It wasn’t long ago Zach Eckersley was playing schoolboy rugby league with Kevin Sinfield’s lad.
But today he’s a Challenge Cup winner after making the most of his unexpected Wembley shot. Remarkably, rookie Eckersley, 20, had only played FOUR times for Wigan before Saturday’s final against Warrington. But after Aussie centre Adam Keighran was hit with a three-game ban, he came in to enjoy a “surreal” time with Matt Peet’s record-breakers.
Eckersley duly scored a try as the Super League champions earned a record-extending 21st Challenge Cup final glory - and became the first side since St Helens in 2007 to hold all four major trophies at the same time. He explained: “Matty called me Monday night after everything came out about the ban. He told me I’d be playing.
“And since then I’ve just been excited, looking forward to it, and nervous as well, which is understandable. It’s only my fifth game for Wigan. But my first Challenge Cup appearance. It’s a bit surreal. When I started the year I didn’t expect to be playing in this game. But everything happens for a reason. Obviously, I feel bad for Adam for what happened to him. But he’s helped me all week. “Credit to him. He’s helped me out with everything.
"All the boys have got around me. But all the lads had trust in me and the coach as well. That’s the main thing. I wasn’t trying to think too much about it. The main thing was just to relax. I knew when the game started I’d come into my own. It was a great experience and I loved every moment of it.”
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Saturday was emotional as a crowd of 64,845 paid tribute to Rob Burrow, just days after the Leeds legend lost his battle with motor neurone disease. Eckersley - who was playing on loan for Barrow, Widnes and London in the Championship last season - hails from Oldham, like Sinfield, who has done so much to raise millions for MND charities.
Eckersley reaches out to score at Wembley (Getty Images)He said: “I’m a Saddleworth boy and obviously Kev’s the biggest name from around Saddleworth. Today was all about Rob Burrow - Kev’s best mate - so it was testament to Rob. He was a great player and it was great to do that for his family. I went to school with Kev’s lad Jack who now plays for Leeds. I’m a year older than him so we played together in school teams. I know they’ve been rooting for me as a local boy.”
Aussie stand-off Bevan French won the Lance Todd Trophy as player of the match as he helped ruthlessly pick apart a Warrington side who wobbled on the big occasion. Wigan prop Mike Cooper was sin-binned inside just two minutes for a swinging arm high tackle on Josh Thewlis. But Warrington were down to 12 men barely 60 seconds later after Matt Dufty caught Liam Marshall high and the Cup final immediately boiled over
Wigan settled best, though, and were 12-2 up in just 23 minutes through Eckersley and French converted tries. Skipper Liam Farrell raced in for their third try before the hour. Dufty’s reply gave Warrington hope but that’s all it was. Eckersley, who had only made his first start as a centre for Wigan the previous week in the Super League game against Wolves, admitted he was shocked when he latched onto French’s grubber kick for his try.
He recalled: “It was a weird moment. All the fans roared and I didn’t really know what to do. I celebrated with the boys and when it came up [from video referee] as a try I was just buzzing. You obviously dream about scoring tries at the best stadiums in the world like Wembley so it’s a dream come true.”
His senior debut was off the bench against Hull KR in 2022 but he didn’t feature again for Wigan until March this year, scoring when playing on the wing in a rout of London. Eckersley had one more appearance off the bench against Castleford before his back-to-back games with Warrington.
He admitted their had been a mad clamour for Wembley tickets once he’d been told by Peet he was playing. Eckersley, set to play at Castleford in Super League on Friday and then at London while Keighran completes his suspension, said: “The club looked after me. They got all the tickets sorted and hotels and stuff like that. That was in the back of my head straight away but the club looked after me early on and sorted it.
Eckersley celebrates his try in the Challenge Cup final (Getty Images)“ I have a big family so a lot of uncles and aunties came down to celebrate the moment. There were 17 of them. I’m close with them all so it was a proud moment.”
Deflated Wolves boss Sam Burgess - in his first Challenge Cup final - conceded: “We didn’t play how we’ve played all year and the players are more disappointed than anybody about that.
“But it’s not the end of us. There’s 14 games to go in the league. That’s 14 opportunities to improve ourselves; then we go again.”
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