Give clubs outside the top tier a chance of silverware; Wigan are set to sign ex-Wales rugby union international Andy Powell
1) Cup needs a Paint job
If Carlsberg did cup draws, as they say in the adverts, they could hardly have devised a better one for the fourth round of the Challenge Cup – perhaps not surprisingly, as the tournament is now sponsored by Tetley's, which became a brand of the Danish brewing giants in 1998. A couple of all-Super League ties (Leeds versus Castleford and Hull KR-St Helens); a sprinkling of local derbies (Wigan-Leigh, Batley-Huddersfield and, gloriously, Whitehaven-Workington); and attractive but not too scary opposition for the two new Championship One clubs who have reached the last 32, with the University of Gloucestershire All Golds facing Salford, and Hemel at home to Wakefield Trinity.
The magic of the cup? Well possibly, and certainly the grand old knockout competition has been considerably refreshed in recent decades by the involvement of more amateur teams, plus the French flavour provided this year by the Super League hopefuls of Toulouse as well as the Catalan Dragons. So it is probably the worst possible time to advocate a major shake-up of the Challenge Cup, as a key part of a complete revamp of the domestic season.
But here goes anyway. I've been banging on for nearly three years now, since a mid-summer trip to Barrow, about a two-tier Super League, for a variety of reasons – the deep attachment to promotion and relegation in British sporting culture, the gulf in resources and therefore standards between the leading Super League clubs and the rest (clearly illustrated by recent events at Hull KR), etc, etc. But that would obviously lead to a need to reinvent the fixture list, as nine home games from a 10-team league would be nothing like enough for clubs to pay their bills.
That is where the Challenge Cup comes in. Recognise reality and make it a 20-team competition, with the 10 teams from each of Super League's two divisions split into four groups of five, thereby guaranteeing each club at least two more home games, and possibly four. The top two from each group would qualify for quarter-finals, to preserve the knockout element. The groups would be regionalised and could even start on Boxing Day.
But what about the teams who would not make that cut of 20? How would Workington, Whitehaven, Rochdale Hornets and Hemel retain their access to the magic of the cup? That is where Crewe Alexandra come in, funnily enough. It may well have escaped your attention but at the weekend they won the first trophy in the club's 136-year history, cheered by more than 10,000 of their supporters to Wembley victory over Southend United in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final. Why can't rugby league create a secondary cup competition of its own, with the final to be played as the first part of a double header at Wembley in August ahead of the Challenge Cup final proper? Suddenly a realistic path to glory would open up to the Cumbrian clubs or other sleeping giants such as Oldham, or to ambitious clubs from new areas such as Hemel, or even to the amateurs, students and part-time French teams who currently recognise that their Challenge Cup adventure will end well short of Wembley.
2) Creativity in Cumbria
Talking of Workington, in addition to recognising what sounds like another excellent win for Town, against Les Canaris of Carcassonne, in what is turning into a highly encouraging season at Derwent Park, a quick word for one of the more imaginative attempts to celebrate hosting the World Cup later in the year. Ian Hinde, a local thespian, has started work on a play, to be called Trying for the World, ahead of the two Scotland games that will be played at Derwent Park – against Tonga on 29 October and Italy on 3 November – and is keen to hear anecdotes from supporters and especially former players either via email to tryingfortheworld@gmail.com, or in person at the Theatre Royal on Washington Street on Tuesday 23 April at 7pm.
3) For Wigan and Wales
Before heading for Workington, Italy will have made a notable World Cup debut at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, having been selected as intriguing opposition for Wales in the double header that also features England's opener against Australia. There have been a couple of potentially significant developments in the build-up to that game during the last few days, with news from Canberra that Terry Campese is ready to begin his latest comeback from injury, and closer to home that Wigan are about to sign the former Wales rugby union international Andy Powell.
The timing, and secrecy, of Wigan's move for Powell represents a double triumph for the Wigan chairman, Ian Lenagan. Nobody bangs the drum for rugby league more eloquently, or effectively, these days, and while Lenagan's overwhelming priority remains the Wigan club, he will be delighted to deliver a big-name signing from union to the World Cup tournament organisers and to Iestyn Harris – the Wales coach who is also assistant to Shaun Wane at the DW Stadium.
Harris's appointment was no accident either, as Lenagan seized for the Wigan club the responsibility for ensuring that the excellent development work that had gone on beneath the accident-prone shop window of Super League's three-year Welsh experiment was not wasted, setting up a partnership with the Neath-based South Wales Scorpions. Nor was that entirely altruistic, he would be the first to admit, and Wigan's Welsh initiative has already started paying dividends with Gil Dudson and Ben Flower establishing themselves as Super League forwards. Wane and Harris are confident that Rhodri Lloyd will soon be a third, and the performance of the Wales under-16s in running England so close at the weekend showed that there is plenty more talent where they came from.
