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Two of last season’s Betfred Championship top six face off in the Betfred Challenge Cup on Sunday (3pm) as York Knights host Sheffield Eagles at the LNER Community Stadium!
York enjoyed a remarkable end-of-season run by winning 10 of their last 11 regular season matches to finish sixth in the Betfred Championship last year, claiming the final spot inside the Play-Offs.
Sheffield meanwhile won 16 of their 27 league outings to earn a fourth-placed finish, with only top two sides Featherstone Rovers and Toulouse Olympique scoring more points than Mark Aston’s men.
The Knights and the Eagles both departed the Play-Offs at the Eliminators stage, falling short to Bradford Bulls and London Broncos respectively.
The two sides meet again in the Betfred Challenge Cup, facing one another in the competition for the third time in the last four seasons.
In the first rugby league match of 2021 after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, York dispatched 30-6 against Sheffield at a behind-closed-doors Doncaster’s Eco-Power Stadium.
Off-season recruits Ben Jones-Bishop and Ryan Atkins bagged debut tries while Kriss Brining and Perry Whiteley crossed the whitewash, the latter doing so twice.
The Knights also toppled Sheffield during last season’s mazy run to the Betfred Challenge Cup Quarter-Finals, their first outing in the last eight of the competition since 2004.
York raced into a 20-0 lead inside the first 25 minutes with a Danny Kirmond double combining with tries from Myles Harrison and Conor Fitzsimmons.
Kirmond was however shown a straight red card before half time and the 12-man Knights managed to survive the Sheffield onslaught to emerge as 24-22 victors.
Kris Welham, Cory Aston, Jason Bass and Matty Chrimes crossed the whitewash for the Eagles but AJ Towse’s second-half score meant the Knights did enough to hang up.
Both sides enter this weekend’s cup tie in strong form, with the Knights fresh from a dogged 14-8 come-from-behind victory at Dewsbury Rams in the Betfred Challenge Cup after a 114-10 thrashing of Newcastle Thunder on the opening day in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup.
The only blemish thus far is a 40-4 defeat to recently relegated Betfred Super League outfit Wakefield Trinity in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup at the LNER Community Stadium.
Sheffield meanwhile are unbeaten, having sealed top spot in Group Seven of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup thanks to wins at Doncaster (18-22) and Midlands Hurricanes (16-30) alongside a 88-12 rout over Newcastle at Olympic Legacy Park.
York Knights face Sheffield Eagles in the Betfred Challenge Cup Fourth Round on Sunday (3pm) at the LNER Community Stadium! Ticket information for the fixture can be found by clicking HERE.
