Wigan Warriors 16–12 Penrith Panthers — 2024 World Club Challenge
DW Stadium, Wigan · Attendance: 24,091
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
2024 World Club Challenge: Wigan Warriors 16–12 Penrith Panthers, at DW Stadium, Wigan.
Sourcing caveat: Try-scoring minutes are sourced from Wikipedia/rugbyleagueproject.org aggregation rather than an independently cross-confirmed play-by-play account — reasonably reliable but not triple-verified. "Player of the match" reflects BBC Sport's own report language rather than a confirmed official award.
Scoring timeline
| 8′ | Wigan Warriors — try, Miski |
| 27′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Cleary |
| 34′ | Wigan Warriors — try, Leeming |
| 39′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Edwards |
| 53′ | Wigan Warriors — try, Wardle |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here.
Scorers
| Wigan Warriors | Tries: Miski 8'; Leeming 34'; Wardle 53' Goals: Smith (2/3 conversions) |
| Penrith Panthers | Tries: Cleary 27'; Edwards 39' Goals: Cleary (2/2 conversions) |
Teams
| Wigan Warriors | Penrith Panthers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jai Field | Fullback | Dylan Edwards | 1 |
| 2 | Abbas Miski | Wing | Sunia Turuva | 2 |
| 3 | Adam Keighran | Centre | Izack Tago | 3 |
| 4 | Jacob Wardle | Centre | Taylan May | 4 |
| 5 | Liam Marshall | Wing | Brian To'o | 5 |
| 6 | Bevan French | Five-eighth | Jack Cole | 6 |
| 7 | Harry Smith | Halfback | Nathan Cleary | 7 |
| 14 | Mike Cooper | Front row | Moses Leota | 8 |
| 9 | Bradley O'Neill | Hooker | Mitch Kenny | 9 |
| 10 | Liam Byrne | Front row | James Fisher-Harris | 10 |
| 11 | Willie Isa | Second row | Luke Garner | 11 |
| 12 | Liam Farrell | Second row (c) | Liam Martin | 12 |
| 13 | Kaide Ellis | Lock | Isaah Yeo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 15 | Patrick Mago | Tyrone Peachey | 14 | |
| 17 | Kruise Leeming | Lindsay Smith | 15 | |
| 19 | Tyler Dupree | Liam Henry | 16 | |
| 20 | Harvie Hill | Matt Eisenhuth | 17 | |
| Matt Peet | Coach | Ivan Cleary | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Liam Moore |
| Player of the match | Bevan French (Wigan) — BBC Sport's own designation, not confirmed as an official league award |
Match report
Wigan claimed a record-equalling fifth World Club Challenge title, edging out NRL premiers Penrith in a tight, contentious contest. Despite being outplayed territorially for long stretches, Wigan were clinical when it mattered: Abbas Miski opened the scoring early, Kruise Leeming extended the lead, and a marginal, video-review-assisted try to Jake Wardle proved decisive in the second half. Penrith fought back through Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards to close within four points, and had a grandstand finish denied when a potential match-levelling try in the final play was ruled out on review for inconclusive evidence — a call that sparked debate afterwards. Stand-off Bevan French was singled out as the game's outstanding performer. Wigan coach Matt Peet credited his side's refusal to give in, while Penrith's Ivan Cleary conceded Wigan had been clinical when needed. The result continued Penrith's frustrating record in the fixture despite being reigning NRL champions.This match belonged to the modern, annual World Club Challenge era, pitting that season's NRL Premiers directly against the same season's Super League Grand Final winners in a single fixture. The fixture as a whole began as a single unofficial match in 1976 and was repeated only sporadically through the 1980s and early 1990s: it wasn't played at all in 1988, 1990, 1993, or 1995-96, the last of those gaps caused by the Super League War splitting Australian rugby league into two rival competitions. The 1997 attempt to relaunch it as a 22-club, two-conference "World Club Championship" — five Australasian clubs touring Europe and five European clubs touring Australasia simultaneously — reportedly lost more than $5 million and was shelved for three years. It returned in 2000 as the simple one-off match still used today, missing only during the brief 2015-2017 multi-match "World Club Series" expansion (when the marquee fixture still determined the World Club Challenge title, alongside several other NRL-Super League pairings played the same week) and the 2021-2022 Covid-19 cancellations and the 2025 withdrawal by Penrith Panthers. The result here was Wigan Warriors' 5th World Club Challenge title and the 30th staging of the fixture since its unofficial 1976 debut.