Men's Challenge Cup : 2025

The 2024 Challenge Cup summary can be seen by clicking here. 

Sixty nine teams played seven rounds of matches to decide the winner of the Challenge Cup for 2025. We take up the matches from round five. With Wigan being upset 22-26 by Hull FC, the in form Hull KR was favourite to go all the way.

Quarter finals: The matches were close although the local Hull derby was less so. Remarkably the other three encounters all ended 20-12. With the probelms besetting Salford, the Catalan Dragons were not impressive in their win. KR retained its favourites tag.

Semi finals: KR dealt with not too impressive Dragons while Warrington Wolves prevailed over the Leigh Leopards 21-14. In form Hull KR had been to eight finals, only winning in 1980. Warrington had made twenty finals, winning nine. Their last winning success was a recent 2019.

Final: Over 63,000 fans packed into Wembley Stadium to witness the event. The weather didn't play its part, with wind and rain featuring. Warrington led at half time 6-2 and continued to do so until three minutes remained, when KR scored and took out the match.

There was an issue as to whether the KR try was legitimate. Apparently, a defender must ground the ball with his hand or push it out of bounds to stop it being 'alive' but he only did so with his torso. An attacking player can score using the torso. I'm surprised there is a different rule for the attacker as opposed to the defender. Still, the rules are the rules and they were applied correctly. 

Hull KR have a great side in 2025 but the Challenge Cup trophy almost slipped through their fingers. The Wolves haven't been consistent but have a good side that could have taken the match. Sometimes, the margins in sport are tiny. 

The highlights are below.

Women's Challenge Cup : 2025

For history on the women's Challenge Cup, simply click here. You may want to read that first. 

The 2025 edition was divided into four pools of three teams. Eight of the twelve sides progressed to the semi finals. St Helens have dominated this tournament, winning the the last four finals. Leeds have lost the last three finals to Saints so between those two clubs a likely winner would emerge. Would they make it a fourth final together.

Quarter finals: These went as expected due to the lack of depth in the UK women's game and the best players are not spread around. Only the Leeds v Huddrsfield match having anything like a competitive scoreline.

Semi finals: The big guns assembled for the shoot out. Saints battled past York to secure yet another finals berth but Wigan looked ominous in comfortably despatching a well regarded Leeds outfit.

Final: St Helens may have hoped for a fifth consecutive trophy but Wigan were having none of that. The all Lancs final was decisively won by Wigan 42-6, having led 18-0 at the break. Wigan's first final and victory showed there is a new force in the UK's women's game. 

Highlights can be seen below.

1895 Cup History & 2025 Competition

Teams below the top division struggle to make their mark in the Challenge Cup (think FA Cup in football) so in addition a cup for second and third division sides was devised. The Championship Cup commenced in 2003 to coincide with national second and third divisions being established. 

In 2019, it became the 1895 Cup so named to acknowledge the year rugby league was formed. Some Australians think the sport started in 1908 when they took up the code. Big country syndrome. Anyway, the 1895 Cup has been played six times, five of the finals listed below. 

2025: The box below shows the last three rounds of the tournament in 2025. The Featherstone Rovers were convincing in getting to their third final while York fought their way to their second appearance.

The all Yorkshire final was a tight affair with neither side scoring a try. It was decided in golden point extra time where the first team that scores wins and the game ends. As is usually the case it was a drop goal that determined the winner. York won their first cup after missing out in the 2021 final while Featherstone now has a one win - two loss cup final record. 

Highlights can be viewed below.

Women's State of Origin : 2025

There is strong and ongoing rivalry between New South Wales (Blues) and Queensland (Maroons) in rugby league. I've covered the Interstate Challenge (1999-2017) and the State of Origin (2018-2024) for the women's game and by clicking on each of those titles you can see the history.

Moving on to 2025, the three match series has been completed. The results are as follows:

Game 1: Held in Brisbane, Queensland the score was 12-14 at half time to the visitors but blew out in the second with NSW scoring 18 unanswered points. 

Final score: Queensland 12-32 NSW. Attendance 26,000.

Game 2: Down in Sydney another tight first half had the hosts up 12-6 at the break but another scoreless half for Queensland while conceding 14 points was another surprising capitulation.

Final score NSW 26-6 Queensland. Attendance 16,000.

Game 3: The game was played on neutral ground at Newcastle. Well, Blues territory officially. Anyway, NSW led 8-6 at the break. They had one try disallowed for technically not grounding the ball but I thought pedantic. That decision was crucial as the Maroons mounted a spirited second half which they won 12-6 and the game.

