Wigan produced a magnificent display to book their first trip to Wembley in seven years after dismantling Hull KR to reach next month’s Challenge Cup final.
The Warriors will return to rugby league’s showpiece event for a record-extending 34th occasion, and are now one win away from a 21st cup triumph after a 38-6 triumph in Doncaster. They were out of sight by half-time after a near-perfect 40 minutes saw them coast into a 24-0 lead.
Rovers, who beat Wigan in last year’s semi-final, never looked likely to repeat that triumph. They have made great strides under Willie Peters’ leadership in the last 18 months but this was perhaps their worst performance since the Australian took charge.
Wigan were immediately the stronger and more clinical of the two sides with their first try coming as Jake Wardle found space on the outside of Peta Hiku to touch down with the kind of ease which set the tone for the afternoon.
Their 4-0 lead was doubled when Bevan French’s pinpoint kick found Abbas Miski unmarked, before the outstanding Junior Nsemba crashed over the top of some poor Rovers defence for the third try.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Things would get even worse for Rovers as half-time approached. First, Joe Burgess’ error led to Miski claiming his second and then Wigan exploited Rovers’ weaknesses on the right to allow Smith to collect for a well-taken try. That made it 24-0, and Wigan opened up a five-score lead after half-time with an Adam Keighran penalty.
Rovers did get on the scoreboard when Burgess finished well in the corner but when the Robins let the ball bounce out of play from the kick-off, Wigan capitalised once again, as Tyler Dupree barged over from close-range.
There was still time for a seventh Wigan try as Wardle went over for his second.
