2014 Challenge Cup

2014 Tetley's Challenge Cup

Leeds Rhinos celebrating their 2014 Challenge Cup victory
Duration	8 Rounds
Number of teams	81
Highest attendance	77,914 Castleford Tigers vs Leeds Rhinos (Final)
Lowest attendance	213 South Wales Scorpions vs Hemel Stags (3rd Round)
Broadcast partners	BBC Sport Sky Sports
Winners	Leeds Rhinos
Runners-up	Castleford Tigers
Lance Todd Trophy	Ryan Hall
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The 2014 Challenge Cup (also known as the Tetley's Challenge Cup^[1] for sponsorship reasons) was the 113th staging of the rugby league tournament.

The defending champions Wigan Warriors were knocked out in the quarter finals 4 - 16 at home to the Castleford Tigers, who went on to make the final, but lost 10 - 23 to the Leeds Rhinos.^[2]

First round[]

The draw for the first round of the 2014 Challenge Cup was held on 8 January 2014 and broadcast live from the studios of BBC Radio Humberside by current Hull F.C. prop forward Chris Green and former player Shaun Briscoe.^[3]

The first round took place on the weekend of 1 and 2 February 2014, although three fixtures did not take place until the following Saturday - 8 February 2014.

Second round[]

The draw for the second round took place on 6 February 2014 and was drawn by former Wigan Warriors player Kris Radlinski and the owner of Salford Red Devils, Marwan Koukash.^[6]

Third round[]

The draw for the third round took place on 24 February 2014 and was made at the University of Gloucestershire's Park Campus in Cheltenham by the university's pro vice-chancellor and , the editor of the Gloucestershire Echo.^[9]

The third-round fixtures were drawn from two pools. Pool A comprised the 14 Championship teams plus four Championship 1 teams drawn at random. From this pool two teams were drawn and awarded a bye into the fourth round, the two teams drawn were Featherstone Rovers and London Skolars. The need to award byes came from the decision by the French teams invited into the competition to withdraw at a late stage.^[10]

The remaining five Championship 1 sides and the 11 winners of second-round matches formed Pool B. All the third round fixtures comprised a team from Pool A vs a team from Pool B. The team with home advantage was also determined randomly for each fixture.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Leigh Centurions	74 – 6	Wigan St Patricks	14 March 2014, 19:30	Leigh Sports Village	M Woodhead	994
Batley Bulldogs	52 – 4		15 March 2014, 14:00	LoveRugbyLeague.com Stadium	J Bloem	365
Normanton Knights	12 – 38	Workington Town	15 March 2014, 14:00	The Big Fellas Stadium	P Brooke	713
Keighley Cougars	42 – 0		15 March 2014, 15:00	Cougar Park	D Sharpe	488
Egremont Rangers	24 – 42	Oldham	15 March 2014, 15:00		A Sweet	340
	10 – 18	Barrow Raiders	16 March 2014, 14:00	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	C Campbell	1,000
Sheffield Eagles	54 – 0		16 March 2014, 14:00	Owlerton Stadium	D Merrick	619
Hull Dockers	6 – 70	Halifax	16 March 2014, 14:00	KC Lightstream Stadium	T Grant	600
North Wales Crusaders	58 – 18	Pilkington Recs	16 March 2014, 14:00	Glyndŵr University Racecourse Ground	J Callaghan	544
Rochdale Hornets	76 – 4	Gloucestershire All Golds	16 March 2014, 15:00	Spotland Stadium	J Cobb	307
Dewsbury Rams	76 – 10	West Hull	16 March 2014, 15:00	Tetley's Stadium	A Gill	433
British Army	12 – 62	Doncaster	16 March 2014, 15:00	Aldershot Military Stadium	C Kendall	357
South Wales Scorpions	12 – 38	Hemel Stags	16 March 2014, 15:00	Llynfi Road, Maesteg	W Turley	213
York City Knights	34 – 32	Whitehaven	16 March 2014, 15:00	Huntington Stadium	T Crashley	403
Swinton Lions	66 – 6	Gateshead Thunder	16 March 2014, 15:00	Leigh Sports Village	G Hewer	249
Hunslet Hawks	68 – 6	Oxford Rugby League	16 March 2014, 15:00	South Leeds Stadium	M Thomason	278
Source:[11][12]

Fourth round[]

The draw for the fourth round took take place at 3:45 pm on 18 March 2014 from Quay House, MediaCityUK, and was broadcast live on BBC 5 Live Extra, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Radio Humberside. The fourth round saw the entry of the 14 First Utility Super League clubs, including holders Wigan Warriors, who joined the 16 winners of the third-round ties along with Featherstone Rovers and London Skolars, who received byes in the third round.

The home teams were drawn by the Mayor of Wigan, Councillor Billy Rotherham; the away teams by David Barker, representing sponsors Tetley's.^[13]