Final score NSW 14-18 Queensland. Attendance N/A.

The series went to the Blues 2-1 and that makes the eight State of Origin series shared four each although one of those was drawn but given to Queensland on a superior points differential (I presume). NSW have won 7 matches and Queensland six, with the Blues scoring 212 points and the Maroons 173. 

To see highlights of the final game, simply click here.

France Elite 2 : 2024/25

For this season in the second division, US Entraigues XIII had been relegated and two sides were promoted, Pamiers and Realmont. There were still nine sides because while one club was promoted to Elite 1, none were relegated. 

Palau were fifth in 2023-24 but won the division this season. Villegailhenc Aragon were second again and Ille-sur-Têt retained their third spot. Both of the new sides acquitted themselves well enough, with Pamier even making the play offs. 

The first round of the finals featured the sides finishing third to sixth. Both of the teams that finished higher in the league won their matches. Carpentras 30-22 and Ille-sur-Têt 25-8. Sterner tests were to face them in the next round.

So it proved with both winners of the quarter finals ending their season in the semi finals. The winners went into the grand final and as both were the best two in the league well deserved. Villegailhenc was a losing grand finalist last year, but could they go one better?

It was not to be as Palau - quarter final loser from the previous season - went two better this year in winning narrowly 20-17. Tough for Villegailhenc to lose again and by such a close margin but congratulations to Palau who backed up their league title with the grand final trophy. I assume Palau will be now promoted to the Elite 1. 

France Elite 1 : 2024/25

The top French rugby league competition increased in number from ten to eleven for this season with no clubs being relegated. The new team was Villefranche XIII Aveyron, promoted from Elite 2.

Albi came in the top of the Elite 1 league table. Albi had narrowly lost the Lord Derby Cup final but showed they were the best team over the twenty rounds of the league. The last time they took the league title was way back in the 1961-62 season!

Carcassonne have won the league six times since in the previous nine it was held so while that is a fine run, this season they fell just short. St Estève-Catalan came together in the 2000-01 season and have collected four titles in that time. 

Pia have been back in Elite 1 for three years and and have been a model of consistency. A fifth and now two fourth placings. Limoux won the league in 2017-18 season and is usually near the top of the league.

The play offs had third to sixth playing. Pia narrowly lost to Limoux while Villeneuve won 34-12 against St Estève-Catalan. The two lower finishing sides prevailing over their perhaps more fancied opponents. 

The two top league teams returned to take on the above mentioned winners. In both matches, they came out on top, Albi 26-8 over Limoux and Carcassone 11-6 against  Villeneuve. The latter scoreline was closer than I expected. 

The grand final saw Abli add to its league title with a 26-16 victory. They clearly were the best team over the season. They went so close to winning the treble but two out of three ain't bad. 

NRL Attendances 2025 (Rounds 1-11)

Statistics even themselves out over a prolonged period such as a complete season. For now, we have eleven rounds which gives an idea of how attendance figures are going with clubs in the NRL. So what can we learn?

Winners: The total is up 7.6% with Magic Weekend included in the total average but not in the club average. Comparing 2025 with 2000 to 2024 has the average up 29.5%.

Brisbane continues to confound me with its ongoing increases when I've assumed they have reached a ceiling. The Canterbury Bulldogs have had a ripper both on field and with crowds, the latter helped by a bumper Easter Weekend turnout.

Canberra and Penrith have done well but mainly due to having a 'home game' in Las Vegas. Penrith needed that badly as their home game numbers are being badly affected by having to travel to another stadium while theirs is redeveloped. The average will be down this year.

Two other clubs to benefit through an anomaly are Cronulla and South Sydney when they they were involved in a double header. As the season passes, these one off benefits will have less effect on the average.  

Losers: Two make into double figure territory and they are also holding up the list. They are also the only two that are below the 21st century average. The Gold Coast has always been a challenging area for rugby league and the St George - Illawarra joint venture possibly is not helped by taking games to to two venues. 

The other five sides down on 2023 as not so far off the pace that they can't improve. The NZ Warriors have a capacity issue that will make getting an actual increase from here impossible.

For any unfamiliar with the game, the video above will explain all. 

