• Challenge Cup final: Warrington Wolves beat St Helens at Wembley

• England must stay humble after Ireland rout, urges Billy Vunipola

• Bob Willis' England ratings: Ben Stokes' ball-striking up there with Ian Botham

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Challenge Cup final: Warrington Wolves beat St Helens at Wembley

Warrington celebrate winning the Challenge Cup final at Wembley

Warrington Wolves finally got one over on St Helens at the fourth time of asking in 2019 as they triumphed 18-4 to lift the Challenge Cup.

The deadlock was eventually broken after an end-to-end opening quarter at Wembley when Joe Philbin powered over on 25 minutes for the Wolves' first try of the game against the League Leaders' Shield winners, who had beaten them three times in Super League so far this season.

He was followed soon after by Ben Murdoch-Masila, with Stefan Ratchford converting both to put Warrington 12-0 up at half-time.

Theo Fages gave Saints a glimmer of hope with an unconverted score following a long spell of pressure after the break, but Lance Todd Trophy winner Daryl Clark's try inside the final 10 minutes put the seal on Warrington's first triumph since 2012.

St Helens went into the game as favourites to claim the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2008, having swept all before them in Super League so far this year, having already wrapped up the League Leaders' Shield at the start of this month and aiming to keep their treble hopes alive.

Warrington were without star half-back Blake Austin too - Ben Currie lining up alongside Declan Patton at stand-off - due to injury, but it was Steve Price's side who were celebrating when the full-time hooter sounded at Wembley.

The result served to banish memories 12 months ago when the Wolves were victims of an upset of their own, losing to French side Catalans Dragons, and saw Price claim his first trophy as head coach of the Cheshire club.

It was a result founded on Warrington's immense defensive effort - something Price had called on his side to improve in the build-up to this match. Opposite number Justin Holbrook, meanwhile, will be left to rue the uncharacteristic errors his side came up with.

Saints were perhaps unfortunate not to take the lead when television replays suggested Morgan Knowles got the ball down in-goal, but the on-field call by the match officials decided not to refer to the video referee, while Mark Percival had a possible score ruled out as well.

The opening quarter was a high-intensity back and forth from both teams though, but two mistakes from the favourites led to Warrington seizing the initiative.

The first came in the 25th minute when the Wolves got a repeat set following a knock-on from a pass and that led to hooker Clark setting up interchange forward Philbin to power his way over under the posts from around 20 metres out, giving Ratchford a simple conversion attempt.

Eight minutes later, full-back Lachlan Coote spilled a high kick which led to a scrum and Warrington turned the screw, working the ball left and then back across to the right wing where Jack Hughes set up Murdoch-Masila to step on the gas and burst through a gap for a second converted score.

St Helens roared back after the break and a superb last-ditch tackle from Bryson Goodwin denied Tommy Makinson a score as the winger dived for the corner with an outstretched arm five mintues after the restart.

England must stay humble after Ireland rout, urges Billy Vunipola

England posted their greatest winning margin and highest scoreline against Ireland

Billy Vunipola is thriving on the back of three starts in a row for England

Billy Vunipola has urged England to stay humble as expectations over their World Cup prospects heightened with Saturday's 57-15 rout of Ireland at Twickenham.

Eight tries were engineered against a team also considered title contenders for this autumn's global showpiece in a statement performance that was tainted only by the recurrence of Mako Vunipola's hamstring injury.

A greatest winning margin and highest scoreline were posted against Ireland in the third of four warm-up Tests and, while the summer serves as the phoney war ahead of the main event in Japan, England will have sent a shiver through their rivals.

Billy Vunipola is wary of the acclaim that will accompany the outcome of their Twickenham send-off, however.

"The biggest thing is for us to stay humble. Now everyone is going to pump up our tyres because we did well this week, but it was only last week that everyone was hammering us," the Saracens number eight said.

"The biggest danger is the other side of the coin. We need to keep our feet firmly on the ground and keep working.

"At the moment we're in a good place but I don't think a good place can win you a World Cup and we want to keep improving.

"We didn't let up. There were times that we could have taken our foot off the accelerator, but this showed we can take teams to a place where they're not comfortable.

"We're pretty happy with it but satisfied is probably the wrong term, we always want to improve. There's parts of our game that probably let us down."

Manu Tuilagi was unstoppable and Joe Cokanasiga helped himself to two tries, but it was the pack who really carried the fight to opponents who missed the opportunity to claim first place in the world rankings.

And Ireland's surrender was secured not only by the power of England's forwards, but also as a result of their willingness to prolong moves through their crisp handling.

"We're always trying to add things to our game and having props that can play with the ball in hand," Vunipola said.

