A rearranged date has been confirmed for York Knights’ Round Two Challenge Cup fixture given their previous Hull KR commitments.
The Challenge Cup has had a shakeup for 2025 in both format and scheduling with the competition kicking off before any of the domestic leagues begin. As such, Super League sides will play in the cup before their season is even launched.
These changes have meant that Rounds One and Two of the competition will be played in January, a period during which teams book their pre-season friendlies.
One such pre-season friendly that was announced all the way back in May was for Hull KR to take on Championship side York Knights in Amsterdam with the fixture aimed at helping further develop rugby league in the Netherlands.
That game was slated for Saturday, January 25th, which happens to be the same weekend that Round Two of the cup was slated for – thus creating a clash which has now been rectified.
York Knights’ Challenge Cup tie rescheduled to avoid Hull KR clash
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π It has been confirmed that the Knights will travel to Cougar Park on Sunday the 2nd of February for a 3 PM kick-off in the Challenge Cup 2nd Round against @Cougarmaniaβ¦ pic.twitter.com/hC0pPwGpuH
β York RLFC Knights (@YorkRLFC) December 21, 2024
It had been confirmed that a resolution would be found and that has now been confirmed with York Knights, who had been drawn against Keighley Cougars for Round Two of the Challenge Cup, providing an update.
The Championship side will of course still face Hull KR on the 25th of January with their Challenge Cup tie pushed back to February 2nd, a week before Round Three of the competition commences.
A statement from the Knights announced: “York RLFC can confirm the Knights’ second round Challenge Cup tie against Keighley Cougars will take place on Sunday 2nd February at Cougar Park (3pm).
“Itβll be the first meeting between the sides since 2023 when they faced each other in the Championship.”
Keighley would also provide an update, posting on X: “Confirmation our Challenge Cup Round 2 fixture with York Knights will take place on Sunday 2nd February with a 3:00pm kick off.
“This is due to York taking part in the Amsterdam Challenge with Hull KR on the weekend of 24th/25th of January.”
Full details of the draws for Round One and Round Two of the competition can be found here.
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