Matt Peet’s Wigan Warriors became the first club in the Super League era to complete a remarkable clean sweep of every domestic trophy on offer in a season after securing back-to-back Grand Final triumphs courtesy of victory against Hull KR.
Rugby league has had some truly extraordinary sides throughout its 129-year existence and there can now be no doubting that this Wigan squad belongs among them. Only four sides had ever swept the board in a single season before and won all four major trophies and the Warriors became the fifth here with an industrious victory against a Rovers side whose wait for a major honour will extend into a 40th season.
The star-studded Wigan of 1994-95 were the last team to do it, making Peet’s squad the first to accomplish the feat since Super League began in 1996. Perhaps underlining how rare an achievement this is, those two Warriors sides are the only teams to do it in almost a century, with Swinton the previous side to complete the grand slam in 1928.
Having already defeated the NRL champions, Penrith Panthers, at the start of this season, the Warriors beat Warrington Wolves at Wembley earlier this summer to regain the Challenge Cup before securing top spot in Super League ahead of the Robins to claim the League Leaders’ Shield. They sealed an historic quadruple here with a very typical Wigan display in front of the biggest Grand Final crowd for almost a decade.
The result also means that Super League is still awaiting a new first-time winner of the competition. Leeds were the last side to win the Grand Final for the first time all the way back in 2004: they have won eight since that triumph. Given how dominant this Wigan side are at present, you would not back anyone dislodging them at the summit of the game any time soon.
Super League’s top two had promised an engrossing final and, while points were at a premium, the game was certainly tense throughout. But in the end this Wigan side did what they have made their habit since Peet took charge three years ago: grinding out victories in major games, when the stakes are at their highest and the margins can be at their narrowest.
Rovers, who will look back on this season with pride having reached Old Trafford for the first time, will reflect on an occasion here when they didn’t quite manage to deliver. They were arguably the better side in an uncompromising opening quarter but could not make their advantage count by opening the scoring.
Unsurprisingly, Wigan showed them how it was done and perhaps even less surprising was the identity of the man who scored the try. With Wigan fighting their way out from deep, the outstanding Bevan French stepped off his right foot on the halfway line before producing another magnificent dummy to bamboozle Hull KR’s full-back, Niall Evalds, and race unchallenged to the line to open the scoring.
It felt like a significant moment, even at such an early stage. Rovers had enjoyed more of the territory and possession to that point but with the Warriors scoring from their first meaningful attack, it was unquestionably a psychological blow. And the Robins continued to labour as half-time approached.
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The newly-crowned Man of Steel, Mikey Lewis, was their go-to option on more than one occasion but he was unable to unpick a stern and resolute Wigan defensive line. That meant that when Harry Smith kicked a drop goal on the stroke of half-time to open up a two-score lead, you wondered if Willie Peters’ side had the capability to mount a comeback.
And as the conditions worsened when the teams returned to the field, that prospect looked even more bleak. A penalty on the Wigan line early into the second half saw Rovers kick a routine score from in front via the boot of Lewis to reduce the deficit to a single score again.
But five minutes later Adam Keighran returned the favour and you felt Hull KR’s heads collectively dip. Tired, battered and bruised, they simply could not find an answer in that final quarter, meaning that the outcome felt somewhat inevitable – and familiar – by full time.