WiganWarriorsFans.com

Betfred Challenge Cup first & second round

First round dates: 15-16 January

Second round dates: 29-30 January

Orrell St James and the British Army will kick off BBC Sport's live coverage of the 2022 Challenge Cup, with streaming of their first round tie on Saturday, 15 January.

Wigan-based Orrell have a proud history and produced stars such as England's Jonny Lomax and Kevin Brown.

The British Army have recent cup pedigree, reaching the fourth round in 2020 before defeat to Rochdale Hornets.

All 28 clubs in the first round are from the community game.

Challenge Cup draw in full

In the second round, the BBC will stream Rochdale Hornets' tie against newly-rebranded Midlands Hurricanes in an all-League One match on Sunday, 30 January.

Hornets, in addition to being the Army's conquerors in 2020, have history in the competition, having lifted the trophy at Headingley in 1922.

Midlands, in their previous guise as Coventry, were featured on BBC Sport in their win over Cumbrian club Distington in 2018.

Those ties will be played over the weekend of the 29-30 January, with first round ties played across 15-16 January.

The 14 winners from the first round will be joined by 10 teams from the third tier of the professional game, with Championship clubs entering at the fourth-round phase and their Super League counterparts joining from round six.

Wembley is unavailable for the 2022 final, so the showpiece has been switched to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a return to a springtime final on Saturday, 28 May.

Although Wembley has been the spiritual home of the final since 1929, games have occasionally been staged elsewhere, at grounds such as Wigan's old Central Park and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Sign up for live match notifications on the BBC Sport app

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/59881528

KO is 12.30 if anyone is interested in going to this game

I'll be there. Great club.

Fabulous club with fantastic people.

I just got this email from the RFL:

"The Betfred Challenge Cup is back this weekend and this season there are even more ways to watch the opening Round! The popular and groundbreaking BBC streaming of the early rounds of the Betfred Challenge Cup will return when Orrell St James face the British Army at 12.30pm on Saturday, while Our League will kick off another busy year of live streaming with this Sunday’s Betfred Challenge Cup Round One tie between Bentley and Stanningley. But there is more great news for Rugby League fans as The Sportsman will be broadcasting a further 20 live matches across a range of competitions in 2022, starting this Saturday when a genuine Challenge Cup legend Andy Gregory renews his relationship with the competition when his Wigan St Patricks side head east to take on Rochdale Mayfield of the NCL Premier Division. "

just watched the game on BBC iplayer and really enjoyed it

some good skill on show from both sides and a good hard game of RL. Got to be honest surprised by the pace of the game, which, whilst not as fast as super league, was a good advert for amateur rugby league (referring to the other thread about RU being on its arse, far more entertaining that any RU game IMO)

for Orrell St James, ultimately fitness was their undoing, as the Army boys are fit, and that showed in the last 10-15 minutes, when they seemed fitter, faster and scored their tries as the OSJ lads tired

Good to see a game of RL on the TV and also a good crowd at OSJ, so probably some takings through the bar for them too

the pieman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 15, 2022 8:52 pm just watched the game on BBC iplayer and really enjoyed it

some good skill on show from both sides and a good hard game of RL. Got to be honest surprised by the pace of the game, which, whilst not as fast as super league, was a good advert for amateur rugby league (referring to the other thread about RU being on its arse, far more entertaining that any RU game IMO)

for Orrell St James, ultimately fitness was their undoing, as the Army boys are fit, and that showed in the last 10-15 minutes, when they seemed fitter, faster and scored their tries as the OSJ lads tired

Good to see a game of RL on the TV and also a good crowd at OSJ, so probably some takings through the bar for them too

Really good to see today's game and crowd. OSJ have a couple of big big 'uns and scored some good tries.

I went to this game, car park was full when I arrived & the queue to get in was backed up to the entrance to the car park & there were still more people arriving.

Cracking game, great atmosphere good old fashioned RL & ground & queues for the bars never eased up!

Spoke to Sam Halsall, Ollie Partington & also Cade Cust

When I went to speak to my friend behind the bar some kind young man asked if I’d like a drink Went back to the rail where I was stood & I’d lost my space, so went back in the clubhouse to watch the last 20 minutes or so on the tv & was sat with James McDonnell’s Dad

Great afternoon watching the game & gutted that OSJ lost in the last 5 minutes the fitness of the Army showed towards the end of the game.

Hello Josie, Sorry the car park was full - it was probably me who had to turn you away, 'If I'd known you were coming, I'd have reserved you a place!!! Glad you enjoyed the occasion though. It was a great day for the club and although we didn't get the result in the end, I thought OSJ put in a really good performance and we were able to showcase our new facilities which hopefully made a good impression on everyone who came to the game. It was great to see some of the Wigan team there, too. Great support for a local, community club.

PAB721 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:24 am Hello Josie, Sorry the car park was full - it was probably me who had to turn you away, 'If I'd known you were coming, I'd have reserved you a place!!! Glad you enjoyed the occasion though. It was a great day for the club and although we didn't get the result in the end, I thought OSJ put in a really good performance and we were able to showcase our new facilities which hopefully made a good impression on everyone who came to the game. It was great to see some of the Wigan team there, too. Great support for a local, community club.

Hey, that’s fine no problem, I should have got their earlier I parked right in front of the gate so wasn’t too bad until I tried to get away! Must have done about a 20 point turn to turn the car round with all the parked cars on the road

What a great game. OSJ surely put up a great fight to the end, I just hope the players are proud of themselves for an extremely entertaining RL game.

It brought back a lot of memories of going to old grounds like Featherstone, Wakey, Oldham, the Willows Dewsbury, Wildespool etc standing in the rain, shoes full of mud before all the modern stadiums. Mind you Cas & Wakey aren’t much different now

I used to go to watch amateur RL on the fields where the DW stadium, gym & car parks are now & also St Pats regularly until the Warriors academy teams fixtures started to clash with amateur RL.

I, too, saw several pro players there which was good to see them supporting the amateur game