Sean Long was the man for the big occasion as trophy kings St Helens secured a fourth Challenge Cup final triumph in the era of summer rugby.

The Great Britain scrum-half justified his pre-match billing as Lance Todd Trophy favourite with a masterful man-of-the-match display as Saints saw off their arch-rivals in clinical fashion to take their impressive trophy haul to eight in nine years.

Long once more put the alleged betting scandal behind him to torment the Warriors with his tactical kicking and also landed six goals from seven attempts to become only the fourth player his history to win the Lance Todd Trophy twice.

The one-time Wigan half-back, who won the prestigious trophy in Saints' most recent Cup triumph at Twickenham in 2001, followed up his man-of-the-match performance in last month's semi-final with another accomplished display to help his side to their first win over their Lancashire neighbours since October 2002.

Saints got all their big guns firing in front of a sell-out crowd of 73,734 at a sun-kissed Millennium Stadium in the last spring-time final before rugby league's showpiece occasion moves to a new late-summer slot.

With pitch-side thermometers revealing temperatures of 27 degrees, this was perhaps a taste of things to come, not that the stamina-sapping atmosphere affected the players.

It was rugby league at its best, fast and furious but also tough and uncompromising, with Saints colourful winger Dom Feaunati placed on report for a high tackle on Kevin Brown just six minutes after entering the action.

Wigan were desperate to provide a tonic for ill coach Mike Gregory before he flies to America on Monday to have treatment for a debilitating illness but there was no fairytale ending.

Warriors full-back Kris Radlinski, Lance Todd Trophy winner at Murrayfield two years ago, discovered the competition's cruel knack of turning heroes into villains as early as the third minute when his mis-kicked clearance attempt was pounced on in devastating fashion by Willie Talau.

The former Kiwi Test centre sent Lee Gilmour over for the game's first try and went on to claim two of his own in a memorable Cup final debut.

The soft score sparked an action-packed first half in which Wigan were twice denied by video referee David Campbell.

Busy hooker Terry Newton claimed a try on eight minutes after the ball came free from a two-man tackle on skipper Andy Farrell only for Campbell to rule a knock-on while the same verdict disappointed baby-faced centre Brown nine minutes later.

In between the near misses, however, Newton was spot on when he raced on to a grubber kick by Adrian Lam after Radlinski had made the decisive break.

With Lam and Farrell prodding and probing to great effect, the Warriors were always threatening but Saints were more successful at retaining possession and, when they got on a roll, Long came into his own with his intelligent kicking game.

His bouncing punt on 26 minutes fell nicely into the hands of Talau for his first try and Saints thought they had scored again when pacy winger Darren Albert broke away only to put a foot in touch.

When Saints centre Martin Gleeson lost the ball in Farrell's tackle inside his own 20-metre area, his error was punished by Wigan winger Brett Dallas, who took Lam's pass to cross at the corner to make it 14-10.

The Warriors would have settled for a four-point deficit at half-time but their suspect defence cracked decisively in the fourth minute of added time for Saints full-back Paul Wellens to finish off a dazzling seven-man move for the all-important try.

With Long maintaining his accuracy with the boot, St Helens were comfortably ahead at 20-10 and Wigan never seriously threatened to get back in the game.

A brilliant last-ditch tackle by Radlinski denied Albert once more but Saints were simply irresistible in the second half and they put the result beyond doubt on 51 minutes when Sculthorpe punished an error by Brown to go over from close range.

Brown made amends and showed his rich promise with a classic centre's break from inside his own half to set up a second try for Dallas but Long fittingly had the final say when he re-gathered his own kick over the defence and Gilmour got Talau over for his second try.

Long was finally off target with the last conversion but he already done enough to see his side to a comfortable victory and claim his own place in history.