Rugby League’s Challenge Cup 2013
will be defended by the Warrington Wolves, who beat the Leeds Rhino’s
in last year’s showcase at Wembley Stadium, London. This is the
exciting premier cup of Rugby League, where teams from across Europe
can take their shots against the big guns from other leagues in a
straight knockout competition, which usually offer some big thrills
and spills. Last year’s final was actually a repeat of the 2010
Challenge Cup final, with Warrington also winning on that occasion.
It has been an immensely prosperous tournament for the Wolves in
recent times, having won in it in three of the last four season. It
is little surprise then that the Super League side will be heading up
the market as favourites again this year.
Even ahead of the launch of the 2013 Challenge Cup, the active rugby league betting market was trending
well towards the Warrington Wolves. With their recent record, it
would be hard to ignore their presence. They are one of the top sides
in England and you don’t get three titles in four years by fluke.
So who are the main movers and shakers behind the outright
favouritism of the Warrington Wolves? Actually there isn’t so much
favouritism this time around as Wigan have been matching up against
Warrington very well. It has helped that the Wigan Warriors have
already gotten the 2013 Super League off to a good start and they
were semi finals of last season’s Challenge Cup, falling to the
Leeds Rhinos.
Wigan are the most successful club in
the history of the Challenge Cup. Wigan have taken the title 18 teams
in history and their last win was only as recently as 2011, so they
will probably be back knocking on the door again. Originally the
Challenge Cup was only for British teams, but then got expanded to
include French and Russian teams as well. However, only British
teams have ever won the Challenge Cup, so it’s not worth looking
outside that. As well as losing to the Leeds Rhinos in the semi of
the Challenge Cup last season, Wigan also lost in the semi’s of the
Super League play offs, after topping the regular season table,
almost running up 1000 points scored. So they are still one of the
powerhouses and should flex their muscles.
But what of the Leeds Rhino’s? They
keep getting mentioned and yet they keep trading back in the pecking
order of favourites, because of their questionable league form
sometimes. They lost last year’s Challenge Cup final but after
finishing fifth in the Super League, they did power to the Super
League title through the play-offs, both of the final matches in
those two tournaments coming against the Warrington Wolves. Turning
focus back to the Challenge Cup itself, Leeds have lost the last
three finals in a row, and no-one has finished runner up in the
tournament more times than Leeds. Their last win came all the way
back in 1999, but they keep knocking on the door and yet keep falling
short.
Will their luck change this year? With
a decent start under their belt in the new Super League, especially
with a tight defence, they should be around the business end of the
2013 Challenge Cup. But it looks as if Leeds, along with Hull and St
Helens will all be ceding prominence to the powerhouse duo of
Warrington and Wigan. Will it be one of those two market leaders who
go on claim the title this year? The best option outside of British
clubs with be the French unit, the Catalans Dragons, who were a
Challenge Cup quarter final side last year, but lost to Warrington.
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