Wigan thrash St Helens 44-6 in Super Four opener

Wigan Warriors opened the new Super Four with a 44-6 win at St Helens, turning the latest instalment of rugby league’s sharpest women’s derby into a one-sided statement. The result gave the Rugby Football League’s new split-season format an emphatic first verdict, but not the balanced title race the competition was meant to create.

The Super Four and Shield structure was revealed in July 2026 after the regular season ended, with the Women’s Super League returning that week under the new format. St Helens and Wigan were also one of five Women’s Super League fixtures Sky Sports said it would show live in 2026, underlining how heavily the competition still leans on elite rivalries to draw attention.

That reliance was visible again in the scoreline. Wigan have now beaten St Helens in a run of huge meetings that includes a 32-28 league win on 27 June 2026, a 54-6 Challenge Cup final victory at Wembley Stadium on 30 May 2026, and a 16-12 triumph in the 2025 Grand Final. BBC Sport said that Grand Final was played in front of a record crowd of 5,018, and it came after Wigan completed a domestic treble by winning the Women’s Challenge Cup, the League Leaders’ Shield and the title.

The latest derby also sat against a backdrop of Wigan’s growing grip on the women’s game. Sky Sports reported on 5 September 2025 that Wigan had clinched the League Leaders’ Shield for the first time in their history after beating St Helens, a result that helped establish the rivalry as the league’s defining fixture. St Helens had framed the game as part of a double-header of Derby Day action, but the contest itself quickly became another measure of how far ahead the top sides remain.

That is the question hanging over the new Super Four. The format was designed to concentrate the decisive part of the season into a smaller group and keep the championship race alive longer, yet the opening game offered little evidence that it will narrow the gap at the top. Wigan’s 38-point win showed both the pull of the rivalry and the challenge for the Women’s Super League: keep the biggest matches compelling while building enough balance for the rest of the competition to matter.