DENIS BETTS has hailed his Wigan Warriors players for reaching their first Challenge Cup final – but warned it’s just the start of the club’s journey.
Wigan dominated Leeds Rhinos to secure a trip to Wembley, ending a run of five successive major semi-final defeats across league and cup.
Betts said: “The girls trained really hard in pre-season with an eye on this game.
“We were up and down all week because of the significance of it for us as a team.
“After a bit of an edgy start, once we got some points on the board, we fell back into how we’ve been playing. Our attack has been really sharp.
“I’m really proud of the whole group. It’s easy to look at lots of different things and not look at the talent in the team.
“The girls are fantastic, they’re working so hard and they’re getting better. It’s a testament to them, seeing where we’ve come from last year to this year.
“There’s the support of the club and everything that goes with it, but the girls turn up and they did that today.”
However, Betts stressed that their semi-final win was not considered “success”, with a final to come as well as their Women’s Super League campaign beginning against York Valkyrie next Friday.
“Once they leave the changing rooms, that’s it and they think about York,” he added.
“That’s a bit cruel for me, I know! But the girls have already said it themselves. It’s a journey this year, and this was a part of that.
“We can enjoy the day, we can enjoy what’s happened and it’s been a fantastic experience, but that’s not the success we’re after – it’s just part of the process.”
Meanwhile Lois Forsell cut a frustrated figure as her Leeds side failed to reach the Challenge Cup final for the first time since 2021 and were not just beaten but outplayed.
“It was a really disappointing first half from us, first and foremost,” she admitted.
“We gave ourselves far too much to do. You can’t turn up to semi-finals and start the way that we did.
“The points scored against us were really disappointing, if I’m being honest.
“We’ve got some tough lessons to learn around how we turn the ball around and how we control a game. The points they scored were mostly off penalties or errors.
“We did front up in the second half and did some things better but still not consistently enough.
“We lost Bella Sykes to a concussion, Izzy Northrop came off for a HIA, Ruby Walker came off with her ankle and Connie Boyd with her ankle, so the bench was obliterated in the second half.”
Forsell complimented Wigan, who had lost to the Rhinos at the semi-final stage in each of the past two years.
“They performed a lot better. We knew they were going to be tough and I think they performed well,” she said.
“The try at the back end of the second half showed that we did flatter them at times, but full credit to Denis and his side because they stuck to the game plan a lot better than we did.”
