The 2013 Championship Cup, (known for commercial reasons as the Northern Rail Cup), was the 12th and last season of the rugby league football competition for clubs in Great Britain's Championship and Championship 1.
Leigh beat Sheffield 43-28 in the final, which was played at Halifax's The Shay.
Format For 2013, the format of the competition was changed to coincide with the expansion of the Championship from 10 to 14 teams. The competition began on 3 March with a group stage containing eight teams from the 2013 Championship 1 split into two groups. Each team played four games (two home, two away) with three of the games being played against the other teams in the group and the fourth game being played against a team from the other group.
Following the completion of the group stage, the teams finishing first in each group progressed to the knock-out stages where they join the 14 teams from the Championship to make up 16 teams. There were three knock-out rounds (play-off, quarter final, semi final) before the final on 20 July 2013 at The Shay in Halifax. The final took place after the inaugural Northern Rail Bowl final, involving the two highest-ranked teams from the group stages.
2013 Competition Results
Group stage
Round 1
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance North Wales Crusaders48 – 12 Oldham R.L.F.C.3 March, 14:30 GMTRacecourse GroundClint Sharrad721 Gloucestershire All Golds18 – 36 Hemel Stags3 March, 15:00 GMTPrince of Wales Stadium, CheltenhamPeter Brooke256 Rochdale Hornets58 – 16 Gateshead Thunder3 March, 15:00 GMTSpotland StadiumJoe Cobb508 South Wales Scorpions12 – 54 London Skolars3 March, 15:00 GMTThe GnollTom Crashley329 Source:
Round 2
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Gateshead Thunder4 – 30 North Wales Crusaders10 March, 15:00 GMTMS3 Craven Park, Hull Dave Sharpe228 Gloucestershire All Golds20 – 42 South Wales Scorpions10 March, 15:00 GMTPrince of Wales Stadium, CheltenhamClint Sharrad London Skolars26 – 4 Hemel Stags10 March, 15:00 GMTNew River StadiumJamie Bloem Oldham R.L.F.C.26 – 10 Rochdale Hornets10 March, 15:00 GMTWhitebank StadiumTom Crashley518 Source:
Round 3
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance North Wales Crusaders30 – 16 Rochdale Hornets17 March, 14:30 GMTRacecourse GroundPeter Brooke659 Hemel Stags20 – 22 South Wales Scorpions17 March, 15:00 GMTPennine Way stadiumDave Sharpe179 London Skolars20 – 0 Gloucestershire All Golds17 March, 15:00 GMTNew River StadiumTom Crashley251 Oldham R.L.F.C.34 – 16 Gateshead Thunder17 March, 15:00 GMTWhitebank StadiumJoe Cobb476 Source:
Round 4
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Gateshead Thunder16 – 18 Gloucestershire All Golds24 March, 15:00 GMTCrow Trees (Blaydon RFC)Jamie Bloem142 South Wales Scorpions12 – 24 Oldham R.L.F.C.24 March, 15:00 GMTThe GnollPeter Brooke280 Rochdale Hornets40 – 16 London Skolars1 April 15:00 BST Spotland StadiumJoe Cobb413 Hemel Stags24 – 36 North Wales Crusaders23 April 19:00 BST Pennine Way stadiumTom Crashley129 Source:
Tables
2013 Northern Rail Cup: Pool A 1 North Wales Crusaders 4 4 0 0 144 56 +88 0 12 2 Oldham R.L.F.C. 4 3 0 1 96 86 +10 0 9 3 Rochdale Hornets 4 2 0 2 124 88 +36 0 6 4 Gateshead Thunder 4 0 0 4 52 140 -88 1 1
2013 Northern Rail Cup: Pool B 1 London Skolars 4 3 0 1 116 56 +60 0 9 2 South Wales Scorpions 4 2 0 2 88 118 -30 1 7 3 Hemel Stags 4 1 0 3 84 102 -18 2 5 4 Gloucestershire All Golds 4 1 0 3 56 114 -58 0 3
Teams qualifying for the next round
Tables are correct as of 23 April 2013. Source: rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk and BBC Sport.
Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1
Knock-out Stages
Finals Tournament Bracket
Play Off Round
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Dewsbury Rams 20 – 18 Halifax 16 May, 19:30 BST Tetley's Stadium George Stokes 800 London Skolars 16 – 62 Whitehaven 19 May, 14:00 BST New River Stadium Joe Cobb 276 Featherstone Rovers 12 – 22 Leigh Centurions 19 May, 15:00 BST Bigfellas Stadium Matt Thomason 1,745 Keighley Cougars 18 – 38 Batley Bulldogs 19 May, 15:00 BST Cougar Park Dave Merrick 714 Sheffield Eagles 64 – 10 Barrow Raiders 19 May, 15:00 BST Don Valley Stadium Chris Leatherbarrow 408 Swinton Lions 26 – 18 North Wales Crusaders 19 May, 15:00 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 544 Workington Town 36 – 16 Hunslet Hawks 19 May, 15:00 BST Derwent Park Gareth Hewer 569 York City Knights 12 – 24 Doncaster 19 May, 15:00 BST Huntington Stadium Ronnie Laughton 451 Source:
Quarter-final
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Swinton Lions 14 – 36 Doncaster 13 June, 19:30 BST Leigh Sports Village Chris Leatherbarrow Sheffield Eagles 26 – 16 Dewsbury Rams 14 June, 20:00 BST Don Valley Stadium Matt Thomason 576 Batley Bulldogs 30 – 4 Workington Town 16 June, 14:00 BST Loverugbyleague.com Stadium George Stokes 671 Leigh Centurions 34 – 18 Whitehaven 16 June, 15:00 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 1,320 Source:
Semi-final
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Leigh Centurions 23 – 6 Batley Bulldogs 27 June, 19:30 BST Leigh Sports Village Jamie Leahy 1,807 Doncaster 10 – 32 Sheffield Eagles 28 June, 20:00 BST Doncaster Athletics Stadium Chris Leatherbarrow 611 Source:
Finals
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendanceNorthern Rail Cup Leigh Centurions 43 – 28 Sheffield Eagles 20 July, 17:00 BST The Shay, Halifax Chris Leatherbarrow 4,179Northern Rail Bowl North Wales Crusaders 42 – 24 London Skolars 20 July, 14:30 BST The Shay, Halifax Joe Cobb 2,000 Source:
Notes A. Game switched from Thunderdome to Craven Park due to Stan Calvert Cup match between Northumbria University and Newcastle University B. Game switched from Thunderdome to Blaydon RFC due to poor conditions of pitch at Gateshead C. Match originally postponed on 24 March due to snow
References
External links RFL website Northern Rail Cup website Northern Rail website