12-10 Hudds

18 - 16 Hudds

Saints 70 fev 0

Another huge score!

do we adjust the rules then for the amateur teams or whoever in earlier rounds of it, to even it out for them against eth championship sides?

i feel sorry for the professional teams that will get drawn against the Uni teams, or the Army teams, and have to find a load of students or soldiers to fill their squad.

also, where do you draw the line? what about the salary cap, is the SL team only allowed to play £400k worth of its salaried squad?

presumably the best outcome for the cup is to have the best 8 teams possible in the QF's, and this year we have 8 of the top 9 SL clubs fighting it out for the Cup. Its just a shame the next round is months away.

for us old fans ( the ones who grew up with winter rugby) the challenge cup was the business, from the draws to the games,wondering where the shocks were going to happen etc.
now though its painful to see the cup mean so little to most supporters now,the embarrassing one sided games between super league clubs and championship clubs doesn't help, as we have seen today one of the top championship clubs on the end of 70-0 tonking.
people have no interest in these one sided games as the 2,905 at saints v fev shows,a few years ago fev would have taken away support like that in the hope of witnessing a famous cup shock,the only shock nowadays are the part timers getting within 30 points!
also the fact that most fans now see the grand final as the ultimate and the cup a mere hindrance wont help either.

when was this golden era of massive shocks in the cup every year? teams have been piling on cricket scores since the dawn of the game, its not new phenomenon.

Wigan fans easily outnumbered the Bradford fans, shocking support from them.

I am only 22, And as a Castleford fan. The Challenge cup is still the biggest competition for me.

The knockout, Road to Wembley is still what sport is all about

The potential for shocks is diminishing.
The gap between SL and the Championship is widening.
The irregularity of the fixtures.

You cannot put into place some structure for limits on the SL clubs; after all, why would a) fans of the bigger clubs turn out to see kids and b) why would lower league fans see a load of kids?

Fans from lower leagues want to see the top sides and their big name stars. Equally on the same balance fans want to see their side competitive and barring the odd occasional shock lower league clubs are traditionally going to struggle.

For me, the problem lies with the gulf in quality between the divisions and where the games are situated. I think it should be moved back to the beginning of the season.

Good man.

But to be fair you'd get rid of one Aussie player and that would be it, yeah why not.

Two massive games on the beeb. Not top quality SL action, but you could taste the hunger and fear of losing in both matches. Great stuff.

3k crowds at Huddersfield and Salford pretty poor though.

6k at Odsal with a 50/50 split in supporters and 7.5k at Leeds wernt much better. For the corresponding fixtures Bradford got over 15k and Leeds got just short of 15k.

The 2,150 figure for the St Helens game wasn't too hot either.

No one cares about the Challenge Cup.

Yeah,,and the year before that,there was about 65,000+ and the massive gaps in the seating round Wembley made it a bit of a embarresment,,,

76,550

Leeds v Warrington may have been announced at 85k but there were no where near that in the ground.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v New England Patriots - 84,254


Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos - 85,217


Something doesnt look right with those 2 pictures/attendances given.

The Tampa , Patriots match included the players , coaches , cheerleaders , refs , those blokes with the sticks with string on them , and those prospect dishes , plus all the other people they have on the pitch

Considering the second one doesn't seem like it's near to kick off, then perhaps the timing of the said pictures needs to be compared too?

Club Wembley tickets ruin the effect, if those tickets had been available for general sale they'd have sold out

And just for good measure... 49ers v Broncos - 83,941

Just before the teams came out. There wernt really many more who came in after.

That would make it even worse

It's also harder to spot the empty seats due to the light.