2010 Championship Cup

The 2010 Championship Cup, (known for commercial reasons as the Northern Rail Cup), was the 9th season of the rugby league football competition for clubs in Great Britain's Co-operative Championship and Championship One.

2010 Championship Cup
Teams20
Attendance49,202 (average: 1,144)
2010 Season
Season ChampionsBatley Bulldogs
Runners-upWidnes Vikings

In the final, played at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool with Batley Bulldogs defeating the Widnes Vikings 25-24 to claim the trophy.

Format

The format and structure of the 2010 Northern Rail Cup competition was the same as in 2009. All the English-based Co-operative Championship and Championship One clubs have been divided equally into two pools for the group stages with five teams from each division in each pool.

Each team played two home games and two away games against teams in their pool with each club playing an equal number of The Co-operative Championship and The Co-operative Championship One clubs.

The top four teams in each pool following the conclusion of the group stage fixtures then progressed into an open draw for the knock-out quarter-final stage.

The Northern Rail Cup quarter-finals were played on the weekend of 5 and 6 June with the semi-finals taking place on 19 and 20 June.

The winners of the Northern Rail Cup were be eligible to apply for a Super League licence in 2011.

Toulouse Olympique and newly formed South Wales Scorpions did not participate in the 2010 Northern Rail Cup.

Fixtures

Pool 1

Round 1
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Whitehaven 26 – 34 Batley Bulldogs 10 February, 19:30 GMT Recreation Ground (Whitehaven) 888
Widnes Vikings 50 – 6 Gateshead Thunder 2 February, 15:00 GMT Stobart Stadium Halton 2,200
Blackpool Panthers 22 – 24 Keighley Cougars 31 January, 15:00 GMT Woodlands Memorial Ground
Doncaster 0 – 60 Barrow Raiders 17 February, 19:45 GMT Keepmoat Stadium 285
Workington Town 18 – 19 Swinton Lions 17 February, 19:30 GMT Derwent Park 286

Round 2
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Barrow Raiders 34 – 8 Blackpool Panthers 7 February, 14:00 GMT Craven Park 1,474
Batley Bulldogs 30 – 30 Widnes Vikings 7 February, 14:00 GMT Mount Pleasant, Batley 1,004
Keighley Cougars 17 – 16 Whitehaven 7 February, 14:00 GMT Cougar Park 756
Gateshead Thunder 12 – 26 Workington Town 7 February, 15:00 GMT Gateshead International Stadium 404
Swinton Lions 30 – 20 Doncaster 7 February, 15:00 GMT Park Lane (stadium) 380

Round 3
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Batley Bulldogs 46 - 10 Swinton Lions 14 February, 14:00 GMT Mount Pleasant, Batley 999
Keighley Cougars 38 - 10 Workington Town 14 February, 15:00 GMT Cougar Park 654
Whitehaven 54 - 10 Doncaster 14 February, 14:00 GMT Recreation Ground (Whitehaven) 808
Widnes Vikings 22 - 20 Barrow Raiders 14 February, 15:00 GMT Stobart Stadium Halton 3,432
Blackpool Panthers 74 - 6 Gateshead Thunder 14 February, 15:00 GMT Woodlands Memorial Ground

Round 4
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Barrow Raiders 62 - 18 Keighley Cougars 10 March, 19:45 GMT Craig Halloran Craven Park 1,277
Doncaster 20 – 40 Blackpool Panthers 24 March, 19:45 GMT Tim Roby Keepmoat Stadium 198
Gateshead Thunder 4 - 100 Batley Bulldogs 17 March, 19:30 GMT Chris Leatherbarrow Gateshead International Stadium 237
Swinton Lions 12 - 36 Widnes Vikings 21 February, 15:00 GMT Warren Turley Park Lane (stadium) 816
Workington Town 22 - 14 Whitehaven 21 February, 15:00 GMT M Thomason Derwent Park 738

Pool 1 Qualification Table
2010 Northern Rail Cup: Pool 1
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 Batley Bulldogs 4 3 1 0 210 70 +140 0 11
2 Widnes Vikings 4 3 1 0 138 68 +70 0 11
3 Barrow Raiders 4 3 0 1 176 48 +128 1 10
4 Keighley Cougars 4 3 0 1 144 110 +34 0 9
5 Blackpool Panthers 4 2 0 2 144 84 +60 1 7
6 Workington Town 4 2 0 2 76 83 −7 1 7
7 Whitehaven 4 1 0 3 110 83 +27 3 6
8 Swinton Lions 4 2 0 2 71 120 −49 0 6
9 Doncaster 4 0 0 4 50 184 −134 1 1
10 Gateshead Thunder 4 0 0 4 28 250 −222 0 0
Source: Northern Rail Cup Table – The RFL [1]
Rules for classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.

