2016 Super League Grand Final

8 October 2016

Warrington Wolves	6–12	Wigan Warriors
Tries: Patton 21' Goals: Patton (1/1) 22'		Tries: Gildart 55' Charnley 63' Goals: Smith (2/4) 8', 74'

Old Trafford, Manchester Attendance: 70,202 Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham)

Warrington Wolves		Position	Wigan Warriors
6	Stefan Ratchford	Fullback	4	Dan Sarginson
2	Tom Lineham	Wing	2	Josh Charnley
3	Rhys Evans	Centre	3	Anthony Gelling
4	Ryan Atkins	Centre	20	Oliver Gildart
5	Matty Russell	Wing	22	Lewis Tierney
1	Kurt Gidley	Stand-off	6	George Williams
26	Declan Patton	Scrum-half	7	Matty Smith
10	Ashton Sims	Prop	24	Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
9	Daryl Clark	Hooker	16	Sam Powell
8	Chris Hill (c)	Prop	10	Ben Flower
12	Jack Hughes	Second-row	12	Liam Farrell
27	Sam Wilde	Second-row	14	John Bateman
14	Joe Westerman	Loose forward	25	Willie Isa
7	Chris Sandow	Interchange	8	Dom Crosby
18	George King	Interchange	13	Sean O'Loughlin (c)
24	Toby King	Interchange	19	Taulima Tautai
33	Ryan Bailey	Interchange	21	Ryan Sutton
	Tony Smith	Coach		Shaun Wane

Wigan opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a penalty goal from Matty Smith due to teammate, John Bateman, being held too long in a tackle.

In the 17th minute, Wigan dotted the ball on the line out wide with Charnley, however the try wasn't awarded, due to a flick from Gelling which went forward due to pressure from Warrington's defence. This was Wigan's only notable effort in the first half as errors, such as this one, from both teams cost them opportunities.

However, in the 21st minute, Warrington did score, thanks to a try from Declan Patton, who was only making his 9th appearance of the season. He then converted his own try to give his team a 6–2 lead, which they'd hold onto until half-time.^[4]

In the 54th minute, Ryan Atkins made his way over the try-line for Warrington. However, referee Robert Hicks sent the final decision to Video Referee Ben Thaler, as he couldn't see whether or not the ball was grounded on the try-line, after 5 Wigan players were tackling Atkins. Eventually after a short delay, Hicks' initial TRY decision was overturned by video referee, Ben Thaler, due to Atkins seen losing control of the ball before he could get it down.^[5]

A minute later, Liam Farrell broke Warrington's defensive line, and then gave a pass off to Oliver Gildart, who'd go on to score the 100th Super League Grand Final try. After kicking from a wide angle, Matty Smith was unable to convert and the scores remained level.

In the 63rd minute, Josh Charnley wasn't denied this time around, scoring after grounding the departing team member Dan Sarginson's grubber in the in-goal area. Matty Smith again had to convert from out wide, but he again failed to capitalise on the extra 2 points.

Smith then finally added another two points, courtesy of a penalty goal, conceded by Daryl Clark. The penalty-goal made the score 12–6 to Wigan with only 6 minutes remaining. After this moment, all the chances belonged to Warrington, but Wigan's defence stood up when it mattered most, tackling players out of play and tackling them on the 5th tackle, to create a turnover each time. Wigan held on to win their 4th Super League title.^[6]

Wigan's victory was their fourth Super League title.^[7]

Liam Farrell won the Harry Sunderland Trophy.

The match was also the last for Sky Sports commentator, and former Great Britain international, Mike Stephenson, after 26 years of commentating the sport.^[8]

By winning this match Wigan had qualified for the World Club Series Final, to be played at DW Stadium against the winners of the 2016 NRL Grand Final, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Warrington, as the runners up, would play 2016 NRL Grand Final runners up Melbourne Storm at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The third game would have seen Challenge Cup champions Hull F.C. take on Canberra Raiders at KCOM Stadium. However circumstances later dictated that only Wigan and Warrington would play games, against Cronulla and Brisbane Broncos respectively.