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Wigan cruise past Hull at Wembley

Iain Thornley opened the scoring for Wigan © Getty Images

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Wigan Warriors have won the Challenge Cup final after beating Hull FC 16-0 in a tense affair at Wembley.

It was the third time the two teams have met in rugby league's showpiece event following two previous finals in 1959 and 1985, which were also won by Wigan.

Wigan booked their place at Wembley with a 70-0 rout over the London Broncos, while Hull edged defending champions Warrington 16-12.

The victory means Wigan have won the Challenge Cup for a 19th time, and did it without conceding a single point in either the semi-finals or the final - the first clean sheet in a final since St Helens in 1989.

The first score came on 21 minutes when Warriors centre Iain Thornley went over, and it remained that way until the final minute when full-back Sam Tomkins completed the win in an error-strewn contest.

Pat Richards converted both and kicked two penalties as Hull's curse of never having won at Wembley continued.

Wigan's Matty Smith was voted man of the match to win the Lance Todd Trophy.

Wigan coach Shaun Wane told BBC Sport: "We had six players out there who probably wouldn't have played if it had been a normal Super League game, but we showed what character we have at this club.

"We won the League Leaders' Shield last season and got slaughtered for it and we've been written off the last few weeks, so to come here and win at Wembley is tremendous.

"I've always the emphasised to the players just how important this trophy is to our club and how proud we are of our history.

"But I can't quite put into words just how proud I am of the players today. We made errors too but we just seemed to manage it a bit better. And the thing that pleased me most was getting the nil."

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