Coventry Bears were handed a tough away tie at Doncaster by two of the city’s local sporting heroes when the Third Round draw for the Coral Challenge Cup was held at St Mary’s Guildhall tonight.
Kare Adenegan, an 18-year-old Paralympian world record holder, joined the middle distance legend David Moorcroft OBE as Coventry hosted the draw as part of its year as the European City of Sport in 2019, and to celebrate its recent success in securing a fixture in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup – when Coventry will be the UK’s next City of Culture.
But they didn’t do the Bears any favours, as they were drawn against one of the other 10 semi-professional teams from League One who enter the Cup at the third-round stage.
Four Community clubs are guaranteed to reach the Fourth Round stage, when the Championship clubs enter the competition, as a result of the Third Round draw.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is the confirmed <a href="https://twitter.com/Coral?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Coral</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChallengeCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChallengeCup</a> third round draw ðŸ†<br><br>ðŸ–¥ï¸ One match will be shown live on the <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCSport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BBCSport</a> website and one on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OURLEAGUE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OURLEAGUE</a> <a href="https://t.co/iW21XmfpZK">pic.twitter.com/iW21XmfpZK</a></p>— The Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheChallengeCup/status/1095033482173124609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Thatto Heath of St Helens will face Rochdale Mayfield; Wigan St Judes will play Lock Lane of Castleford; York Acorn will play Featherstone Lions; and West Hull will take on Dewsbury Moor.
The Doncaster-Coventry game is one of three all League One ties, with West Wales Raiders facing the long journey to play Newcastle Thunder, and London Skolars given home advantage against North Wales Crusaders.
That leaves Community clubs aiming to pull off an upset against League One opposition: Distington from Cumbria have been drawn away to Keighley Cougars; Haydock must travel to Oldham; West Bowling are at Hunslet; Siddal have a long trip to the north-west to play Workington Town; and Whitehaven are also at home, to Wigan St Patricks.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great to see <a href="https://twitter.com/TheChallengeCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheChallengeCup</a> draw in our city - the road to Wembley starts here! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForTheNext?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForTheNext</a> <a href="https://t.co/0gN6ljOvPM">pic.twitter.com/0gN6ljOvPM</a></p>— CoventryBearsRL (@CoventryBearsRL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoventryBearsRL/status/1095034221557633026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Coral Challenge Cup, Third Round draw: Keighley Cougars v Distington, Oldham v Haydock, Thatto Heath v Rochdale Mayfield, Wigan St Judes v Lock Lane, Newcastle Thunder v West Wales Raiders, London Skolars v North Wales Crusaders, Hunslet v West Bowling, Workington Town v Siddal, York Acorn v Featherstone Lions, West Hull v Dewsbury Moor, Doncaster v Coventry Bears, Whitehaven v Wigan St Patricks.
Ties to be played on weekend of March 9-10.
Note - During the draw ball number 6 (Haydock) was incorrectly announced as number 9 (Lock Lane) and vice versa. It has been agreed that the draw will be honoured as the balls were drawn out not as they were read out for the integrity of the competition.
