Challenge Cup round-up

Yorkshire Evening Post

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Hunslet RLFC's Challenge Cup loss to Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers' exit against Bradford Bulls.

Transcript

00:00We've just watched Unslut give a very good account of themselves, certainly for 40 minutes

00:06against Hutsfield Giants here at the coldest place on earth, otherwise known as South Leeds

00:11Stadium. Unslut newly promoted to the Championship this year after finishing fourth in League

00:181 in 2024 and going up through the playoffs. They're a decent team, I think. I think they'll

00:24do okay at Championship level. They're up against some very strong opposition teams

00:28like Bradford Bulls and Toulouse and Featherston, who have greater resources. But Unslut are

00:34a well-organised side under coach Dean Muir. They like to play rugby. Perhaps today they

00:39tried to play a little bit too much of it, but they've got some good players, the likes

00:42of Greg Eden, Kevin Leroyer, young Noah Booth, who's just joined Hull KR from Wakefield and

00:50is on loan for the season. They took an early lead against Huddersfield, only 12-6 down

00:56at half-time. In the second half, though, the Super League side's greater fitness tolled

01:01and Unslut just couldn't get out of their own territory. I don't think they got over halfway

01:05in the entire half. They started making mistakes and Huddersfield had enough possession to punish

01:11those and ended up comfortable 34-6 winners. An injury to Kieran Rush, their half-back,

01:19will be a concern. They've already got several half-backs out on the casualty list at the moment.

01:26Huddersfield weren't particularly impressive. They're going to have to improve an awful lot

01:29when the Super League season starts, or they'll be in for another long year. So that's the

01:34Challenge Cup third round over and done with. Just one shock, Castleford Tigers bowing out

01:40at Bradford Bulls, went 17-0 down, staged a decent second half comeback, but were beaten by two

01:46points. Disappointing start to Danny Maguire's reign there as coach and Castleford, like Huddersfield,

01:53look like they're going to need a big improvement to do anything in Super League this year, but

01:58possibly good times ahead for Huddersfield. I think they're a team worth, sorry for Unslut,

02:03I think they're a team worth watching. So if you get a chance to pop down to

02:06South Leeds Stadium, they will play an entertaining brand of football.

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