup century is a women’s cricket record, celebrated by honouring her baby boy Theo in the crowd – testament to a life-changing year that has seen her become a mum and England captain in the space of a few months.

Ecclestone, who took 4-17 in the Sri Lanka win, is the teenage prodigy who rapidly became world number one, still just 26 years old, but already fifth on the list of all-time wicket-takers in the women’s game.

A difficult Ashes for Ecclestone personally led her to consider quitting, but on the biggest stage she is shining again.

“To be able to hand the ball to her and bowl 10 overs straight without going for many runs and pick up four wickets, it is really special,” said Sciver-Brunt.

“From the time she was 16 and came into the team, we knew we had something special on our hands.

“She has really grown in the last couple of months as well – I suppose we challenged her to really improve herself and to really make a mark on this team, so I am very pleased with her.”

However, such is the imbalance in women’s international cricket, England’s unbeaten run does come with caveats.

South Africa presented them with a potentially tricky opener but they were swept aside with ease, and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were always unlikely to cause an upset.

England know they have not been properly challenged yet, and we will all learn where they are truly at as a team once the top two come to the party.

Though Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight’s form with the bat is promising – and it was always likely that experience would bear fruit in a World Cup in such tricky conditions – they could use some assistance from elsewhere.

Openers Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont sealed that 10-wicket win against South Africa – though they were only chasing 70, and have had stands of six and 24 since.

Conditions are proving difficult for openers across the board, but England have also suffered two middle-over wobbles, with Sophia Dunkley and Emma Lamb falling cheaply, requiring Charlie Dean to play a rescue act at number eight twice in a row.

Still, the positives outweigh the negatives – a welcome change for an England side that has endured a tough year. The bowling attack looks like one of the most well-rounded and consistent here.

The spin trio in particular has all bases covered, with Ecclestone top of the wicket-taking charts on eight, and six apiece for Dean and Linsey Smith. Ecclestone’s bounce, Dean’s turn and Smith’s drift are proving to be a nightmare for opposing batters on slow surfaces.

Bigger challenges are to come, unquestionably, and there are improvements to be made. Crucially, they will also not be getting carried away.

Steven Gerrard has turned down the chance to return to Rangers for a second stint as manager, with the timing of the move believed to be behind his shock decision.

The former Liverpool and England captain held talks with the Scottish Premiership club earlier this week following Russell Martin’s dismissal as head coach on Sunday.

Those discussions were thought to have gone well but, while the 45-year-old is believed to be open to returning to Ibrox at some stage and the club are of a similar mind, it will not be in the near future.

Gerrard was previously in charge at Ibrox between 2018 and 2021, winning the Scottish title in the 2020-21 season.

He has recently expressed a desire to return to management following unsuccessful spells with Aston Villa and Saudi club Al-Ettifaq, but withdrew from the interview process on Saturday.

It leaves the fledgling Rangers hierarchy still searching for a head coach to succeed Martin, who lasted just 17 matches after being appointed in June.

Following the takeover by a US-based consortium in the summer – led by now-chairman Andrew Cavanagh – Rangers decided Martin was the man to lead the team forward on a three-year-deal.

The former Rangers and Scotland defender got Southampton promoted to the Premier League, but was sacked after 13 defeats in their opening 16 Premier League matches the following campaign.

The reception from supporters to Martin’s appointment was frosty at best and he failed to win them over at any stage of his tortured 123-day tenure.

The 39-year-old’s final match was a 1-1 draw at Falkirk before the international break, following which he was given a police escort away from the stadium after fans tried to stop the team bus leaving.

It took Rangers until late September to win in the league and the club were humiliated 9-1 on aggregate by Club Brugge in the Champions League play-offs.

Martin left with the club 11 points behind leaders Hearts and nine behind Celtic, having earned just five victories in all competitions.

Rangers’ search for a replacement quickly alighted upon Gerrard, who was of interest to the club’s American owners in the summer, before a number of issues resulted in him withdrawing from the running.

In a podcast recorded prior to Martin’s sacking but released on Wednesday, Gerrard told former England team-mate Rio Ferdinand that he was keen to return to management.

In that interview, Gerrard also said he wanted “to be at a team that’s going to compete to win because I think that suits me better”.

The Rangers board now must bring in a manager who can be a unifying figure for the supporters and get the best out of a group of players who have massively underperformed this season.

The Ibrox club could have gone and got Derek McInnes after sacking Philippe Clement. Now such an appointment would be way more problematic.

Again, McInnes would make a lot of sense for a lot of reasons – his understanding of the club and of Scottish football and an ability to take charge of a dressing room and mould a successful unit.

But he is part of a Hearts set-up that is clearly going places and it is difficult to see McInnes leaving, having committed to an exciting new project at Tynecastle. He has also turned down his former club once before, in 2017.

Sean Dyche is another whose name has been mentioned. He worked with Kevin Thelwell at Everton, where he steadied a ship that was in serious trouble, making them much more difficult to beat, a quality he is renowned for.

He overachieved at Burnley, though expectations there are vastly different from those at Ibrox. He has also been linked with Nottingham Forest, which might prove more appealing.

There are a number of other names flying around. In hindsight, Barry Ferguson and his team would have been a significantly better appointment than Martin had they been put in permanent charge after last season’s interim stint, but it seems unlikely the new owners will revert to them.

Kevin Muscat has rightly been part of the discussion over recent vacancies at Ibrox having enjoyed success in Australia, Japan and China, while Gary O’Neil has English Premier League experience and Danny Rohl is highly rated, though another young and relatively inexperienced coach may be considered too much of a gamble.