THURSDAY February 19, 2026 – now guaranteed to be one of the more momentous dates in British history, because of an early-morning arrest in north Norfolk. 

But in east Hull, and wherever Rugby League Robins reside, the 66th birthday of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had a much more positive significance – the night their club became world champions.

The 39-year history of the World Club Challenge has had its fair share of occasions which merited the phrase “you had to be there”. 

Wigan-Manly in 1987, obviously – not least because the match wasn’t televised. Widnes-Canberra at Old Trafford was also a memorable night, to see those lurid lime green Raiders jerseys being worn by the likes of Belcher, Daley and Meninga – and the super-slick visitors beaten by the brilliance of Doug Laughton’s Chemics.

It must have been fantastic to be at Brisbane’s ANZ Stadium in June 1994 for Wigan’s stunning victory over the Broncos – although the atmosphere in an open Australian venue perhaps a few notches down on a northern winter’s night.

It was the weather that made St Helens’ two wins against the Broncos at the Reebok so memorable, with bitter cold throughout and a well-timed blizzard coinciding with a famous Saints comeback in 2001 – while of Leeds’s three WCC wins between 2005-12, the last, against Manly, was the most enjoyable, mainly because it was at Headingley rather than Elland Road.

And doubtless for the Saints diehards who travelled to Penrith for their stunning victory in the Panthers lair in 2023, and the Wigan fans who have enjoyed World Club triumphs at their own DW base against Cronulla in 2017 and Penrith seven years later, they too were matches not to be forgotten.

Now we have another classic World Club Challenge occasion to add to the archive, one that certainly hasn’t been bettered, in my experience – even by the Wigan-Manly original, albeit there was a greater defensive intensity and brutality to that tryless battle compared to the high-scoring 2026 edition.

The key feature of this year’s match was that it was in Hull, and an overdue celebration of a great Rugby League city – arguably where the sport means the most to the largest proportion of the population, perhaps the only place in the northern hemisphere where league enjoys a stature to that taken for granted in large chunks of Queensland and New South Wales.

There was evidence of that in the relay organised by BBC Radio Humberside to get the match ball from east Hull to west; in the city’s response to hosting Broncos supporters over the last few days, as well as the players themselves; and of course in the rapidity of the 24,600 sell-out, the latter albeit helped by the novelty value as the Robins became only the sixth British club to play in a World Club Challenge.

And didn’t Hull KR put on a show? The pre-match presentation was slick and perfectly-judged – even if it was a funny old night to sing God Save the King. Then the Robins players produced a performance which ensured the atmosphere never relented – and a note here too for a coaching masterclass from Willie Peters, most obviously for the kicking game that highlighted surprising vulnerability in the Broncos back three.

Twenty-seven years since his first experience of British Rugby League as a fresh-faced halfback with Gateshead Thunder, what an impact he has made.

Of course that kicking game was delivered by Mikey Lewis. For all the stick he takes, much of it hard to argue with, you can only admire the mental strength needed to bounce back from the sort of shocker Lewis had seven days earlier at York, which itself followed an Ashes series in which he struggled to make an impact. 

Here he went mostly from rocks to diamonds again – albeit with a very large pebble in the shape of the failure to find touch late on which handed the Broncos one last chance to snatch a victory which would have been unlikely even by their standards. Mikey will never be dull.

The irresistible speed of Brisbane’s attacks during the last half hour, and specifically of Reece Walsh, also merited that “had to be there” description – as did the astonishing 80-minute performance, sheer bulk and occasional athleticism of Payne Haas, who spent a fair chunk of the match hobbling, but still left the fans around me in awe.

Yet Haas, Walsh, Adam Reynolds, Michael Maguire and the rest of the Broncos still ended up on the losing side, a third WCC defeat in England for the Queensland aristocrats since their sole triumph in the fixture at Central Park in 1992.

That was a huge tribute to Peters and all his heroic Robins, among whom Jez Litten and Dean Hadley deservedly shared the individual honours, with Elliot Minchella scoring a try and lifting yet another trophy – reviving memories of Ian Millward describing Chris Joynt as “a Rugby League icon” through his often unsung leadership of those Saints world club champions of the past.

These 2025-26 Robins will be icons now – while more widely, this was surely a well-timed result for the Super League in terms of reinforcing key messages to the NRL, after the damp squib of England’s Ashes performances.

It’s now three matches and six years since the NRL could last boast the world club champions. You’d think that whoever wins the 2026 Grand Final in Sydney in nine months time will be keen to take up the Challenge.