Wigan 16-32 St Helens
St Helens avenged their final defeat of 2002 with a crushing win over rivals Wigan in the Powergen Challenge Cup final today.
Tries from Lee Gilmour, Willie Calau and Paul Wellens gave Saints the edge in an action packed first half at the Millennium Stadium.
Further scores from Paul Sculthorpe and Calau, as well as six goals from Lance Todd trophy winner Sean Long, made victory safe.
Gilmour, a cup winner with Bradford last year, opened the scoring against another of his former clubs after Calau capitalised on a poor Kris Radlinski kick. Wigan responded with their first try when Andy Farrell cleverly switched the play inside and Adrian Lam kicked ahead for Terry Newton to score.
Long produced a well weighted kick for Calau to edge Saints back in front but Wigan again responded as Newton found Lam in space to put Brett Dallas over.
Wellens forced his way over for Saint's third just before the break and Darren Albert was denied by a brilliant Radlinski tackle after the restart. Saint's fourth try eventually came when Kevin Brown spilled the ball and Sculthorpe was on hand to capitalise.
At 28-10 the game looked beyond Wigan but Dallas offered hope when he raced onto a Brown pass to score his second try. But it was to prove short-lived as Long gathered his own kick and fed to Gilmour, who provided Calau with his second.