"Down the Line" blog by Andrew Henderson
Down the Line - Quarter Final Draw
23rd March 2009
I was fascinated by the Northern Rail Cup’s Quarter Final draw at Halifax last week.
The strength of this year’s tournament was reflected in the fact that all four of the ties are going to be humdingers with no clear favourites available to pundits.
And that’s just how it should be at this stage of an important Cup competition.
While it’s possible to select the Halifax v Leigh Centurions as the most attractive of the Quarter Final draw, it’s the Barrow Raiders v Dewsbury Rams game that’s stirred my imagination.
I’ll come clean; I’m a former Barrow player so matters at Craven Park are always close to my heart.
And these are encouraging days for Rugby League up on the Furness and coach Dave Clark deserves a great deal of credit for putting together a very competitive team.
Nobody expected them to beat Widnes Vikings to seal a place in the Quarter Final draw but they have proved to be a force to be reckoned with, especially at Craven Park.
But Rams Head Coach Warren Jowitt has done an equally good job at the Tetley’s Stadium and the fact that they topped the Qualifying Pool Two was no mean feat for the Rams.
Looking at it logically the Raiders were promoted to the Co-operative Championship at the end of last season and the Rams are going to be one of the main influences in Championship One. The mixture is irresistible and just shows great value the Northern Rail has become to the sport of Rugby League.
Two up-and-coming young coaches; two clubs from the sport’s traditional heartlands and two groups of fans who have had to endure less then happy days who are now benefiting from the success their players have achieved in the Northern Rail Cup. Great news all round for Rugby League and the competition.
Widnes Vikings are starting to find their feet - they showed that with their 70-0 televised drubbing of poor Toulouse Olympique last week - and now they’ve appointed Paul Cullen as their new coach they will be a very difficult team to beat.
York City Knights are a side on the march and reaching the Quarter Finals will be judged as a real achievement for them. But whether they will have enough strength available to them to challenge Widnes away from home is open to question.
Oldham are many people’s favourites to win promotion from Co-operative Championship One this year after falling at the last hurdle in both 2007 and 2008. But they can be vulnerable as Keighley Cougars proved by beating them in the league yesterday and Blackpool Panthers, who ran them close the previous week.
Featherstone Rovers could well be the dark horses of the competition. Daryl Powell is fashioning a team who are becoming quiet achievers and even at Boundary Park they could well start favourites against Oldham.
It’s almost too close to call because Oldham have recruited well including players like forward Paul Highton, who have engage Super League experience but they will have to be at their best to put Rovers out of the competition.
The real tasty match in the round is Halifax’s showdown with Leigh Centurions. As I’ve said here before Halifax are going to be the side to beat in the Championship this season. They can attack from deep and have players all through their side who can score tries.
Matt Calland is a shrewd, demanding coach and together with his players they have worked hard on a defence that was notoriously leaky last year.
Leigh coach Neil Kelly is one of the best in the business and he has rung the changes from last year.
They’ve given a chance to scrum half to Jamie Durbin and he’s had some rave reviews. Not many teams will win at Sheffield this year but the Centurions have done just that so this has all the hallmarks of a sizzling encounter.
So, here are my predictions for the semi-final draw - and it’s not been easy arriving at my selections! I’m going for Widnes to beat York; Featherstone to win at Oldham; Barrow to just pip Dewsbury and Halifax to beat Leigh in a real arm wrestle.
There’s still come way to go before the Semi Finals are played in June and much could change before then. But this is how I see the Quarter Final looking at this moment in time.
Hendo
