14 Jan 2025

Rhinos find out potential opponents for Third Round of the Betfred Challenge Cup

Leeds Rhinos will travel to face London-based side Wests Warriors or British Army or RAF in the Third Round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

The Betfred Challenge Cup has a new format which will see the 12 Betfred Super League clubs enter at an earlier stage, in the last 32 – again in a seeded draw, which guarantees that each of them has been drawn away to one of the 20 Second Round winners.

That means Super League clubs will now need to win four matches to reach Challenge Cup Finals Day at Wembley in June – and guarantees a range of David versus Goliath style ties in the Third Round along similar lines to Tamworth v Tottenham in football’s FA Cup.

As a result of the postponement of 14 of the 17 First Round ties scheduled for the weekend just gone, there will be 31 community teams with an involvement in Tuesday evening’s Third Round draw, in addition to 23 from Betfred Championship and League One.

The 20 Second Round ties have each been given a number in the order they were drawn in Goole before Christmas.

The draw began with one ball being drawn to face each of the 12 Betfred Super League clubs – starting with Wakefield Trinity, who return to the elite in 2025 having won the Betfred Championship and the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup last season, and concluding with Wigan Warriors, the Betfred Super League and Challenge Cup holders.

The remaining eight balls were drawn in four more ties to complete the line-up of 16 ties for the Third Round, to be played on the weekend of February 7-9. 

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