Rugby League-St Helens claim Challenge Cup after comeback win over Castleford

St Helens pulled off a remarkable second-half comeback to win the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2008, defeating Castleford Tigers 26-12 in the final at Wembley on Saturday.

St Helens pulled off a remarkable second-half comeback to win the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2008, defeating Castleford Tigers 26-12 in the final at Wembley on Saturday. Castleford was on track for their first Challenge Cup triumph since 1986 after some scintillating attacking play to go ahead 12-6 at the interval through tries from Niall Evalds and Jake Trueman.

But St Helens coach Kristian Woolf sent on 2020 Super League grand final hero Jack Welsby for the second half in place of try-scorer Theo Fages and he helped flip the script as they scored 20 points without reply in front of 40,000 fans. Tries from captain James Roby, Tommy Makinson and Kyle Amor plus the kicking of Lachlan Coote secured the Saints' 13th Challenge Cup victory.

"It's been a long time coming, I hope it's not so long until we win it again," Roby said. "We probably started the better of the two teams but then they got on top and halftime came at a good time for us.

"We then came out with a positive response and held out for the rest of the game." The result also denied Castleford boss Daryl Powell a major trophy in his farewell season at the club.

"We created opportunities but we weren't quite clinical enough," Powell said. "It's tough to take. It hurts physically when you lose games like these."