Super League Attendances 2025 (Rounds 1-9)

Super League is in some ways struggling as future media deals to maintain the competition's financial situation are uncertain. Clubs are dependent on owners to balance the books which is not uncommon in sports generally. Hopefully, SL clubs can continue to rely on such benefactors.  

Crowd support is an important part of a club's earnings so how are the numbers in 2025, comparing a complete 2024 with nine rounds so far in 2025? They are up 17% which is impressive although it does come with some provisos which will be mentioned as we go along.

Winners: Wigan is top of the list with a 24,600 average, up 64.8%. They did get a boost playing a game in  Las Vegas but even without that, they have done really well. Hull FC is much improved in terms of performance and the supporters are responding with the attendance average up 29.3%. 

Wakefield returned to the top flight and they also have a nicely refurbished stadium. These two factors have pushed spectator numbers up 40.1% compared to their crowd numbers in the Championship (division 2). The fact that they replaced London means the increase against that club is 147.8% which does add an unavoidable distortion in 2025. 

Salford has been sailing close to the wind financially and without a well heeled backer to rely upon things came to a head in 2025. Unable to play their strongest roster due to restrictions and gradually offloading good players they should never had signed in the first place has affected performances. 

Yet the fans have been remarkably loyal and so far attendance numbers are up 3.4%. Hopefully this sorry state can be sorted and the club will now spend what it can sustainably afford which I'm confident it will. 

Losers: Not the same number of candidates. In terms of attendees, Castleford is the disappointment. Their on field performances are at their usual not too successful standards. Has near neighbour Wakefield's improved situation left them feeling neglected? 

Ceiling dwellers: Hull KR (stadium capacity) and Leigh (population size) have plateaued. I wonder what it would do for KR's average if there was more capacity. I'm thinking the stadium is OK for most games with more popular opponents the times when more seats would be useful. Leigh has a 12,000 stadium so they are presumably at a ceiling. 

France Cup (Lord Derby) : 2024-25

The 17th Earl of Derby donated a cup to the winners of the inaugural winners of the Rugby League cup for the 1934-35 season. That was the first year of French RL also. The Earl's surname was Stanley and his father donated a cup to another sport.

Admission to the competition was for the top two divisions only of twenty teams. Eight played a preliminary knock out round, the four winners from which joined the other twelve. The teams from each division are colour coded as seen to the right..

Round of 16: The match ups and finals scores are as below. Two Elite 2 sides progressed, Carpentras overwhelming another Elite 2 side Tonneins while Villegailhenc upset Elite 1 team Villefranche.

Round of 8: The Elite 2 teams both bowed out at this stage although Villegailhenc put up stout resistance against -admittedly lowly Elite 1 side Toulouse. At the time of these games being played, the top three in the Elite 1 league made the semi final along with bottom placed Toulouse. 

Semi Final: Carcassonne has won the cup the last three times and 16 times since 1950. I was up against a side that last won it back in 1974 and only once even going back to 1950. Carcassonne led 20-12 at the half way mark and on track for another final. 

A ten minute sin bin for an AS player at the resumption opened led to two quick tries for Albi had them in front to establish a lead they didn't relinquish. It was however 30-30 at full time but Albi snatched an intercept try in golden point extra time for the victory. 

The second match was played in wet conditions with the Catalan side narrowly ahead 6-0 at the break. They went on to win 16-0 without looking like losing. 

Final: 5th April.

The youthful Catalan side raced to an early 16-0 before Albi came back to only trail 10-16 at the half time break. Then early in the second half, Albi took the lead 18-16 but were unable to take advantage of that.

Saint-Estève XIII Catalan took the Lord Derby trophy for the first time since 2018 but Albi's last success was in 1974 and its third losing final since 2008. Video highlights can be seen below. The picture can be expanded by clicking on the [ ] box or the YouTube logo.

RL UK & Governance

I live a long way from the UK so maybe I don't understand the situation properly. It could also mean that I focus on the overall situation and don't get sidetracked by details. You decide. 

Those that are aware of RL in the UK understand that the code needs a broader spread of clubs and supporters. A successful London club is an important part of that. The idea that is sometimes floated is that the responsibility falls on the professional SL clubs to grow the game because it is in their long term interest to me seems idealistic. 

SL clubs are doing it tough with reduced media return etc. so that is where their finances go. The only ones likely to sustain a SL presence are those supported by benefactor owners putting in money to keep them viable. That is their primary focus. 

