Northern Rail Cup Thread (NL1, NL2, NL3...)

[bartman]

For the early stage of the season, National League clubs compete in the Northern Rail Cup, prior to the start of their seasons proper.

Here's the thread for fixtures, results, opinions and banter etc.

Results: Sunday 12 February 2006

Group 1
Hemel 10 Celtic Crusaders 50
St Albans 6 London Skolars 26

Group 2
Gateshead 24 Barrow 47
Whitehaven 10 Workington 0

Group 3
Dewsbury 25 Batley 18
Doncaster 44 Hunslet 26

Group 4
Blackpool 6 v Leigh 36 (played Friday 10th)
Widnes 18 Swinton 10

Group 5
Halifax 38 Keighley 10
Rochdale 18 Oldham 16 (played Wednesday 16th)

Group 6
Featherstone 18 Sheffield 38
York 2 Hull KR 32

(all courtesy http://www.sportinglife.com/)

 

[terracesider]

No surprises, except maybe Featherstone losing at home. I've just been reading a pesssimistic article about them in RL Journal by Ron Bailey, their long-time former secretary. I suspsect it's going to be a long hard season.

According to the Rochdale board on RLFans, the pitch was waterlogged and it's been rescheduled for Wednesday.

 

[Henson Park Hornets]

Terracesider, I think that there is one Hornets fan that posts on RL Fan. For Hornets news try www.rochdalehornets.com that's were the Hornets Army post!

Good start for the new Celtic team and for the only real RL team left in London!

 

[terracesider]

Terracesider, I think that there is one Hornets fan that posts on RL Fan. For Hornets news try www.rochdalehornets.com that's were the Hornets Army post!

Good start for the new Celtic team and for the only real RL team left in London!

Thanks HPR. Mark2 must get lonly at times.

I tried to link to the official site from League Weekly but the link was naff and I couldn't find anything in my bookmarked news links.

 

[Henson Park Hornets]

There hasn't been an official Hornets website in years, which is a bit embarressing as a fan of the club.

 

[bartman]

Oops... forgot the results from a week ago. Here they are, courtesy http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/:

Sunday 19 February 2006
Northern Rail National League Cup

Group One
Hemel 2 St Albans 4
London Skolars 6 Celtic Crusaders 40

Group Two
Barrow 20 Whitehaven 36
Workington 32 Gateshead 12

Group Three
Batley 22 Doncaster 34
Hunslet 16 Dewsbury 28 (Played Friday 17th)

Group Four
Leigh 27 Widnes 20
Swinton 42 Blackpool 10

Group Five
Keighley 18 Rochdale 46
Oldham 26 Halifax 42

Group Six
Featherstone 6 Hull KR 32
Sheffield 29 York 24 (played Friday 17th)

 

[bartman]

And this weekends' results:

Sunday 26 February 2006
Northern Rail National League Cup

Group One
London Skolars 42 Hemel 12
St Albans 0 Celtic Crusaders 72

Group Two
Whitehaven 36 Gateshead 12
Workington 40 Barrow 20

Group Three
Batley 28 Hunslet 22
Dewsbury 37 Doncaster 20

Group Four
Swinton 20 Leigh 30
Widnes 76 Blackpool 6

Group Five
Halifax 12 Rochdale 16
Oldham 25 Keighley 24

Group Six
Sheffield 22 Hull KR 44 (Played Friday 24th)
Featherstone 16 York 22

 

[bartman]

And at the halfway point in the group rounds (with return match-ups still to come), here are the standings:

Group One - the "easy ride group"
Celtic Crusaders (NL2) 3W 0L 6pts
London Skolars (NL2) 2W 1L 4pts
St Albans (NL3) 1W 2L 2pts
Hemel Hempstead (NL3) 0W 3L 0pts

Group Two
Whitehaven (NL1) 3W 0L 6pts
Workington 2W (NL2) 1L 4pts
Barrow (NL2) 1W 2L 2pts
Gateshead (NL2) 0W 3L 0pts

