The draws for the Semi Finals of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, and the Quarter Finals of the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup, will be held next Wednesday, April 28, at 5pm.
Both draws will be streamed live on the RFL’s Our League web and app, on the AB Sundecks Facebook page and on TheSportsman.com.
The draw will be held in the stunning surroundings of Ullswater Heights, the Leisure Resorts site in the Lake District.
Four clubs from the Betfred Championship are now only 80 minutes from an appearance at Wembley Stadium connected by EE in the Final of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup – the knockout competition for clubs outside the Betfred Super League, which was introduced in 2019 with Sheffield Eagles the inaugural winners.
Featherstone Rovers, Swinton Lions, Widnes Vikings and York City Knights earned their places in the Semi Finals of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup in 2021 by coming through the first two rounds of the Betfred Challenge Cup, in a new structure for the competition enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Widnes will be aiming to return to Wembley for the second time in three years, having lost to Sheffield in the inaugural AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final; Featherstone have not played at the national stadium since their famous 1983 Challenge Cup Final triumph over Hull FC; York made their single Wembley appearance in 1931, when they were beaten by Halifax in the third Challenge Cup Final at the stadium; while Swinton have never played at Wembley, having made the last of their four Challenge Cup Final appearances in 1928, the year before the Final was taken south to Wembley for the first time.
The Semi Finals are scheduled for the same weekend as the Betfred Challenge Cup Semi Finals, June 5-6.
The Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup will kick off this weekend with a new structure enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic, with only the 10 teams from the Betfred Women’s Super League involved.
There will be two First Round ties on Sunday, both at the Asics Stadium, Victoria Park: at noon, a meeting of the two Super League newcomers, Warrington Wolves versus Huddersfield Giants, which will be streamed live on Twitch, with a full match replay following on Our League, and highlights on Sky Sports next Monday night; followed by York City Knights versus Wakefield Trinity, kicking off at 3.30pm.
The winners of those two ties will join the top six from the 2019 Betfred Women’s Super League in the Quarter Final draw: Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Featherstone Rovers, St Helens, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos, who will launch their defence of the competition they won for the first time in front of the BBC cameras at the University of Bolton Stadium in July 2019.
The Quarter Finals will be played on Sunday May 9, with the Semi Finals scheduled for Sunday May 23, and the Final for the weekend of June 5-6.
