The 2007 Carnegie Challenge Cup Final was played by the holders St. Helens and Catalans Dragons at the new

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 25 August 2007. The Dragons were the first French club ever to take part in the competition's final. After a competitive game, St Helens won the competition with a 30 - 8 victory.

Return to Wembley

Wembley Stadium is the traditional home of most major sports finals in England, including Rugby League's

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregat ...

. The original Wembley Stadium has a hosted the Challenge Cup Final almost every year since the 1929 Challenge Cup Final where

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

beat Dewsbury Rams 13 – 2. The only exception to Wembley hosting the final was during the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

where a variety of stadiums were used to host the final and during

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hir ...

where

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

hosted the final. However in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, the Challenge Cup Final moved out of Wembley in preparation for the start of the building of the new stadium in 2003. During this time Murrayfield,

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boro ...

, and the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national r ...

were used to host the final. In 2007 the final returned to Wembley along with most major English sporting finals.

Route to the final

St Helens

St Helens began their Challenge Cup campaign with a fourth round 78–14 thrashing of National League One side

Batley Bulldogs Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

before going on to thrash another National League One side

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

70 points to 10 in the fifth round. The quarter finals saw a comfortable victory over

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

side

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington ...

before another comfortable victory over title rivals

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

put them in the final.

Catalans Dragons

Catalans Dragons began their Challenge Cup campaign with a thrashing of 2007 National League Two side

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "smal ...

70 points to 12. A fifth round victory over

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

saw the Dragons progress to the quarter finals where a narrow away win over

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

, 26 points to 23, put them in the semi-finals. A comfortable win against

of 37 points to 24 placed the Dragons in their first ever

Match details

The man-of-the-match award was shared by Leon Pryce and

Paul Wellens Paul Simon Wellens (born 27 February 1980) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of St Helens in the Betfred Super League and a former professional rugby league footballer. A Great Britain and England interna ...

. Teams: St Helens:

Ade Gardner Adrian Antonio Gardner (born 24 June 1983) is an English former professional rugby league footballer, who spent the vast majority of his career with St Helens in the Super League. He was an England and Great Britain representative er. Ear ...

Matt Gidley Matthew "Matt" Gidley (born 1 July 1977) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and administrator. Gidley played for the Newcastle Knights in the ARL Premiership and the NRL, and St Helens in the Super League, and for New ...

Willie Talau Viliamu "Willie" Talau (born 25 January 1976) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A Samoa and New Zealand international representative , he played in the National Rugby League (NRL) for the Canterb ...

Francis Meli Francis Meli (born 27 April 1979) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A Samoa and New Zealand international representative centre or winger, he played in the National Rugby League for New ...

; Leon Pryce, Sean Long, Nick Fozzard,

Keiron Cunningham Keiron Cunningham (born 28 October 1976) is a professional rugby league coach and former player. A Great Britain and Wales international representative , he played his entire professional career at St Helens, making nearly 500 appearances for ...

Jason Cayless Jason Paul Cayless (born 15 January 1980) is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Parramatta Eels, Sydney Roosters and the Wests Tigers in the NRL and St Hel ...

Lee Gilmour Lee Andrew Gilmour (born 12 March 1978) is an English assistant coach at Wakefield Trinity in the Super League and a former professional rugby league footballer. He played in the Super League for the Wigan Warriors ( Heritage № 911) (wit ...

, Mike Bennett, Jon Wilkin
Subs:

James Roby James William Mark Roby (born 22 November 1985) is an English professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for St Helens in the Super League, and for Great Britain and England at international level. He has played his ent ...

, James Graham, Paul Clough, Maurie Fa'asavalu Coach: Daniel Anderson Catalans:

Clint Greenshields Clint Greenshields (born 11 January 1982) is a former France international rugby league footballer who played as a for the St George Illawarra Dragons and the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL, and for the Catalans Dragons in the Super Lea ...

, Justin Murphy, John Wilson, Sébastien Raguin, Younes Khattabi, Adam Mogg, Stacey Jones (c), Jérôme Guisset, Luke Quigley, Alex Chan, Jason Croker, Cyrille Gossard, Grégory Mounis
Subs: Rémi Casty, David Ferriol, Vincent Duport, Kane Bentley Coach:

Mick Potter Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league footbal ...

Notable attendees

The following attended the final: * Mal Meninga * Andrew Johns * Joe Lydon *

Shaun Edwards Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A or , Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 wi ...

* Sir Steve Redgrave

References

External links

2007 Challenge Cup Final at rlphotos.com
{{2007 in rugby league Challenge Cup finals

Challenge Cup final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregat ...

2007 in French rugby league St Helens R.F.C. matches 2007 sports events in London August 2007 sports events in the United Kingdom