THEY’VE done it - Warrington Wolves will be back at Wembley for the Challenge Cup Final on Saturday, August 27.

A convincing thrashing of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats at Leigh Sports Village means The Wire and Hull FC will meet in the prestigious competition’s decider for the first time.

Other than conceding the first try, everything seemed to go to plan for Tony Smith’s troops this afternoon as they secured a fourth appearance in the final in eight years.

The response was clinical as a 24-6 lead was built-up by half time with tries from Jack Hughes, Daryl Clark, Rhys Evans and Kurt Gidley, who added three conversions and a penalty.

Wolves ran riot in the second half, with Chris Sandow’s 45th-minute score putting The Wire four scores ahead and it was all one-way traffic after that in front of a 10,358 crowd.

Stefan Ratchford, Ben Currie, Toby King twice and Ben Westwood wrapped up the try scoring, with Gidley adding two more conversions.

Unlike in last year’s semi-final loss to Hull KR, the heavy favourites meant business from the start against a Wakefield side that turned them over at Belle Vue 36-28 in May.

Fired up and focused, a 40-20 in the first set from Chris Sandow put Wire on the front foot but a Ben Currie grubber on the last tackle ran dead as the chance for an early score went begging.

Wakefield struck the first blow on their first attack in the fourth minute.

On the back of a Stefan Ratchford knock on around the 30-metre line, Wildcats surged at the Warrington line and fast hands to the left allowed stand off Jacob Miller to loop the ball over the top for Craig Hall to walk over. Finn added the goal from the touchline.

The Wire sought an early response but the Wakefield defence held firm as their line was pounded and Chris Hill was held up short before Sandow’s grubber was too strong and rolled out of play.

Territory advantage was all with Warrington at that stage though and the pressure was building.

Wolves made the possession domination count when Hughes used all of his strength to force his way over from a Kurt Gidley feed in the 15th minute, and Gidley’s success with the boot left the sides all square.

On the next set Hughes was held down after taking an inside pass on an angled route towards the line and referee Gareth Hewer adjudged the Wakefield defence to have held him down too long.

Gidley immediately elected for goal from 15 metres out and it was 8-6 after 19 minutes.

The Wire set about turning the screw and from Max Jowitt’s spillage deep inside Wakefield territory they crossed again.

Gidley rushed his troops to set up position on the left and it proved to be the perfect decoy as Daryl Clark darted right from dummy half and through a huge whole. Again Gidley converted for 14-6 after 24 minutes.

And the barrage continued from the restart as Wolves pumped their way down field and Gidley’s delicate little kick earned another set through a drop out.

Again Wolves made it count as dummy runs from Ben Westwood and Joe Westerman tied up the defence for Hughes to loop a lovely pass for Rhys Evans to cross in the corner. Although Gidley missed his kick for the first time, Wolves were in command at 18-6 after 28 minutes.

There was a scare when Jason Walton made a clean break for Wakefield but with a three-on-one overlap he fluffed his lines and Ratchford did enough to halt his progress while Westwood completed the tackle.

Wildcats were made to pay when Tony Smith’s side struck again through Gidley, who somehow squeezed his arm out of a three-man tackle to plant the ball down. He added the goal kick too as the last act of the first half.

Within five minutes of the second period it was all over.

Matty Russell had a try chalked off for losing possession over the line after cutting in off his wing, but there was no stopping Sandow on the next attack of the Wakefield line.

The scrum half was in place to accept an offload from Atkins and jinked his way over in front of the bouncing Wolves supporters. Gidley missed but at 28-6 Wakefield were needing to score four times to get back in front.

Atkins was the provider again from the next set, sending Russell clear down the left wing and finding his support runner Ratchford on the inside with a perfectly timed pass to leave full back Jowitt helpless. No mistakes from Gidley as his boot pushed The Wire ever closer to Wembley.

It got worse for Wakefield when David Fifita ended up in the sin bin for a high tackle on Sandow, which prompted something of a melee in the centre of the field.

Wakefield attempted to find a way back with 12 men but it soon went wrong for them again.

Russell intercepted Reece Lyne’s pass to tear away for the next score. Although he was stopped 20 metres short of the line by Ben Jones-Bishop, a quick play-the-ball allowed Ben Currie to storm over down the narrow side. Gidley booted Wolves to the 40-point mark with 54 minutes gone.

When a kick left Wakefield scrambling desperately Brad Dwyer kicked ahead again and Toby King won the race to dive on the ball over the line. Gidley’s conversion was his last act as Smith run the changes.

Although Joe Westerman and Toby King took over in the halves, Wolves remained in charge and Bennie Westwood got in on the act by muscling his way over.

A fine long-range try finished off by Jowitt for Wakefield was mere consolation, even at the 68th minute stage with Finn’s extras only cutting the gap to 52-12.

Credit to Wakefield, they were not prepared to give up and came close to scoring again through Craig Hall after he collected his own chip kick but a double movement cancelled out the effort.

Toby King added a lovely solo effort late on to put the gloss on a top afternoon for The Wire.