MATCH PREVIEW: CHALLENGE CUP – ROCHDALE HORNETS (A)

Date: Sunday 11 February 2024

Time: 3pm Kick-off

Location: Crown Oil Arena, Sandy Lane, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL11 5DR

Tickets:

You can buy your tickets for Sunday HERE – the Supporters Club are recommending that travelling fans buy tickets in the section just in front of the Away Directors Box so you can all cheer on the lads together. Please note there will be no Supporters Coach for Sunday's game.

After our narrow 24-20 home defeat to Wigan Warriors last Saturday, Mark Dunning's men turn their attention to the first group stage game of the 2024 1895 Cup.

As its our first competitive game of 2024, the lads will be keen to give a good account of themselves and test their skills against a team in a higher league.

Four new signings

Before we talk Sunday, and as confirmed on Friday, we have signed four new players for the 2024 season following a successful trial period with the club – Inoke Nakoronivalu, Joe Varo, Peceli Suguvanua and Wame Ratubalavu! All four are products of the British Army Rugby League squad and our close ties to the Army have given all four an opportunity to test themselves in the professional leagues.

Some of our new signings competed for the British Army in their 13-10 Challenge Cup First Round loss to Fryston Warriors, so will be cup-tied for Sunday. Whilst fans will have had a brief opportunity to see all four play in our pre-season match against Wigan Warriors, travelling fans might get to see Inoke Nakoronivalu make his competitive debut against Rochdale tomorrow.

The opposition

Our opponents on Sunday are Rochdale Hornets, who finished the 2023 season just two points ahead of the Canes and outside of the playoffs as their year ended with an unexpected defeat to Cornwall. Doncaster had their first match of 2024 last Sunday as they welcomed Super League outfit Hull FC to the Eco-Power Stadium for a pre-season friendly. Rochdale kicked off their 2024 season with a 46-6 friendly loss to Championship outfit Barrow Raiders, before succumbing to a 12-52 loss against Halifax Panthers last weekend in the 1895 Cup. They were due to have played local rivals Oldham in their annual friendly for the Law Cup, however poor weather meant the fixture was postponed and will now be played after this Sunday's game.

Rochdale have flitted between the Championship and League One over the last decade, being relegated to the latter in 2014 before winning promotion in the 2016 Promotion Final over heavy favourites Toulouse Olympique. Their stay in the Championship lasted two seasons before they were relegated back to League One in 2018. The Hornets have remained in League One since, but were only a couple of steps away from winning the 2022 playoffs when they lost against Doncaster.  

Their Head Coach, Gary Thornton, has been the Head Coach since the end of the 2022 season and will undoubtedly be looking to improve on last year's performance. Whilst we may be opponents on the field, we look forward to seeing him as well as Chief Executive Andy Mazey at the Crown Oil Arena on Sunday.

Head to head

Sunday's game will be our 12th meeting since we entered Betfred League One in 2015 and our second meeting in the Challenge Cup – the hosts took the spoils when they beat us 36-16 in 2022, which was our first competitive game as the Hurricanes.

Last season, Rochdale won both home and away in the league. A frustrating afternoon early into the 2023 season saw us fall to a 24-32 defeat at The Alexander, whilst we were unable to capitalise on our scintillating victory over Doncaster as we lost 37-22 at the Crown Oil Arena.

The Challenge Cup

This will be both sides first interaction with the Betfred Challenge Cup, with both League One and Championship outfits entering at the Third Round. The winners of this fixture will travel to play the winner of Batley Bulldogs v Workington Town in the Fourth Round.  

Rochdale have won the Challenge Cup before, albeit over a century ago when they defeated Hull FC 10-9 in 1922. Since the Super League era the Hornets have failed to get past Round Five, however they have reached this stage of the competition no less than ten times.

Since first entering the Challenge Cup in 2015 the Hurricanes have reached the Fifth Round once (in 2018), where victories over Distington ARLFC (42-12) and Pilkington Recs (31-20) earned them an away tie against then-Super League outfit Widnes Vikings (who proved too tall of an order to overcome). The Hurricanes had an equally successful Challenge Cup run last year, entering during the Second Round and defeating Hull Dockers (4-50) and Orrell St James (12-19) before being defeated by Head Coach Mark Dunning's Bradford Bulls at Odsal in the Fourth Round.   

A foot in both camps?

New Canes signing Dave Hewitt spent last season at Rochdale following a lengthy spell at local rivals Oldham. Dave will no doubt be keen to put in a good performance against his former club.

Fans will remember AJ Boardman (the husband of Leeds Rhinos and England Women's Star Amy Hardcastle) who played for the Canes during the 2022 season – he has been with the Hornets ever since and will be one to keep an eye out for during Sunday's clash. More seasoned fans may also remember new Hornets signing Brad Brennan, who scored five tries in 13 games for the Canes across two loan spells in 2016 and 2017. Brennan had been a mainstay for North Wales Crusaders since 2018, scoring 12 tries in 97 games before moving to Greater Manchester for the 2024 season.  

Thoughts from the gaffer

Head Coach Mark Dunning:

"We're entering the Challenge Cup which is a really special competition and one we want to do as well as we can in. Whilst we are still very much in pre-season, we want to get as far as we can and confirm our place in the Fourth Round by 5pm on Sunday.

Rochdale will be a good test for us – they're a very established team and I have a huge amount of respect for Gary Thornton. They have some quality players in their spine (such as Greg McNally, Martin Ridyard and Lewis Else) and some big lads upfront that we'll need to deal with. I watched their game against Halifax in the 1895 Cup and despite the score they were strong in large parts."

The venue

We will be travelling to the Crown Oil Arena in Rochdale, which has been the home of the Hornets since 1988. The Hornets part-owned the stadium with Rochdale Borough Council until 2016 when they bought the Council's interest outright.

For fans travelling by train, we recommend taking a train to Manchester Piccadilly, then either walking to Manchester Victoria (15 mins) and taking a short train to Rochdale (or a tram) from Victoria to Rochdale before getting a short taxi ride to the stadium. We would recommend travelling by train as the price is similar to a tram but takes a fraction of the time.  

Milestones

If selected for Sunday's game, Matty Welham will play his 50th game for the Canes and his 93rd overall, meaning he will shortly break another milestone with 100 professional games played. With 26 tries in 49 games for the Canes, Matty will surely be aiming to finish the 2024 season as the Hurricanes top-try scorer (as he did in 2023).

Match coverage

For those fans unable to attend on the day, full match updates will be available on our Twitter/X account (@HurricanesRLFC) with half-time and full-time updates to our Instagram (@HurricanesRLFC) and Facebook accounts (Midlands Hurricanes).