She does have a bit of a man's voice...

Ah, but so does Harry Gration, who would you rather look at?

Its still Balding who will do the live games. Harry and Tanya do the half d Super League show.

Myself

Probably a good time for Fev to be playing them, though. Lost their last 2 games and Duggan can't enter UK.

Why's that then ?

I think they have done the draw like this because:

1. The clubs will lose less money than they would if big teams came across as in previous years ala, Leeds vs Hull, Leeds vs Saints.
2. Gaurenteed harder cup games in the next round with only two none Superleague clubs gaurenteed to get through, therefore, more revenue in the next round from people paying in.

edited for accuracy etc

The game won't be played for another 7 weeks. Current form is largely irrelevant.

Does he need a visa to enter the UK if he's not intending to stay in the UK or work for a UK employer?

He will be shot on site

Context being that they've lost 2 games in 2 weeks having gone through the season previously unbeaten - their last loss was the challenge cup game at Widnes, this time last year. Also, the rd4 challenge cup game is scheduled for the same weekend as a round of the french play-offs, so if they don't finish top of the league they might be sending a weakened team anyway (the french use the old Aussie top-5 style play-off).

The issue wouldn't be lack of a visa at the time of the cup game this year. Having been deported from the UK and barred entry for 10 years he is not allowed to enter the UK for any reason. It does not matter who employs him he cannot enter the country.

It isn't like the Greg Bird situation where he was allowed to play for Catalans in away games. Bird was denied a UK work visa, Duggan was deported.

They may have just lost their last two after not losing for a year but by the time of the cup tie they may have convincingly won all of their intervening games and have got over any loss of form or confidence. Either team can suffer a big change in form over the next few weeks or be hit by injuries. Ties that look close on paper today may not look so close in the week before the matches take place.

I do expect Fev to win as they are IMO more battle hardened (I think it will be close fought) due to regularly playing in close games against opponents that are capable of beating them. Lezignan dominate the Elite 1 and do not face tough games as often as Fev do. Current form however is not really applicable. If the tie was being played this saturday it would be but it isn't.