UK Women's Challenge Cup: 2026

The women's version is different to the men's. There were eleven teams participating and they played in four groups of three with one group with just two sides. Then it went to the quarter finals with only three teams dropping out. For the two team group, they both qualified, which I found odd.

It didn't make any difference as one team is head and shoulders above the rest of the teams. That is confirmed by the results below. In fact, depth is one thing the women's game in the UK is embarrassingly short of. All about a lack of funding for many clubs.

In the quarter finals, only Huddersfield put up any sort of resistance. In the semi finals, Leeds and Saints was a contest but Wign overran York. Saints won the final two years ago, defeating Leeds. Last year, Wigan won the trophy 42-6. The question was could Saints reverse that? 

Only a rabid Saint's apologist would have thought so. Wigan thrashed them 52-6 after leading 28-6 at the break. The highlights do not appear to have been posted on YouTube but if or when they are, I will add them here. 

Photo: Wigan Warriors.

UK Men's Challenge Cup: 2026

Sixty seven teams over seven rounds. The last eight assembled for round five, all of the survivors being in the top Super League. The four winners I would have tipped to progress. The same could have been said in round six as cup holders Hull KR defended their title against twenty one times winner Wigan Warriors.

When these two sides met just over a week ago, KR put out a full strength side against a Wigan reserve team. KR cruised home 62-4. This time it was the best Wigan side.

Wigan came in at half time up 10-4 but looked in control. A momentum swing was required by Hull but it never came. Wigan ran away with the final 40-10. To see highlights, there is a video below.  

SOO Women: 2026

The 2026 State of Origin series went to NSW 3-0. The scores were low but NSW had the edge and were clearly the better team this year. Historically that hasn't been the case. If you click here, you will see that before it was called SOO, Queensland were very much the better state. 

Then in 2018, it became the SOO series and has been much more closely contested. It has also expanded to become a three match seres since 2024. As the SOO, NSW now has a 5 to 4 advantage or a 56% win rate. NSW also now has a 63% game win rate. 

Is NSW going to enter a period of superiority? It would be foolish to assume so, but for now they clearly are the stronger state. The highlights of game three can be seen on the video.