In October, Hull KR capped off a domestic treble by beating Wigan Warriors in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.
It was their first-ever Super League title and put the cherry on top of a campaign of dominance.
These two titans of the modern men’s game take each other on again this Saturday, this time in the Challenge Cup final.
Whereas the 2025 showpiece played out at an unseasonably chilly Wembley, this year the mercury is rising.
It should be a final to match the red hot conditions around the country this week.
BBC Sport has taken a look at what is at stake as world champions KR face off against a Wigan side hungry to end their trophy drought.
Anything can happen at Wembley – Offiah
Hull KR continued their stunning 12 months in February as they put in a comprehensive performance to beat NRL premiers Brisbane Broncos to lift the World Club Challenge.
As their players held the trophy aloft, it was easy to forget this was a club relegated out of Super League only 10 years ago.
Hull KR’s recent pedigree is matched by Wigan Warriors, who themselves won a historic single-season quadruple the year before, including beating then-NRL premiers Penrith Panthers.
Pitting these two sides together is akin to letting the two best sides in domestic rugby league tussle for glory according to Wigan legend Martin Offiah, who also predicted that neither side can take their status for granted.
“Both these teams have beaten sides in Australia who have been considered the best teams in the world in Penrith Panthers and the Brisbane Broncos,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.
“I see this as an unofficial World Club Challenge.
“People may say that Wigan are the favourites but you only have to look at 1998 when Sheffield Eagles turned them over to realise that anything can happen at Wembley.”
‘We now stay right next to the stadium’
Hull KR’s trajectory to last season’s remarkable table-topping trophy-winning campaign may have happened quickly, yet the club has been forced to learn just as fast in terms of how to run an elite rugby league operation.
Saturday will be their third final in three years, during which time they have both lost and won, including 2023’s defeat by Leigh Leopards and last season’s 8-6 win over Warrington.
KR had reached the final in 2015 and were hammered 50-0 by Leeds, yet it was their preparations eight years later which laid the ground work to some much-needed improvements for subsequent final appearances.
“In 2023, when we played Leigh, we stayed in a hotel an hour-and-a-half outside London and then we got stuck in traffic coming in,” Hull KR chief executive Paul Lakin told BBC Sport.
“The players were on the coach for too long. So now we’re staying at a hotel right next to the stadium where they can visualise and see the stadium.
“We replicated that in the Grand Final. We stayed opposite Old Trafford and that’s something that works for us.
“So it’s the little learnings really, like making sure that the players are comfortable with it. Traffic is a big one to avoid in London. So we will literally walk to the ground.”
Wigan ‘have a duty to fans’
Wigan raised some eyebrows when they named a squad with 10 changes, including several debutants, for their most recent Super League fixture against Hull KR.
The RFL said the squad selection did not breach their operational rules but the match ended in a chastening 62-4 loss at the hands of KR.
Should the decision to rest several key players pay off on Saturday then it could be seen as a tactical masterclass.
However, boss Matt Peet knows there is an extra level of expectation placed on his side due to their pedigree in the competition having won it on 21 occasions.
“I just don’t know any different. When I was growing up in the town I expected Wigan to win,” Peet said in conversation with BBC Radio Manchester.
“I’m now in a privileged position where I get to lead the team and I still have high expectations, so I can’t imagine coaching at a club where that wasn’t the case. I’m very fortunate to be at a club in a time where expectation is high.”
In the aftermath of their Challenge Cup semi-final win against rivals St Helens, Peet took a swipe at Saints.
That semi-final came shortly after St Helens mounted a sensational comeback win against Wigan on Good Friday – a fixture where short-term Hull KR loanee Bill Leyland scored a decisive pair of late tries to earn them a huge two points.
Following this month’s semi-final, where Wigan thrashed Saints 32-0, Peet said in his post-match interview that his opponents had “lost their identity”.
In the lead up to Saturday’s final, Peet said that his side have a “duty” to their fans.
“We work very hard, these lads have committed a lot of their lives and made a lot of sacrifices along the way,” he added.
“We have a duty to our fans but also the players have a duty to themselves to enjoy this week and make sure they get the performance right.”
Peters looking to go out on a high
Hull KR had a mixed start to the season having picked up three defeats from their opening seven games of the campaign.
One of the wins during that period came in their World Club Challenge victory over Brisbane while one defeat was their loss to Leeds in Las Vegas just nine days later.
Peters’ side has put together a run of nine wins on the bounce heading into their trip to Wembley and he knows how capable his side are based on how they have arrived at this year’s final.
“You don’t just come together and become a special group, you need to go through a lot of adversity, you need to go through a lot of heartache and then you get the success off the back of sticking together,” Peters told BBC Sport.
“We’ve bought in winners, we’ve got winners within the building and people understand what it takes to win.
“It’s not easy, it’s really difficult and it’ll be difficult this week, we’re just going to make sure that we worry about performance.”
Peters is preparing to lead his Hull KR side in his third Challenge Cup final but it will also be his last.
He will leave at the end of this campaign to become the first head coach of new National Rugby League side Papua New Guinea Chiefs.
Having lost against Leigh in his first final appearance and won against Warrington last season, he knows the importance of putting in a good showing at the national stadium.
“We haven’t performed well in the last two times, albeit we won the Challenge Cup last year,” he added.
“It wasn’t a performance that we go ‘yes, that was our best performance.’ So if and when we go get our best performance this week, it’ll put us in a strong position.”
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