Nobody would pretend that Italy's team will be anything like as authentic this autumn, with the efforts to establish league in the country being undermined by internal bickering. But the strength of Sydney's Italian community should still make them seriously competitive, as shown by the potential half-back pairing of Campese – the nephew of the former Wallabies wing David, who has previously represented New South Wales and Australia – and Craig Gower, who won 13 rugby union caps for Italy before returning to league with London Broncos last year.
Gower was terrific even in London's latest defeat at the weekend, against Bradford Bulls in the new surroundings of High Wycombe, but there was also encouragement for Harris and Wales in the performance of Elliot Kear on Bradford's right wing.
4) Missing Steel
Bradford's win, inspired by four tries in the space of 17 second-half minutes from the irrepressible Jarrod Sammut, lifted the Bulls to third in the table after 11 rounds, their best position at such an advanced stage of the season for eight years. But it was not the most notable Super League result of the weekend.
That accolade must go to Hull KR, who bounced back from an 80-point humiliation by Wigan on Easter Monday to maintain their Craven Park hex on St Helens – which sets the scene nicely for the rapid rematch in the cup later this month. The Easter programme fell horribly for Rovers but they still have some talented players at the club, although confirmation that the chairman, Neil Hudgell, and his right-hand man, Rob Crossman, will withdraw their financial backing at the end of the season is a major concern.
Things seem much more stable across the city and, although Hull FC remain below Rovers in the table, consecutive wins against Wakefield and the Catalans suggest that they remain capable of at least a top-eight finish and possibly a decent cup run as well.
Widnes scored some stunning tries in recording their fourth win of the season against Salford, and their coach, Denis Betts, and owner, Steve O'Connor, will have taken special pleasure from the contributions of Jack Owens and Grant Gore, two players who have come through the junior ranks at the Stobart Stadium.
But no team ended the Easter period more impressively than Leeds, who followed their tough win against the Catalans in Perpignan by playing some dazzling stuff against Warrington. Ryan Hall earned the headlines for another pair of spectacular finishes but the modest England wing would have been the first to pay tribute to the many classy contributions of Danny McGuire and Kevin Sinfield. It is a minor outrage that none of Headingley's golden generation, which also includes Rob Burrow and Jamie Jones-Buchanan, has ever been crowned Super League's Man of Steel, despite providing the spine of the Rhinos team who have won five of the last six Grand Finals. Could that finally change this year?
5) Steel city successor
There were also numerous noteworthy performances in the third round of the cup, with special congratulations to Hemel for their convincing win at the Wigan amateurs Ince Rose Bridge and to the All Golds for holding off Skirlaugh from east Hull, while Blackbrook also came agonisingly close to shocking York at Langtree Park. But the best story came in the most one-sided tie of all, not because Sheffield Eagles ran in 112 points against Leigh East but because two of their 19 tries came from Cory Aston, the 18-year-old son of the South Yorkshire club's coach and inspiration Mark – who won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match when they stunned Wigan in the 1998 cup final at Wembley.
"If there were any doubts I'd picked him because he's my son, they were quashed today," Aston Sr told the League Express newspaper afterwards. "He's known what he wants from the age of two and he's got the drive and desire to go on and be the best he can be."
6) Lest we forget
Finally this week a wonderful tribute to the fund-raising efforts of the former St Helens and Hull full-back Steve Prescott MBE, and to the many rugby league supporters – and Set of Six readers – who have backed him, as he is the front-cover star of Successes, the quarterly newsletter produced by Manchester's Christie Hospital. To use the sort of understatement in which Steve deals, he has been in a bad way recently, having spent two more days in hospital for an operation to ease kidney problems. But he remains determined to pull off some more masochistic stunts before the end of the year – we'll provide more details as and when. For the moment, it can't do any harm to keep spreading the word, and reiterating our support.
Much of Prescott's heroism has raised funds for Rugby League Cares, the charity that provides support to players and former players in distress – and along those lines there is encouraging news of Ryan Glynn, who suffered serious spinal injuries playing for Shaw Cross Sharks last month. He is still in hospital but tweeting prolifically, and positively, if realistically. "Done a lot of training and played in some big rugby games in my life but doesn't come close to learning how to walk again," he posted over the weekend, with the hashtags "£hardgraft" and "£tough". Food for thought.
Super League XVIII
Super League
Challenge Cup
Rugby league
Andy Wilson
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