The draw for the sixth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup, the stage at which eleven Super League clubs join the competition, was made this evening at Elland Road which will be the venue for the semi-final double header on Saturday the 7th May along with the Women´s Challenge Cup final.

With Toulouse Olympique XIII having declined their invitation to take part in this year’s competition, the sides entered into tonight’s draw were; Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils, St Helens, Wakefield Trinity, Warrington Wolves, Wigan Warriors, Sheffield Eagles, Barrow Raiders, Whitehaven, Featherstone Rovers, and  Leigh Centurions.

The pundits and the bookies thought that there could only be one winner as Brian McDermott´s unbeaten Featherstone Rovers visited Batley to take on a Craig Lingard´s Bulldogs side who are currently six places below them in the Championship table.

Featherstone overcame a possible banana skin fixture in the fourth round when they beat Halifax Panthers while passage was far easier for Batley who comprehensively beat the Royal navy.

It was blowing a gale at Mount Pleasant and when you factor in the famous slope, it was enough to cause Featherstone concern.

It was a Cumbrian derby in the fifth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup 2022 as the Championship’s surprise package, the newly promoted Barrow Raiders faced a Workington Town side who are currently winless and languishing at the bottom of the Championship table.

While the sides have yet to meet in the league, Barrow did pick up a win in pre-season friendly back in January.

Barrow beat the Rochdale Hornets in the last round while Workington knocked out the Dewsbury Rams with a 26-12 home victory.

While both sides were keen to secure a place in the last sixteen of the Challenge Cup there was more to play for than just cup progress as the two local rivals met.

Third placed Wigan Warriors made the long trip to the south of France to take on a Catalans Dragons who started the game in sixth spot but who knew that a win would lift them to fourth, and a win by twenty-seven or more points would lift them above their opponents and into third.

The Dragons had a handful of their stars back including their talisman Sam Tomkins who was back in their starting line-up, while the Warriors welcomed back Willie Isa, Jake Bibby and Tommy Leuluai.

Our pre-game Twitter poll showed that 86% thought that the Dragons would get the win, but the bookies were less convinced as they gave the Warriors just a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

The lowest placed league side remaining in the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup, the North Wales Crusaders, hosted a round five tie against the Sheffield Eagles as both sides looked to secure a place in the last sixteen and a chance to take on Super League opposition.

As a side in the top half of the 2022 Championship table, the Eagles were big pre-match favourites to overcome the Championship One side whose league programme has not yet started, but have beaten Leigh Miners Rangers, Swinton Lions and Hunslet.

The sunshine welcomed the sides onto the pitch at Stadiwm Eirias in Colwyn Bay after a two-and-a-half-hour drive west for the visitors.

 

It was third v eleventh at the John Smith's Stadium this afternoon as Huddersfield Giants welcomed the Tigers from Castleford.

The hosts hoped to continue the form that has seen them lose just one game of the four they’ve played so far.

The visitors record was the reverse, and they were seeking back-to-back wins to call a halt to the stuttering start of the ´New Cas Era´, made so much of in pre-season publicity.

Our pre-match Twitter Poll couldn´t choose between the two sides, despite the big difference in league positions.

While the all-conquering St Helens side came into the game at the top of the Super League 2022 pile, their challengers in tonight´s televised round five game, the Warrington Wolves, knew that an unlikely win by more than thirty-four points would see them assume the top position while a win of fourteen points or more would lift them into second spot.

The two sides emerged into the rain, perhaps the levelling variable that Daryl Powell´s men needed to overcome the odds and pick up a win.

Our pre-match Twitter Poll had 90% of people predicting a St Helens win and the bookies agreed giving the Wolves a twelve-point start on the coupon.

After getting off the mark last weekend with a win over Wakefield, the Rhinos were looking to back it up with a victory over a Hull FC side who lost to the Castleford Tigers, allowing them to register their first points of the season.

A win for Brett Hodgson´s side could see them as high as third, while a win for Richard Agar´s side by six or more would see them go above FC and into sixth.

Leeds were without the services of Harry Newman (injured) and skipper Kruise Leeming (suspended), while FC welcomed back Joe Cator and Mitieli Vulikijapani to their ranks.

Our pre-match Twitter Poll went 60% in favour of a Rhinos win and the bookies agreed as they gave FC a twelve-point start on the coupon.

It was third against fourth as two of the three unbeaten sides in the 2022 Betfred Championship met at the Halton Stadium, with the Widnes Vikings taking on the Barrow Raiders for the crucial two points on offer.

A Widnes win would see them at the top of the pile and while Barrow knew that although they needed to score at least thirty-four points more than Widnes to change their league position, any victory would lift them level of points with Widnes and Leigh.

It was the final game of round five and played out in front of the Premier Sports cameras.

Our pre-match Twitter poll suggested that 82% expected a win for the home side and the bookies agreed in giving the Barrow Raiders side a twelve-point start on the handicap coupon.

