Yorkshire and Lancashire will renew their rivalry at OneBore Stadium as the 2026 Academy Origin series reaches its conclusion on Saturday.
Lancashire head to the home of Castleford Tigers (kick-off 1pm) with the advantage after claiming a 30-14 victory at Warrington Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium last weekend.
For Yorkshire, Saturday represents the chance to immediately hit back and level the two-match series, while their rivals will be looking to complete a clean sweep.
But the significance of Academy Origin stretches beyond the result.
The programme provides some of the leading young players within the Academy game another opportunity to test themselves in an intense representative environment, an important part of their development as they aim to progress towards Super League.
Head of England Pathways (Male) Paul Anderson believes the opening fixture demonstrated exactly the sort of challenge the Origin programme is designed to provide.
He said: “We’re really looking forward to Saturday. The first game was exactly what we want from Academy Origin: two sides going at each other and the players being tested in a really competitive environment.
“Yorkshire will obviously want to respond and Lancashire will want to finish the job, so that should give us another really intense contest.
“These are some of the best young players in the Academy competition and this is about putting them into situations that stretch them.
“Ultimately, we want to help prepare these lads for that next step into Super League, and games like this are a really important part of that development.”
Team news will be announced in due course.
Game Two of the 2026 Academy Origin will be streamed live on the official England RL YouTube channel.