The fourth round of the Tetley's Challenge Cup was played over April 3–6.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Hull F.C.	36 – 37	Salford Red Devils	3 April 2014, 20:00	KC Stadium	B Thaler	5,963
Dewsbury Rams	6 – 58	Wigan Warriors	4 April 2014, 20:00	Tetley's Stadium	J Cobb	3,054
Catalans Dragons	40 – 24	London Broncos	4 April 2014, 20:00	Stade Gilbert Brutus	R Hicks	3,834
Sheffield Eagles	70 – 28	London Skolars	5 April 2014, 14:00	Owlerton Stadium	P Brooke	505
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	6 – 60	Leeds Rhinos	6 April 2014, 14:00	Rapid Solicitors Stadium	J Child	4,482
Rochdale Hornets	22 – 28	Leigh Centurions	6 April 2014, 14:00	Spotland Stadium	D Sharpe	1,007
Batley Bulldogs	10 – 48	Castleford Tigers	6 April 2014, 14:00	LoveRugbyLeague.comStadium	G Stokes	2,482
Doncaster	68 – 18	Hemel Stags	6 April 2014, 14:00	Keepmoat Stadium	C Kendall	348
Keighley Cougars	54 – 28	Barrow Raiders	6 April 2014, 14:00	Cougar Park	D Merrick	823
Featherstone Rovers	66 – 0	North Wales Crusaders	6 April 2014, 14:00	The Big Fellas Stadium	G Hewer	1,312
Hull Kingston Rovers	24 – 28	Warrington Wolves	6 April 2014, 14:00	KC Lightstream Stadium	R Silverwood	4,911
Bradford Bulls	60 – 6	Oldham	6 April 2014, 14:00	Provident Stadium	C Leatherbarrow	2,788
Hunslet Hawks	27 – 10	Workington Town	6 April 2014, 14:00	South Leeds Stadium	W Turley	504
Halifax	10 – 34	Widnes Vikings	6 April 2014, 14:00	The Shay	M Thomason	2,271
Swinton Lions	31 – 28	York City Knights	6 April 2014, 14:00	Leigh Sports Village	J Bloem	427
Huddersfield Giants	16 – 17	St. Helens	6 April 2014, 14:15	John Smith's Stadium	P Bentham	7,150
Source:[14][15]

Fifth round[]

The fifth round draw took place live on BBC TV after the end of the 4th round match between Huddersfield Giants and St Helens. Home teams were drawn by Alex Murphy and away teams by Garry Schofield. Fixtures were played over the weekend of 26–27 April 2014. BBC TV broadcast the game between Leeds Rhinos and St Helens on Saturday 26 April.^[16]

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Leeds Rhinos	32 – 12	St. Helens	26 April 2014, 14:30	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	R Silverwood	12,194
Swinton Lions	20 – 33	Keighley Cougars	26 April 2014, 15:00	Leigh Sports Village	T Roby	465
Wigan Warriors	52 – 8	Hunslet Hawks	27 April 2014, 15:00	DW Stadium	G Stokes	4,390
Leigh Centurions	26 – 16	Featherstone Rovers	27 April 2014, 15:00	Leigh Sports Village	B Thaler	3,664
Bradford Bulls	33 – 20	Catalans Dragons	27 April 2014, 15:00	Provident Stadium	J Child	2,341
Salford Red Devils	20 – 30	Widnes Vikings	27 April 2014, 15:00	AJ Bell Stadium	P Bentham	2,630
Warrington Wolves	68 – 0	Doncaster	27 April 2014, 15:00	Halliwell Jones Stadium	M Thomason	3,002
Castleford Tigers	60 – 16	Sheffield Eagles	27 April 2014, 15:30	The Mend A Hose Jungle	R Hicks	4,648
Source:[17]

Quarter-finals[]

The draw for the Quarter finals was held on Monday 28 April 2014 at 18:30 and televised on the BBC News channel. The home teams were drawn by Jason Robinson and the away teams by Paul Sculthorpe. Ties were played between June 5–8, 2014.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Widnes Vikings	56 – 6	Keighley Cougars	5 June 2014, 20:00	Select Security Stadium	J Child	5,252
Leeds Rhinos	25 – 12	Leigh Centurions	6 June 2014, 20:00	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	B Thaler	7,145
Wigan Warriors	4 – 16	Castleford Tigers	7 June 2014, 14:30	DW Stadium	R Silverwood	8,736
Bradford Bulls	10 – 46	Warrington Wolves	8 June 2014, 15:30	Provident Stadium	P Bentham	5,046
Source:[18][19]

Semifinals[]

The draw for the semifinals was held on Sunday 8 June 2014 following the Bradford/Warrington game, which was televised on BBC Two. The draw was conducted by Eorl Crabtree and Brian Noble. The ties were played on the weekend of 9–10 August 2014.

^[20]

Final[]

Leeds and Castleford battle it out in the final.

The final of the 2014 Challenge Cup took place on 23 August 2014 at Wembley Stadium^[21] with the match kicking off at 15:00 BST. The match was shown live on BBC One. Leeds Rhinos won the game 23–10.

23 August 15:00 BST

Castleford Tigers	10 – 23	Leeds Rhinos
Tries Clark 1 Holmes 1 Goals Finn 1		Tries 2 Hall 1 Briscoe 1 McGuire Goals 3 Sinfield Field Goal 1 McGuire

Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 77,914 Referee: Phil Bentham Player of the Match: Hall (Leeds Rhinos)

Teams[]

Castleford Tigers: Luke Dorn; Kirk Dixon, Jake Webster, Michael Shenton, Justin Carney; Marc Sneyd, Liam Finn; Andy Lynch, Daryl Clark, Craig Huby, Oliver Holmes, Weller Hauraki, Nathan Massey. Substitutes: Frankie Mariano, Scott Wheeldon, Jamie Ellis, Lee Jewitt.

Leeds Rhinos: Zak Hardaker; Tom Briscoe, Kallum Watkins, Joel Moon, Ryan Hall; Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire; Kylie Leuluai, Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock, Brett Delaney, Carl Ablett, Jamie Jones-Buchanan. Substitutes: Paul Aiton, Ryan Bailey, Ian Kirke, Liam Sutcliffe.

UK Broadcasting rights[]

The tournament was jointly televised by the BBC and Sky Sports on the third of their five-year contracts. The BBC screened, live, one match from each of the fourth and fifth rounds, two from the quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final. Sky screened the two quarter-final games not being shown by the BBC.

Sky Sports televised the other two quarter final matches live. The first was Widnes Vikings and Keighley Cougars and the second was Leeds Rhinos and Leigh Centurions

External links[]

• Challenge Cup official website

References[]