The Fourth Round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup saw the introduction of the Kingstone Press Championship sides for twelve appetising looking ties and the chance of a few upsets ahead of the introduction of the Super League sides in Tuesdays draw for the fifth round.
Two games were played on Friday night, seven on Saturday, with the remaining three kicking off on Sunday afternoon.
The pick of the ties saw Castleford Lock Lane at Featherstone Lions, with Dewsbury Rams at home to Bradford Bull, Batley hosting Whitehaven and Featherstone Rovers at London Broncos, in a three of the all Championship ties.
There was a sensational game at Dewsbury where the Rams won by a solitary point over the Bradford Bulls in a game which saw the lead regularly change hands. Grant and Morton (2) tries for the Rams saw replies from Caro, Lumb and Addy for a home lead of 18-16 at half time. Conversions were the difference as Sykes goaled after Teanby and Brown tries whereas Addy could only convert once as Blythe (2) and Olbison scored four pointers. The scores were level at 30-30 going into the last ten minutes and it took a Sykes drop goal in the seventy-third minute to secure the win.
On the same evening Hunslet cruised to an easy 48-6 win over Doncaster in a game where they scored nine tries, including four from Barnett and two from Lee. After leading 14-0 at half time they side from south Leeds kicked on in the second half in a game that they totally dominated.
Saturday saw seven games and some big scores, the most convincing being a fourteen try, 78-0 win, for Halifax over Pilkington Rec. It took eight minutes for Barber to score the opener but for the remainder of the game they showed no mercy to the North West Counties Premier League side.
Leigh Centurions overcame some patchy league form to smash fellow Championship side Workington by 68-14 having raced into a 22-0 lead after eleven minutes and leading by 32-10 at half time. Paterson scored four tries and Hansen picked up a brace in a commanding victory in a game where Workington never competed.
Toulouse Olympique XIII continued their great run of form Championship One form with a thrashing of Gloucester All Golds by 62-28 in a ninety point game. Toulouse seem to be scoring points for fun and have now racked up 190 points in their opening three games of the season. Kheirallah got a hat-trick and kicked nine goals for a personal haul of thirty points while Ford got a brace. Parry got a hat-trick for the All Golds but it was all to no avail.
Castleford Lock Lane got a stunning victory away at Featherstone Lions to secure progress into the fifth round. Tries from Fozzard, Pryce and Lidbury, with a response from Williams gave the visitors an 18-4 half time lead. Featherstone added tries through Williams and Jackson but to no avail as Hayward and Fozzard with his second sealed a 30-18 win.
Sheffield Eagles got a real scare from Swinton Lions and were trailing 18-10 at half time thanks to Swinton tries from Littler, Hallett and Morrison against four pointers from Straughier and Yere. Second half tries from Blackmore (2), Knowles and Aston were enough to win the game for the Eagles by just 32-28 and ease Sheffield into the hat for round five.
Featherstone Rovers shocked Championship leaders the London Broncos and dumped them out of the cup with a great win on the road. Kear, Foster and Williams saw the Broncos sprint into a 14-0 lead before Hardman grabbed one back just before half-time for 14-4. The second half belonged to Rovers with Hardman completing a four-try haul, and Ormondroyd, Day, Johnson and Turner all getting over the whitewash. Tries from Foster and Barthau gave London scant comfort as they were eliminated from the competition.
Saturdays closest game was at Batley where the Bulldogs scraped a one-point victory over Whitehaven who, despite their lowly league position, gave the Bulldogs a real scare. Brown, Davey, Rowe and Rettie against three tries from Aiye gave Batley a 24-18 lead. Aiye added two more in the second half for a personal haul of five tries but Rowe and Chandler scored from the home side an on the hour mark the teams were tied up at 36-36. It took a seventy-first minute Brambani drop goal to separate the sides and Batley held on to win the tie.
There were three games in Sunday. Fifth and sixth in Championship One met as York Knights hosted Keighley Cougars and it was the home side who triumphed. York led 20-0 at half time with tries from Emmett, Morland, Buchanan and Nicklas. Keighley fought back in the second half with converted tries from Brook and Feather, but it was too little, too late and York held on for a 20-12 win.
Rochdale made short work of Siddall and led 32-10 at half time thanks to four-pointers from Biscombe (2), Tilley, Bloomfield, Hadden and McClurg answered by tries from Bakoso and Carratt for the visitors. Siddal scored twice in the first ten minutes of the second half to give the home fans some moments of concern but Rochdale got three more tries of their own for a final score of 48-20.
Oldham also saw off lower league challenge when they overcame Kells by 40-6. Chisholm, Ford, Middlehurst, and Files all scored in the first half for Oldham and with just one response from Watson it was 20-6 at the interval. Four more second half tries for Oldham from Grimshaw, Holmes (2) and Chisolm doubled the Oldham score for a comfortable win.
The sides into Tuesday nights draw (live on the BBC News Channel at 18:30) are; Batley Bulldogs, Castleford Lock Lane, Dewsbury Rams, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Hunslet, Leigh Centurions, Oldham, Rochdale, Sheffield Eagles, Toulouse Olympique XIII, and York City Knights.
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