"It was only last year that (Ireland prop) Tadhg Furlong was leading in terms of that facet of the game, so we're learning off other people as much as each other.
"It was awesome to see Kyle Sinckler put someone through a hole. I'm not sure about the celebrations but it was great to watch!

"The key there is to make defences think. When you start doing things really well, teams will start analysing it and start waiting for it, almost anticipating it.

"We are not trying to give too much away but to see Tom Curry's try was pretty awesome.

"Three forwards setting up a try between us was great to see and it is
something we have been working on."

While Billy Vunipola is thriving on the back of three starts in a row, placing distance behind him and a torrid spell of injuries, his elder brother Mako faces an anxious wait for news on his hamstring problem.
The world-class Lions prop underwent surgery at the end of last season and was making his comeback as a second-half replacement against Ireland before it was aborted shortly before the end.

"I talked to Mako but he hasn't given me too much. All I've got is 'yeah, I feel all right, I'm okay'," Vunipola said.

Bob Willis' England ratings: Ben Stokes' ball-striking up there with Ian Botham

Ben Stokes reflects on his incredible, unbeaten century on day four of the third Ashes Test

Bob Willis congratulated Ben Stokes on 'out-Bothaming Botham' in the wake of his stunning, match-winning century in the third Ashes Test - but how did he grade the rest of England's players?

Find out below as he dishes out the scores after an extraordinary match at Headingley, in which England rallied from being bundled out for 67 to pull off one of the greatest Test wins of all time...

Rory Burns - 5/10

He bats very bravely and showed plenty of guts in this Test but the Australians have sorted him out with the short ball. It's a technical problem he'll have to work on but he deserves to keep his place.

####Jason Roy - 3/10

Most of us knew two Test matches ago that Jason isn't the answer at the top of the order. He should have batted at five or six in the last two Tests. He doesn't look equipped to play against this Australian attack with this red Dukes ball.

Joe Root - 7/10

England's best player batted beautifully in the second innings, making only one mistake and that cost him his wicket. It was a terrific innings which set a great example for the rest of the team. He's got one or two shortcomings as a captain and needs to think about the number of overs Chris Woakes bowls and giving Ben Stokes 14 overs on the trot. That can't quite by right.

####Joe Denly - 6/10

He fought bravely in the second innings but it does worry me when he takes his eye off the short balls whistling past his nose - I think he's going to get clattered on the head every single time. Hopefully he can find a way to put those airy wafts outside off-stump away.

Ben Stokes - 10/10

He'd put in a remarkable innings even before day four had begun! His bowling spells on days two and three showed stamina, strength and resilience. We then saw him out-Bothaming Botham in 1981 with that extraordinary innings; he showed a terrific temperament and played some incredible shots. He has immense confidence in his own ability and was always encouraging his team-mates at the other end. You won't see anything better than that in Test cricket.

Jos Buttler - 4/10

He was sold down the river in the second innings by England's hero but that shouldn't hide the fact that he seems well out of sorts with the bat. He battled well at Lord's against Nathan Lyon when the pitch was turning. I'm sure England will stick with him but he's having a really rough time.

Jonny Bairstow - 7/10

It was an important innings on the last day - I was impressed with his positivity; it was just a shame that lunchtime came along when it did and he then played that speculative shot after the interval. He made a couple of mistakes behind the stumps but it wasn't an easy ground to keep wicket on with the ball coming through at varying heights.

Chris Woakes - 5/10

He has become a bit of a conundrum for Joe Root. He didn't bowl as much as we expected at Lord's, his favourite ground, and continues to disappear for long spells from the attack. We don't yet know if James Anderson is going to feature in the rest of the series, but it seems as though Woakes will almost certainly be the man to give way even if that does weaken England's batting. It was a disappointing Test for him; Australia's bowlers have sorted him out with the short stuff. He fell hook-line-and-sinker for the short-ball, pitched-up ball ploy.

Jofra Archer - 8/10

He just keeps delivering! He was perhaps a little bit fortunate to end up with a six-for in the first innings but he didn't have to bowl electrifyingly quick in those perfect conditions on the first day, proving he's a very intelligent bowler. He's still capable of smacking people on the head and body, almost at will. I'm not quite sure he got the tempo of his innings right on the final afternoon but he fancied having a dip! What a couple of great Test matches to be involved in at the start of your career!

tuart Broad - 7/10

He bowled beautifully on day one and is pitching the ball up more and more, which is paying dividends. He has benefitted from not having to go through the rigours of the World Cup and looks very fresh; he bowled with good pace and control. It's just a shame that his batting has gone backwards.

Jack Leach - 8/10