Six of the seven Betfred Championship 2022 games were played on Sunday afternoon with Premier Sports having chosen the intriguing fixture between the Widnes Vikings and Barrow Raiders for broadcast on Monday evening.

Leigh and Newcastle were an early kick off, as was the game between Workington and Sheffield Eagles while Bradford took on Batley and Featherstone hosted Halifax in two West Yorkshire derbies while York travelled to London and Whitehaven entertained Dewsbury.

The Castleford Tigers are still looking for their first points of 2022, and their first points under the stewardship of Lee Radford, as they came up against his old charges in the form of a Hull FC side now coached by Brett Hodgson and who are sitting in seventh place in the table.

A twenty-point loss would drop the Tigers to the bottom of the table, and a win by more than thirty points could see FC into third spot after four rounds of the competition.

Our pre-match Twitter poll suggested that 88% expected an FC victory but the bookies weren´t so sure and only gave the Tigers a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

It was second placed Wigan Warriors, against bottom of the table Toulouse Olympique XIII, as the Cherry and Whites boarded the plane to France for their first ever Super League game against the new opposition who were promoted at the end of the 2021 season.

The home side made four changes from the team which lost to Warrington last time out, while Warriors coach Matty Peet gave a debut to promising young winger Abbas Miski in a mostly unchanged side, as they looked for a fourth consecutive victory at the start of the campaign and in the knowledge that a win by more than fifty-six points would see them above arch-rivals Saints in the league table.

Our pre-match Twitter poll suggested that 86% expected a Warriors victory and the bookies agreed giving the home side a twenty-four point start on the coupon.

Third placed Warrington Wolves welcomes a Catalans Dragons side who were seventh in the early season table to a chilly Halliwell-Jones Stadium for the televised Friday night game in Round Four of Super League 2022.

The visitors were without the services of Sam Tomkins who suffered a concussion last week along with Dean Whare and Michael McIlorum and a very late withdrawal in Fouad Yaha, while Warrington were without Jason Clark who was replaced at loose-forward by Jack Hughes but did have the returning Gareth Widdop at stand-off, amongst several other changes.

Our pre-match Twitter poll suggested that 58.

8% expected a Wolves victory.

It was a basement battle at Belle Vue as pointless Wakefield Trinity faced a pointless Leeds Rhinos with the two rivals, separated by a fifteen-mile journey on the M1, went head-to-head to open their points account for 2022.

The winner would know that they would still have a long way to go, but the losers would be low on confidence, and already with a mountain to climb to get near the play-offs.

Wakefield coach Willie Poching had Mason Lino, Kelepi Tanginoa, Lewis Murphy, and Yusuf Aydin in his seventeen, while the Rhinos, pretty in pink, welcomed back Harry Newman, Rhyse Martin and David Fusitu´a into their starting thirteen in a major boost for the visitors.

The draw for the fifth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup 2022 too place at the Leigh Sports Village after tonights final fourth round tie saw the Leigh Centurions destroy the Widnes Vikings to make progress.

Ten sides remained and entered the draw with the games to be played on the weekend of the 12^th and 13^th of March.

The victors from the five ties draw tonight will then enter the hat with the eleven Super League clubs entered in this season´s competition, Toulouse Olympique XIII having declined the invitation to compete.

The full draw was as follows.

Leigh came out on top and won through to the fifth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup in the Monday night clash between two of the Championship's more fancied sides.

The sides currently residing in sixth and seventh in the Championship table, with two wins each out of their opening four games, came together for a fourth round Challenge Cup encounter as the York City Knights hosted Newcastle Thunder for a place in the fifth round.

It was an eagerly anticipated encounter between two sides who appeared evenly matched on paper.

  

After sweeping aside the challenges of Bridgend Blue Bulls, The British Army and York Acorn, The Royal Navy came up against Betfred Championship opposition in the shape of the Batley Bulldogs who made their first appearance in this season’s competition.

The victors would join the North Wales Crusaders and eight other sides in the fifth-round draw of five matches with a chance to take on a Super League side in round six.

Rochdale were massive favourites for the win and to make progress but there would be no telling the Navy that they should be the underdogs.

Batley were playing up the slope in the first half.

An unbeaten Salford Red Devils, with one eye on the top of the table, travelled to the MKM Stadium to take on a Hull FC side with one win in their opening two games and who had aspiration on finishing the weekend in the top half of the table.

Jake Connor was back in the black and white after serving a one match ban, and Deon Cross was on the bench for the Red Devils with Dan Sarginson starting in the centres.

FC were slight favourites with the bookies, but the Red Devils had only received a four-point start on the coupon.

Either Hull Kingston Rovers or the Castleford Tigers would break their 2022 Super League points duck as the two sides came together for a TV game at Craven Park with a chance of ending the evening in seventh place and giving their start to the season a big boost although the losers knew that a loss would increase the pressure on their players and coaching staff with a very poor start to the year’s competition.

Hull KR were slight favourites for the win but had only been given a two-point start on the coupon, it was likely to be a war of attrition as the two sides looked to grind out the all-important win.