Wembley 2024 Final Day recap with outstanding stats

Wembley Final Day 2024 – As It Happened:

Wembley Final Day 2024 was a memorable occasion with Saturday’s gate of 64,845 the best since 2017.

St Helens Women, Wigan Warriors and Wakefield Trinity all emerged victorious in their final performances, making for an emotional afternoon as Rugby League came together to celebrate the life of Rob Burrow CBE – with a series of fitting tributes.

Finals day began with a Champions Schools final between St Peter’s of Wigan and Ysgol Glantaf in Cardiff as the two sides battled it out for the Steven Mullanay Memorial Trophy – full match report can be found here.

In the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup final, St Helens recorded a remarkable fourth successive cup with a 22-0 win over Leeds Rhinos and their second at Wembley Stadium.

There were four different scorers for Matty Smith’s side, with Faye Gaskin and Pheobe Hook crossing the first forty, followed by Luci McColm and Chantelle Crowl’s second-half match-winner.

It was a thrilling rematch for the third year in a row, but St Helens again proved too strong as they continue to write themselves into the Challenge Cup history books. Highlights of the 2024 Women’s Final can be found here.

Warrington Wolves’ highly-anticipated Betfred Challenge Cup final clash with Wigan Warriors is set to see Wigan lift the Challenge Cup trophy for the 21st time in their history – after a convincing 18-8 win on the big stage .

It was a torrid first half that saw both teams reduced to 12 inside the opening five minutes with one apiece for Mike Cooper and Matt Dufty. Warrington hit the first two points of the game with a penalty goal but Wigan hit back with tries from Zach Eckersley and The Lance Todd Trophy winner Bevan French to go 12-2 up at the break.

The fireworks continued well into the second half before Wigan captain Liam Farrell’s burst of speed sent him through the Wolves defense to score his side’s third try.

Dufty managed to reduce the deficit to just ten points with a try seven minutes later for Warrington as he rushed to touch down.

But the Warriors held on for a record-extending win, further setting the benchmark in this year’s competition. Matt Peet’s men become the third team in the modern era to hold all four of the sport’s major trophies at the same time as Wigan continued to dominate.

Watch Betfred Challenge Cup 2024 highlights here.

The final match of the final day then saw Sheffield Eagles and Wakefield Trinity compete for the 1895 AB Sundecks Cup.

Wakefield became the fifth different winner of the 1895 Cup since it was formed in 2019 as they thrashed the Eagles 50-6 with a whopping nine tries under the famous arc.

Trinity captain Matty Ashurst proudly led his side out at Wembley in what was his 350th career appearance and first appearance at the National Stadium as the West Yorkshire outfit produced an outstanding team performance .

Sheffield captain Anthony Thackeray initially opened the scoring for Mark Aston’s side before Wakefield leveled the scores through 1895 Cup winner Lachlan Walmsley who cleverly intercepted an Eagles pass and ran the length of the pitch.

Luke Gale, who won The Ray French Award for his efforts, and Thomas Doyle added further tries in the first forty minutes – Doyle scoring on the stroke of half-time to give Trinity an 18-6 lead.

Trinity continued to stun the Eagles in the second half in front of a sea of ​​red, white and blue as Daryl Powell’s men ran in six tries to rack up 50 points.

Oli Pratt, Josh Griffin and Jermaine McGillivary all claimed the double as Powell named his strongest possible squad for Wakefield’s exit at Wembley, which ended a 45-year wait and their first win at the iconic venue since 1963 .Catch all the important moments in it. match here.

Notable Stats:

Since the Betfred Challenge Cup final, there have been several eye-popping statistics – both men’s and women’s (All statistics provided by Opta)…

In the women’s final, the ever consistent St Helens captain Jodie Cunningham he made an incredible 338 meters in 80 minutes. This is correct…338 meters for the Saints faithful, as well as the most runs (39) of any player on either team and a whopping 30 tackles in defense – helping to keep her team’s opponents scoreless on the big stage.

It was a super solid performance from 1-13 players on the field, with Emily Rudge he also produced a monstrous 228 yards, with nine other Saints players breaking the 100-yard mark.

Their teammate Chantelle Crowl emerged as her side’s best attacker during their fantastic Challenge Cup final win, making an impressive 34 tackles in the 52 minutes she played. From entering the field, Crowl made an imminent impact, before crashing over from close range for the match-winner ten minutes from time to seal Saints’ fourth straight Challenge Cup win.

And let’s not forget Faye Gaskin who helped kick their way to glory and contributed the game’s opening try. Gaskin, 32, went 3 of 4 successful conversions as well as 12 kicks in the game.

Or her defending partner and Man of the Match, Zoe Harris, who provided a perfect cut-back for Hook to take and score Saints’ second try. A year ago, Harris suffered a season-ending injury at Wembley in the 2023 final but ensured she marked her return to the big stage with a sensational performance.

Then, despite another loss in the Challenge Cup, it was a gutsy effort from Rhinos Women, with Bethan Dainton and Lucy Murray doing a whopping 45 tacks each.

The men’s Challenge Cup final was also packed with plenty of impressive stats – starting with Lance Todd Trophy winner, French drink.

With a wonderful assist for Eckersley’s first try, French went on to score a brilliant solo try – with his fancy footwork helping him find his way across the white as the fans looked on in awe.

French becomes only the fourth player in the Super League era to double both the Lance Todd Trophy and Man of Steel Awards.

Talented young man Brad O’Neill made the most tackles with 36, while Liam Marshall ran for most meters with 223 – one of ten Wigan players to make over 100 meters in Saturday’s Challenge Cup Final clash.

Captain Wigan Liam Farrell scored the match-winner for his beloved side Wigan while being as reliable as ever with 169 yards and 26 tackles in his 80 minutes.

George Williams and Ben Currie Playing in the losing Warrington side, Williams made 287 meters and Currie made 45 tackles.

Tickets are on sale now for Challenge Cup Final Day 2025 at rugby-league.com/tickets and with an Earlybird discount of 25%, prices start from just £15 for adults and £7.50 for under 16s, with family packs available and from just £18.75 for one adult and two under 16s years.