Pool 2

Round 1
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Dewsbury Rams 50 - 4 London Skolars 31 January, 15:00 GMT Tetley's Stadium 887
Leigh Centurions 24 - 12 Oldham 31 January, 15:00 GMT Leigh Sports Village 1,627
Sheffield Eagles 13 - 6 Halifax 17 February, 19:45 GMT Don Valley Stadium 851
Hunslet Hawks 0 - 68 Featherstone Rovers 4 March, 20:00 GMT South Leeds Stadium
Rochdale Hornets 12 - 36 York City Knights 17 February, 20:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 362

Round 2
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Featherstone Rovers 18 - 18 Sheffield Eagles 7 February, 15:00 GMT Chris Moyles Stadium 1,175
Halifax 24 - 0 Dewsbury Rams 7 February, 15:00 GMT Shay Stadium 2,141
London Skolars 12 - 60 Hunslet Hawks 7 February, 14:00 GMT New River Stadium 328
Oldham 22 - 14 Rochdale Hornets 8 February, 20:00 GMT Boundary Park
York City Knights 13 - 12 Leigh Centurions 7 February, 15:00 GMT Huntington Stadium 911

Round 3
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Leigh Centurions 36 - 6 Featherstone Rovers 14 February, 15:00 GMT Leigh Sports Village 1,729
Sheffield Eagles 40 - 10 York City Knights 14 February, 15:00 GMT Don Valley Stadium 840
Hunslet Hawks 28 - 14 Oldham 14 February, 14:00 GMT John Charles Centre for Sport 519
London Skolars 0 - 68 Halifax 14 February, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium 416
Rochdale Hornets 12 - 48 Dewsbury Rams 14 February, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 575

Round 4
Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Featherstone Rovers 56 - 10 Rochdale Hornets 23 February, 20:00 GMT Craig Halloran Chris Moyles Stadium 777
Dewsbury Rams 22 - 44 Leigh Centurions 3 March, 19:45 GMT Jamie Leahy Tetley's Stadium 888
Halifax 36 - 42 Hunslet Hawks 21 March, 15:00 GMT Ronnie Laughton Shay Stadium 1,771
Oldham 22 - 24 Sheffield Eagles 21 February, 15:00 GMT Robert Hicks Boundary Park 340
York City Knights 34 - 12 London Skolars 10 March, 19:00 GMT Tim Roby Huntington Stadium 439

Pool 2 Qualification Table
2010 Northern Rail Cup: Pool 2
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 Sheffield Eagles (Q) 4 3 1 0 95 56 +39 0 11
2 Leigh Centurions (Q) 4 3 0 1 116 53 +63 1 10
3 York City Knights (Q) 4 3 0 1 93 76 +17 0 9
4 Hunslet Hawks (Q) 4 3 0 1 130 130 0 0 9
5 Featherstone Rovers 4 2 1 1 148 64 +84 0 8
6 Halifax 4 2 0 2 134 55 +79 2 8
7 Dewsbury Rams 4 2 0 2 120 84 +36 0 6
8 Oldham 4 1 0 3 70 90 −20 2 5
9 Rochdale Hornets 4 0 0 4 48 162 −114 1 1
10 London Skolars 4 0 0 4 28 212 −184 0 0
Source: Northern Rail Cup Table – The RFL [1]
Rules for classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.
(Q) Teams qualifying for the next round.

Finals

Sky Sports televised one Northern Rail Cup quarter-final tie live on Thursday 3 June and one of the semi-finals on Thursday 17 June as well as providing full coverage of the Northern Rail Cup Final at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, on Sunday 18 July.

Quarter Finals

The Northern Rail Cup quarter final draw took place on Wednesday 24 March and was broadcast live on Sky Sports’ weekly Boots N' All programme.

Barrow, Batley, Hunslet, Keighley, Leigh, Sheffield, Widnes & York all qualified for the quarter final stage of the competition. The eight teams were entered into the open draw for the quarter final knock-out stages which was played on the weekend of 5 and 6 June. Only Hunslet and York come from Co-operative Championship 1.

One quarter final tie was brought forward to Thursday 3 June to be screened live on Sky Sports.

The teams lined up as per the table below:[2]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Widnes Vikings 26 – 12 Barrow Raiders 19:30, 3 June 2010 Stobart Stadium Halton 1,718
Keighley Cougars 32 – 6 York City Knights 15:00 6 June 2010 Cougar Park 712
Batley Bulldogs 26 – 16 Sheffield Eagles 15:00 6 June 2010 Mount Pleasant 708
Hunslet Hawks 6 – 42 Leigh Centurions 15:00 6 June 2010 South Leeds Stadium 770

Semi Finals

The semi-finals will take place on the weekend of 19 and 20 June with Sky Sports broadcasting one tie live on the Thursday night.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Leigh Centurions 4 – 25 Batley Bulldogs 19:30, 17 June 2010 Leigh Sports Village 2,058
Keighley Cougars 18 – 48 Widnes Vikings 15:00 20 June 2010 Cougar Park 1,686

Final

The Northern Rail Cup Final took place at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool on Sunday 18 July at 4pm live on Sky Sports. The Match was contested by Batley Bulldogs and defending champions Widnes Vikings, who were looking for their 3rd cup victory in just 4 years. Batley won the match, beating Widnes 25-24 thanks to two late tries from Alex Brown. This was Batley's first appearance in a cup final since 1998 and first in a major final since 1952.[3] The victory leaves Batley eligible to apply for the 2012–14 Super League licences to gain promotion to the Super League, although coach Karl Harrison stated that they have no Super League ambitions.[4]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date & Time Referee Venue Attendance
Batley Bulldogs 25-24 Widnes Vikings 16:00 18 July 2010 Robert Hicks Bloomfield Road, Blackpool 8,138
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See also

References
  1. "Northern Rail Cup Table". RFL.
  2. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=17091%5B%5D
  3. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=18428%5B%5D
  4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8822641.stm
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