Group Three
Dewsbury (NL2) 3W 0L 6pts
Doncaster (NL1) 2W 1L 4pts
Batley (NL1) 1W 2L 2pts
Hunslet (NL2) 0W 3L 0pts

Group Four
Leigh (NL1) 3W 0L 6pts
Widnes (NL1) 2W 1L 4pts
Swinton (NL2) 1W 2L 2pts
Blackpool (NL2) 0W 3L 0pts

Group Five - the "group of death":lol:
Rochdale (NL1) 3W 0L 6pts
Halifax (NL1) 2W 1L 4pts
Oldham (NL1) 1W 2L 2pts
Keighley (NL2) 0W 3L 0pts

Group Six
Hull KR (NL1) 3W 0L 6pts
Sheffield (NL2) 2W 1L 4pts
York (NL1) 1W 2L 2pts
Featherstone (NL2) 0W 3L 0pts

I think 8 teams - the six group winners and the two next best teams - go through to the knock out stages held later in the year? So far Dewsbury and Sheffield are getting good results against higher level opposition.

 

[bartman]

Round 4 Results

Sunday 5 March 2006
Northern Rail National League Cup

Group One
edit - St Albans 18 Hemel 16
Celtic Crusaders 78 London Skolars 14

Group Two
Whitehaven 26 Barrow 18
edit - Gateshead 22 Workington 35

Group Three
Doncaster 60 Batley 14
Dewsbury 16 Hunslet 6

Group Four
Widnes v Leigh - to be played Tuesday 7th
Blackpool 16 Swinton 26

Group Five
Rochdale v Keighley - postponed?
Halifax v Oldham - postponed?

Group Six
Hull KR 50 Featherstone 18
York 32 Sheffield 16

There's a week off next week so teams can attend to their Challenge Cup duties.

 

[terracesider]

Can you check the St Albans and Gateshead results please, Bartman.

 

[bartman]

Thanks for spotting that Terracesider... all fixed up. ;-)

 

[terracesider]

It's not very often I get 100% of tips right, but this week was absolutely pedictable.

It looks like another long haul for London S and when are Hemel going to win a game?

 

[bartman]

Could be a long wait for Hemel...

I've just discovered there's a Group Seven with three amateur teams, so I've now got no idea how they decide who makes the knockout stages and how it's meant to work... :lol:

 

[Bumble]

It's not very often I get 100% of tips right, but this week was absolutely pedictable.

It looks like another long haul for London S and when are Hemel going to win a game?

I doubt it will be all bad for the Skolars...the Crusaders are way too good for NL2 in the first place.

 

[terracesider]

The format seems to be one the best kept secrets in RL. I only knew of the Group 7 because I'd seen the results in League Weekly.

According to the Fixture List [pdf] there is a qualifying round after the group stages.

 

[bartman]

The plot thickens!

The quarter-finals should have 8 teams competing, so the qualifying round has to somehow turn 12 (or 13 or 14?) teams into 8... probably using some comlex (or yet to be decided) system of byes and wildcards and the like.

 

[leaguerules]

celtic are killing it. how good will it be if they can make the superleague in a couple years

 

[terracesider]

I wouldn't get carried way with Celtic yet. They've only played the three weakest teams in the competition. It'll be ineresting to see how they get on against the better sides.

 

[terracesider]

The plot thickens!

The quarter-finals should have 8 teams competing, so the qualifying round has to somehow turn 12 (or 13 or 14?) teams into 8... probably using some comlex (or yet to be decided) system of byes and wildcards and the like.

I've hunted around and cannot find any details on the web. Hell, it's hard anough to find any scores except for Sporting Life. I did find this on RLFans.

http://forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=186344

According to Town Till I Die

6 Groups + 1 NL3 Group

Group 1-6 Winners, runners up and then the three third best placed teams progress to the Quater Final qualifying round along with the winner of the NL3 group

(So 16 teams take part in the Quater Final qualifying round)

with winners going through to the Quater Finals - 8 teams

and then its straight forward

 

[bartman]

OK, that's one way of getting to an even 16. How crazy though...

Cheers Terracesider, I'll dig out all the Group 7 results so far with the next round's update.