It's easy to talk about what clubs should do but to achieve anything meaningful will involve an ongoing cost so is it realistic to think that will happen? The notion that all the SL clubs will unite in a vision of pursuing the greater good of the game and will put up what's necessary to achieve anything like what's really needed doesn't seem realistic to me. 

So rather than wheel out it's in their best interest mantra, what the sport needs is a strong governing body in the UK. Perhaps that's why the governing body of the sport in Australia (the NRL) getting involved could shift the control of the sport to a neutral governing body overseeing it with the resources required to spread the game and let the clubs do what they are supposed to do, run successful clubs. 

If the game in the UK continues as it is, it will get what is getting and has been getting. RL in the UK needs a major overhaul of its governance and with that finances to help the code grow. Can I see that happening or retention of the status quo? Probably the latter.

On The Road Matches

Does Rugby League do enough to spread the game through taking matches on the road? In Australia it's common for this but to places the game is already played. It's a chance for people there to see top flight RL and creates goodwill between the club and the town they visit.

Then the more risky option of going to a place where the game isn't known and hoping for curious locals to come along. An initiative is going to Las Vegas which has been successful but travelling fans mask the fact that not too many US citizens attend. However, it gets media coverage and in that sense is a success. Plus it gradually wins over the US public. 

The Catalan Dragons in Perpignan, France took a game to Barcelona in 2019. They share a Catalan heritage so that was a help. Over 31,500 turned up when the average for the Dragons at home that year was 8,600. So what a success. It's not been done since and I don't know why but there must be reasons for that. 

So comparing the effect of that game on that year's total attendances with other years around it can be seen on the graph to the right. 2021 was lost to Covid in case you wonder why the gap. 

I did a different colour for 2019 but it does stand out regardless. Some may say it distorts the figures but it spreads awareness of the game and presumably was successful financially.

There is a risk in doing this sort of thing but surely well worth it for the reasons already mentioned. An average in excess of 10,000* for the only time in the Dragons history. I wonder if they will do something like this in future.

*The columns on each side of the graph are thousands. The years covered are from 2015 to 2025 (2025 one game only)

Picture source: Catalan Dragons. 

Las Vegas 2025 Development Matches

 As part of the Rugby League festival in Las Vegas 2025 were development games. In 2024, the USA and Canada played an international which ended 16-16. For 2025, that was expanded as was the main event. For 2025, the USA Men were scheduled to play their Greece counterparts in two games and the women from those nations one game.

Game 1: The first men's USA v Greece game had to be canceled due to vandalism at the ground they were to play at.  

Game 2: The USA Women then took on Greece, the USA the more experienced. The USA raced to a 34-0 lead at half time and the score could have been anything. However, the second half was more even and it ended 46-0. The highlights are below.

Game 3: The USA men took on Greece with high hopes. The Greek side included locals from the fledgling Greek competition but was fortified with players from Australia with Greek heritage. 

It started as a tussle as each side tried to gain ascendancy. The USA led 10-6 heading into half time but Greece struck twice late to lead 18-10. The second half it was all Greece as their experience and fitness started to count. 46-10 to Greece at the end. Highlights below.

Las Vegas 2025

Rugby League went to Las Vegas in 2024 where two opening matches of the Australasian NRL competition were played. Nearly 41,000 spectators went along. In 2025, a repeat of 2024 but with the addition of a UK Super League match and an international women's game. So how did it go?

Game 1: Wigan and Warrington from the UK SL kicked off. Wigan took control and led 24-0 at half time. Warrington did come back but Wigan took it comfortably 48-24.

Game 2: The Canberra Raiders and the NZ Warriors then made their appearance with the Raiders ahead 16-4 at the turn around. They went on to win 30-8 so another clear winner.

Game 3: This was a risk with professional Australia Jillaroos taking on the barely semi-pro England. This had one sided written all over it although the hope was England would lift sufficiently to make it a contest. It was anything but. the 90-4 scoreline was embarrassing and surely will not feature here again.

Game 4: The game of the day was the Penrith v Cronulla clash. 12-10 was the half time score and it ended 28-22 with the result never certain. It would have been nice if other games were closer but that is sport for you. 

Summary: 45,000 spectators were there, up 4,500 on 2024. Some English fans went last year but more this year with a game from the UK included this year. So that probably made the difference. Did locals turn up too? Yes but not an increase from '24. It will make US sports viewers more aware of the code so it may help media deals. Gambling revenue would gain too. 

So a success but one with much potential but patience will be needed as awareness grows for an unknown code in the USA.