There is a weekend of semi-finals ahead as six matches will decide the six sides who will walk out onto the hallowed turf at Wembley on the 12th August with their hopes pinned on lifting the silverware.

All games are to be played over Saturday and Sunday with one Men’s, Women’s and 1895 cup match being allocated to each day and at the end of the games we will know which six sides will be planning their trips to the nation’s capital.

We take a look at the fixtures and who we think are likely to progress.

Saturday 22nd July

WCC - St Helens Women v. York Valkyrie – 11:45 Streamed  on BBC and Red Button

Possibly the toughest game of the weekend to call as there is almost nothing to choose between two of the top sides in the women’s game and the two sides currently placed top and second in group one of the WSL. York were big winners in the one encounter so far in 2023 when they romped to a 26-6 victory. The last time that the two sides met in the Challenge Cup as in 2021 when St Helens won by 34-6 but both sides now have a very different make-up. We predict a narrow win for York Valkyrie.

CC - St Helens Men v. Leigh Leopards Men – 14:30 on BBC ONE

If the first game of the cup weekend semi-finals was difficult to predict, the men’s encounter between Saints and the Leopards is almost impossible. Leigh are currently flying high and second in the table while the Champions trail a little behind in fourth. Leigh won the round four game in 2023 by 20-12 at a time when Saints were suffering their World Club Challenge hangover, and the bookies are giving their exemplary cup pedigree all the respect that it deserved with a six-point handicap on the coupon. It promises to be an ‘edge of your seat’ encounter between two of this season’s top sides and we think it might go down to golden point. Heart says the Leopards to progress, but head says that Saints will just make it after one hell of a scrap.

1895 – London Broncos v. Halifax Panthers – 17:00 on OurLeague PPV

Everything points to it being the London Broncos who will make the shortest trip to Wembley in August. The home side have won their last six games in the capital against the Panthers and you have to go back to 2003, and an encounter in Super League, for the last time that a Halifax side travelled to London and took the points. The two sides are currently sixth and seventh in the Championship table but while the Broncos have won their last three, Halifax have only won once in their last three outings, and that over a relegation doomed Newcastle Thunder. When you throw in the news that Halifax coach Simon Grix announced last night that he will leave the club at the end of the season, then we are backing the Broncos to progress.

Sunday 23rd July

1895 – York RLFC Knights v. Batley Bulldogs – 12:00 on OurLeague PPV

The second 1895 semi-final pitches third placed Batley against ninth placed York RLFC Knights in what looks like a no-brainer for the tipsters. Home advantage will be of some comfort to York but Batley are one of the Championship’s 2023 surprise packages and we think that they will be rewarded with a trip to Wembley. The Bulldogs have won the last two encounters, including a 14-8 home win at the start of June, and when the sides last met at the quarter final stage of the 1895 Cup in 2019 it was Batley who snatched the win in Golden Point Extra Time. For us it will be Batley to face London in the final.

WCC – Wigan Warriors Women v. Leeds Rhinos Women – 14:15 Streamed on BBC and Red Button

The easiest game to call all weekend is the encounter between Wigan Women and Leeds Women, the game being played at Headingley as part of a double header with the Wigan Men’s semi-final. The Rhinos thrashed Wigan by 52-0 in a game a fortnight ago and little can persuade us that the outcome on Sunday will be much different. You must go back to the 2018 for the last time that the Warriors beat the Rhinos and despite the sides sitting third and fourth in the table it is unlikely that Wigan will be able to put up much of a fight.

CC – Wigan Warriors Men v. Hull KR – 17:00 on BBC TWO

The final encounter of semi-final weekend sees another enthralling fixture between the Warriors and Hull KR as third takes on sixth with both sides having shown this season that they can be devastatingly good, or mediocre, depending on which mood takes them. If they both bring their ‘A Game’ then it could be a spectacular encounter, but anything less than top drawer from the Robins is likely to see a Wigan victory. It is honours shared in 2023 with a win apiece, although Wigan required extra time to take the points in the last encounter at the end of May. We hope that it will be a ripsnorter of a game for the BBC viewers, and we think, as do the bookmakers, that it will be the Warriors who just edge it to set up a Challenge Cup final encounter with the old enemy, St Helens.

Predicted Wembley Line Up

WCC - York Valkyrie v. Leeds Rhinos

CC – St Helens v. Wigan Warriors

1895 – London Broncos v. Batley Bulldogs