Unless you were down there you couldn't realise just how bad the conditions were. It was heaving down. Wigan played the better wet weather rugby, just as Widnes did the other week v Wire.

BOTH sides defended really well, it's a side of the game that the vast majority of spectators seem to ignore, Harrison Hansen was superb in that facet of his game, how would have got the Lance Todd for me.

Anyway that's Challenge Cup #19 for Wigan, the third time we've nilled a club at Wembley and now become the FIRST town to hold the F.A. Cup and Challenge Cup in the same year.

Not bad for a little town eh!!!

Happened after the semi final too.

People going on about how bad it was for the game that Wigan smashed London.

Whereas in the Champions League semi final, Bayern beat Barcelona 4-0 and 3-0 in the two legs, and all the focus was on how great the Bayern team was, not would all the sponsors pull out...

After playing my worst round of golf in recent memory, and having the relentless four hour thudthudthud of ####ing Creamfields in my ears, I was looking forward to catching the second half of the CCF. I wish I'd've stayed out on the course and put up with the tourtuous "dance"music.

A shocking match, which, unfortunately, is our showpiece game of the season to the majority of the sport watching nation.

We had our chance to be there, but blew it.

Wigan won. When their name was engraved on the cup, there is no asterisk saying
2013 Wigan* (but they played crap) next to it.

As frustrating as the Widnes game was for Wire fans it still wasn't a bore fest in the same condition.

In a word, yes.

wire v widnes was a better spectacle to watch than that dross yesterday! but having said that, i wish to say thanks to both wigan and hull for curing my sleep disorder!and pssstt-get over yourself!

i think the best ever quote about yesterdays *game* was made by gentle in the sun today---*i didnt think we could play as poorly as we did in the first half--but the boys proved me wrong*!!!!!brilliant quote!!

So the weather made it a crap affair then? Well I guess the last few Super League Grand Finals must have been utterly turd then because it never seems to do anything other than rain on that October evening at Old Trafford.

I think the weather is just a perfect excuse to use to explain what an utterly dire final it was. I had a feeling that Hull couldn't back up their semi final exploits in the final and they didn't disappoint.

I read a very similar post on Redvee. Are you just recycling this stuff?




Whilst not at the game I'm down in London, and yes the weather yesterday wasn't great, but the downpour last year as Leeds scored was worse, and the teams handled it better. Hull were shocking in attack, quite simple. I feared a poor game, and was struggling to see where the excitement would come from, unless it proved close: a bit like the semi. Poor game, made interesting in the last 5.

I've a real downer on things at the minute and this final didn't help. Where's the excitement in the game, where's the stars, where's the big rivalries?

I'm hoping the WC can show something different, cos I'm all disillusioned

He copied and pasted on any Wigan related thread on every board.

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Awful game.
Hull defended well but made absolutely no impact in attack.
Wigan weren't fluent by any means but were the better team by a long way.

nope, just like in the cc final, you'll only find s**te in the WC too!

Having read this thread and various ones on totalrl.com and the virtual terrace - I obviously watched a different game on the iPlayer yesterday. It said it was between Wigan and Hull in the final of the Challenge Cup but it can't have been as the game I watched bore no relation to the comments on here and elsewhere.

The game I watched had a compelling first half with very few errors given the weather (it was absolutely tipping it down all day) and then a tight second half where key Hull players dropped key ball but much of this was because of the pressure put on them by the excellence of Smith's long kicking game which was superb - disecting winger and full back every time - meaning when they did have good field position they felt they had to nail it then rather than build pressure as they may not get another chance. Wigan out Hulled Hull (or did to them what they've done to to us twice this season.) If Shaule had have scored it would have been one of the great Wembley tries. But great defence from Charnley.

I appreciate I'm clearly in a minority but I enjoyed it! Given the conditions it was pretty good and Wigan played to the conditions. Hull's attack was nowhere near as bad as our handling against Widnes which was laughable - so completely disagree with the poster above. This was a much better match than that one.

Sally mentioned earlier RL fans are hypocrites - he's right. The number of threads I've read about blow out games, how people miss the tight games, NRL is all about defence not basketball like scores etc. We get a game like that in a mjaor final and it's the apocalypse.

Then it's the usual attendance hysteria - it's actually quite depressing just reading about people saying they're not coming any more, it's all , better in my day etc. etc. I actually enjoy the game of rugby league and accept it's not going to be breathtaking brilliance every week.

London aside (although they still beat SH) the SL this year has been tighter and more competitive than in recent years, we have a 'new' team due to win the LLS, we have the best batch of youngsters in 20 years - so good that the Aussies are now after our top talent. We have the world's best players coming over here and playing in some of the country's best stadia and across the heartlands of the sport from October.

I've geniunely been excited by the sport this year but I read these boards and it really does take the wind out of your sails. There's enough going on in the world to be depressed about - christ it's a sport - just enjoy it for what it is.

Huh? Hey I though Jeremy Begal had died!

No sorry It was a poor game for a final.....

Can I please request that you start posting in English? I've tried cutting and pasting what you have written into Google's translator, and the best suggestion it came up with was that you talk sloblock.

it means somebody is game for a laugh or staging a wind up. Doh!

or arguing the toss, black is white, or for the interest of cut and paste, bad is good!

or perhaps I should just refer the honourable gentleman back to the topic title and add a full stop instead of an exclamation mark.

I'm sure it would have been a wonderful game if the glamorous "Cup kings" were there... Sadly, you were not, and the RL world had to make do with second rate teams and a second rate match...

It wasn't the worst game ever. But when Wigan kicked out on the full at the kick off I said they are hear for the taking. And they should have been they were quite poor however Hull were dire and really had no idea on how to catch a rugby ball or kick it. The game breaker was when Hull broke on that run to the try line if he had scored instead of having the ball knocked away. Hull would have gone on and won it. As soon as the ball was lost I said that's the game for Wigan

What he said

Oh well I ‘m sure there’s a game on Friday that will show the rest how it should be, rain or shine. I can’t wait!