1895 CUP - DRAWS FOR PRELIMINARY ROUNDS CONFIRMED

Canes enter the 2025 1895 Cup

Following the 2025 Challenge Cup draw just under two weeks ago, the Rugby Football League announced the outcome of the opening rounds of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup on Wednesday afternoon.

For those not familiar with rugby league’s newest knockout competition, the 1895 Cup began five years ago in 2019 and is a competition contested exclusively by clubs in the Championship (excluding Toulouse Olympique) and League One. For these clubs, this competition presents an alternative road to Wembley as the 1895 Cup final is contested at Wembley Stadium in London as a curtain-raiser to the Challenge Cup. The current champions are Wakefield Trinity following their 50-6 victory over Sheffield Eagles, however Wakefield’s subsequent promotion to Super League for the 2025 season means we are guaranteed a new winner this time round.

This will only be the second time the Canes have participated in the 1895 Cup, having either been ineligible or declining to participate in previous tournaments. Our debut campaign came last year as we exited at the Group Stage following 4-40 and 16-30 losses to Doncaster RLFC and Sheffield Eagles respectively.

As widely rumoured in the press, the 1895 Cup will take place under a different format in 2025 to last year. Rather than all teams being entered into an initial group stage to determine the eventual quarter-finalists, the 11 League One sides will take part in two Preliminary Rounds to determine the four sides that will go on to join the 12 English Championship clubs in the Round of 16.

In the First Preliminary Round, six of the 11 League One sides have been drawn in three ties. In the Second Preliminary Round, the three winners from those First Round ties will face the five League One sides that had a bye in the First Round in four ties. The four winners of those games will then advance to the Round of 16.

The Hurricanes were one of the six teams drawn for the First Preliminary Round and will host recently relegated Whitehaven RLFC at The Alexander Stadium. Fixture details are to be confirmed but the tie will take place a week on the weekend of 1/2 February 2025, a week after the Canes host the winners of Hammersmith Hills Hoists and Siddal ARLFC in the Second Round of the Challenge Cup.

Should the Canes defeat Whitehaven, they will face a trip to West Yorkshire to take on Keighley Cougars at Cougar Park. That tie will take place during the weekend of 15/16 February 2025.

The full draw for the First and Second Preliminary Rounds can be found below:

What do you think, Canes fans? Can we #DARETODREAM of an appearance at Wembley in 2025?

Tickets for the First Preliminary Round clash v Whitehaven will be released shortly.