The 2013 Championship Cup, (known for commercial reasons as the Northern Rail Cup), was the 12th and last season of the rugby league football competition for clubs in Great Britain's Championship and Championship 1.

2013 Championship Cup
Teams22
2013 Season
 

Leigh beat Sheffield 43-28 in the final, which was played at Halifax's The Shay.

Format

edit

For 2013, the format of the competition was changed to coincide with the expansion of the Championship from 10 to 14 teams. The competition began on 3 March with a group stage containing eight teams from the 2013 Championship 1 split into two groups. Each team played four games (two home, two away) with three of the games being played against the other teams in the group and the fourth game being played against a team from the other group.[1]

Following the completion of the group stage, the teams finishing first in each group progressed to the knock-out stages where they join the 14 teams from the Championship to make up 16 teams. There were three knock-out rounds (play-off, quarter final, semi final) before the final on 20 July 2013 at The Shay in Halifax.[2] The final took place after the inaugural Northern Rail Bowl final, involving the two highest-ranked teams from the group stages.

2013 Competition Results

edit

Group stage

edit

Round 1

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  North Wales Crusaders 48 – 12   Oldham R.L.F.C. 3 March, 14:30 GMT Racecourse Ground Clint Sharrad 721
  Gloucestershire All Golds 18 – 36   Hemel Stags 3 March, 15:00 GMT Prince of Wales Stadium, Cheltenham Peter Brooke 256
  Rochdale Hornets 58 – 16   Gateshead Thunder 3 March, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium Joe Cobb 508
  South Wales Scorpions 12 – 54   London Skolars 3 March, 15:00 GMT The Gnoll Tom Crashley 329
Source:[3][4]

Round 2

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  Gateshead Thunder 4 – 30   North Wales Crusaders 10 March, 15:00 GMT MS3 Craven Park, Hull A Dave Sharpe 228
  Gloucestershire All Golds 20 – 42   South Wales Scorpions 10 March, 15:00 GMT Prince of Wales Stadium, Cheltenham Clint Sharrad
  London Skolars 26 – 4   Hemel Stags 10 March, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium Jamie Bloem
  Oldham R.L.F.C. 26 – 10   Rochdale Hornets 10 March, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium Tom Crashley 518
Source:[3][4]

Round 3

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  North Wales Crusaders 30 – 16   Rochdale Hornets 17 March, 14:30 GMT Racecourse Ground Peter Brooke 659
  Hemel Stags 20 – 22   South Wales Scorpions 17 March, 15:00 GMT Pennine Way stadium Dave Sharpe 179
  London Skolars 20 – 0   Gloucestershire All Golds 17 March, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium Tom Crashley 251
  Oldham R.L.F.C. 34 – 16   Gateshead Thunder 17 March, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium Joe Cobb 476
Source:[3][4]

Round 4

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  Gateshead Thunder 16 – 18   Gloucestershire All Golds 24 March, 15:00 GMT Crow Trees (Blaydon RFC)B Jamie Bloem 142
  South Wales Scorpions 12 – 24   Oldham R.L.F.C. 24 March, 15:00 GMT The Gnoll Peter Brooke 280
  Rochdale Hornets 40 – 16   London Skolars 1 April 15:00 BST C Spotland Stadium Joe Cobb 413
  Hemel Stags 24 – 36   North Wales Crusaders 23 April 19:00 BST C Pennine Way stadium Tom Crashley 129
Source:[3][4]

Tables

edit
2013 Northern Rail Cup: Pool A
# PLD W D L PF PA PD BP PTS
1   North Wales Crusaders 4 4 0 0 144 56 +88 0 12
2   Oldham R.L.F.C. 4 3 0 1 96 86 +10 0 9
3   Rochdale Hornets 4 2 0 2 124 88 +36 0 6
4   Gateshead Thunder 4 0 0 4 52 140 -88 1 1
2013 Northern Rail Cup: Pool B
# PLD W D L PF PA PD BP PTS
1   London Skolars 4 3 0 1 116 56 +60 0 9
2   South Wales Scorpions 4 2 0 2 88 118 -30 1 7
3   Hemel Stags 4 1 0 3 84 102 -18 2 5
4   Gloucestershire All Golds 4 1 0 3 56 114 -58 0 3
  Teams qualifying for the next round

Tables are correct as of 23 April 2013. Source: rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk and BBC Sport.

Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.
Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1

Knock-out Stages

edit

Finals Tournament Bracket

edit
1st Knock-out Round Quarter Final Semi Final Final
            
  Keighley Cougars 18
  Batley Bulldogs 38
  Batley Bulldogs 30
  Workington Town 4
  Workington Town 36
  Hunslet Hawks 16
  Batley Bulldogs 6
  Leigh Centurions 23
  Featherstone Rovers 12
  Leigh Centurions 22
  Leigh Centurions 34
  Whitehaven 18
  London Skolars 16
  Whitehaven 62
  Leigh Centurions 43
  Sheffield Eagles 28
  Swinton Lions 26
  North Wales Crusaders 18
  Swinton Lions 14
  Doncaster 36
  York City Knights 12
  Doncaster 24
  Doncaster 10
  Sheffield Eagles 32
  Sheffield Eagles 64
  Barrow Raiders 10
  Sheffield Eagles 26
  Dewsbury Rams 16
  Dewsbury Rams 20
  Halifax 18

Play Off Round

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  Dewsbury Rams 20 – 18   Halifax 16 May, 19:30 BST Tetley's Stadium George Stokes 800
  London Skolars 16 – 62   Whitehaven 19 May, 14:00 BST New River Stadium Joe Cobb 276
  Featherstone Rovers 12 – 22   Leigh Centurions 19 May, 15:00 BST Bigfellas Stadium Matt Thomason 1,745
  Keighley Cougars 18 – 38   Batley Bulldogs 19 May, 15:00 BST Cougar Park Dave Merrick 714
  Sheffield Eagles 64 – 10   Barrow Raiders 19 May, 15:00 BST Don Valley Stadium Chris Leatherbarrow 408
  Swinton Lions 26 – 18   North Wales Crusaders 19 May, 15:00 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 544
  Workington Town 36 – 16   Hunslet Hawks 19 May, 15:00 BST Derwent Park Gareth Hewer 569
  York City Knights 12 – 24   Doncaster 19 May, 15:00 BST Huntington Stadium Ronnie Laughton 451
Source:[3][4]

Quarter-final

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  Swinton Lions 14 – 36   Doncaster 13 June, 19:30 BST Leigh Sports Village Chris Leatherbarrow
  Sheffield Eagles 26 – 16   Dewsbury Rams 14 June, 20:00 BST Don Valley Stadium Matt Thomason 576
  Batley Bulldogs 30 – 4   Workington Town 16 June, 14:00 BST Loverugbyleague.com Stadium George Stokes 671
  Leigh Centurions 34 – 18   Whitehaven 16 June, 15:00 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 1,320
Source:[3][4]

Semi-final

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
  Leigh Centurions 23 – 6   Batley Bulldogs 27 June, 19:30 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 1,807
  Doncaster 10 – 32   Sheffield Eagles 28 June, 20:00 BST Doncaster Athletics Stadium Chris Leatherbarrow 611
Source:[3][4]

Finals

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Northern Rail Cup
  Leigh Centurions 43 – 28   Sheffield Eagles 20 July, 17:00 BST The Shay, Halifax Chris Leatherbarrow 4,179
Northern Rail Bowl
  North Wales Crusaders 42 – 24   London Skolars 20 July, 14:30 BST The Shay, Halifax Joe Cobb 2,000
Source:[3][4]

Notes

edit

A.^ Game switched from Thunderdome to Craven Park due to Stan Calvert Cup match between Northumbria University and Newcastle University[5]
B.^ Game switched from Thunderdome to Blaydon RFC due to poor conditions of pitch at Gateshead[6]
C.^ Match originally postponed on 24 March due to snow

References

edit
  1. ^ "Northern Rail Cup 2013" (PDF). RFL. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  2. ^ "History beckons as 2013 Northern Rail Cup begins". RFL. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Results - Championship Cup - Rugby League - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Results". Rugby League Championship. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Gateshead Thunder to stage match at Hull KR's Craven Park". BBC Sport. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Thunder to play at Blaydon". Gateshead Thunder. 12 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
edit