Halifax will stage two Coral Challenge Cup draws at The Shay tomorrow evening (Monday 10 February) as the club’s men’s and women’s teams enter their respective cup competitions.
With 13 Betfred Championship clubs set to join the men’s competition at the fourth round stage, Halifax have been chosen to host the draw after last year’s stirring cup run took them to within 80 minutes of a first Wembley final appearance since 1988.
They will be joined in the draw by their local community club Siddal, third round conquerors of National Conference League champions West Hull, and near-neighbours Underbank Rangers, who travelled 200 miles to produce one of round’s most eye-catching results – a 30-8 victory at the home of Betfred League 1’s West Wales Raiders.
Definitely through to round four are the winners of the seven weekend ties to defy Storm Ciara: the British Army, who have reached this stage for the very first time; Doncaster; Hunslet; Leigh Miners Rangers; North Wales Crusaders; Siddal and Underbank. Joining them in the hat will be those eight teams whose fixtures have been postponed: Barrow Raiders and London Skolars; Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder; Rochdale Hornets and York Acorn; and Workington Town and West Bowling.
The ball numbers will be as follows.
Barrow Raiders or London Skolars
Batley Bulldogs
Bradford Bulls
British Army
Dewsbury Rams
Doncaster
Featherstone Rovers
Halifax
Hunslet
Keighley Cougars or Newcastle Thunder
Leigh Centurions
Leigh Miners Rangers
London Broncos
North Wales Crusaders
Oldham
Rochdale Hornets or York Acorn
Sheffield Eagles
Siddal
Swinton Lions
Underbank Rangers
Whitehaven RLFC
Widnes Vikings
Workington Town or West Bowling
York City Knights
The men’s draw will be streamed live on BBC Sport from 6.30pm, with fourth round ties to be played on the weekend of 22 and 23 February. The draw for round five is scheduled for Monday 24 February. Both Halifax and the British Army have an interest in the draw for round one of the Coral Women’s Challenge Cup, which will be streamed live on Our League at 7.15pm.
The ball numbers will be: British Army (1), Cutskye (2), Durham (3), East Leeds (4), Halifax (5), Hull KR (6), Keighley Cougars (7), Nottingham (8), RAF (9), Rochdale Hornets (10), Whitley Bay Barbarians (11) and Wigan St Patricks (12). Ties will be played on Saturday 1 March. Both the men’s and women’s draws will be presented by the BBC’s Dave Woods, and the ties drawn by special guests Nicky Chance-Thompson and Wilf George. George was a try scorer in Halifax’s famous Wembley cup final victory over St Helens in 1987; Chance-Thompson is chief executive of the town’s multi award-winning Piece Hall and Yorkshire’s Businesswoman of the Year in 2019. 2020 Coral Challenge Cup schedule 15/16 February: Third round replays 22/23 February: Fourth Round (11 Third Round winners, 13 English Betfred Championship clubs) 14/15 March: Fifth Round (12 Fourth Round winners, plus four Betfred Super League clubs – Huddersfield Giants, Hull KR, Toronto Wolfpack, Wakefield Trinity) 4/5 April: Sixth Round (8 Fifth Round winners, plus the remaining 8 Betfred Super League clubs) 9/10 May: Quarter Finals 6 June: Semi Finals Saturday July 18: Final – Wembley Stadium 2020 Coral Women’s Challenge Cup schedule 1 March: Round 1 22 March: Round 2 5 April: Round 3 26 April: Quarter Finals 10 May: Semi Finals 6 June: Coral Women’s Challenge Cup Final, University of Bolton Stadium
