The 2016 League 1 Cup known as the 2016 iPro Sport cup for sponsorship reasons is the second playing of the competition, first played in 2015.
The competition is for the rugby league clubs in the British League 1 - the third tier of rugby league in Britain. As there are 15 teams in League 1 but French club Toulouse Olympique declined to enter the tournament, two amateur teams were invited into the competition to bring the numbers to 16. In 2016 these clubs were Wath Brow Hornets and Leigh Miners Rangers.
Teams Team Appearance First appearance Last appearance Barrow Raiders 2nd 20152015 Coventry Bears 2nd 20152015 Doncaster 1st 2016N/A Gloucestershire All Golds 2nd 20152015 Hemel Stags 2nd 20152015 Hunslet Hawks 1st 2016N/A Keighley Cougars 2nd 20152015 Leigh Miners Rangers 1st 2016N/A London Skolars 2nd 20152015 Newcastle Thunder 2nd 20152015 North Wales Crusaders 2nd 20152015 Oxford2nd20152015 Rochdale Hornets 2nd 20152015 South Wales Scorpions 2nd 20152015Wath Brow Hornets 1st 2016N/A York City Knights 2nd 20152015
First round The first round draw of the 2016 iPro Sport Cup was broadcast live on BBC Radio Newcastle on Thursday November 26 from 6.45pm. Last year's winners, North Wales Crusaders, joined the other 13 Kingstone Press League 1 clubs and Kingstone Press National Conference League teams Leigh Miners Rangers and Wath Brow Hornets in the bag from which eight ties played over the weekend of February 20–21 will be selected.
The draw was made by former England, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC and York City Knights player Chris Thorman and BBC Newcastle presenter and former footballer John Anderson . For the first round the teams were split into two pools – Pool A (Northern regions) and Pool B (Midlands and Southern regions).
Pool A HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance Wath Brow Hornets 4 – 10 Keighley Cougars 20 February 2016, 14:30 Cleator Moor C Straw 300 Newcastle Thunder 36 – 12 Leigh Miners Rangers 20 February 2016, 18:30 Kingston Park T Crashley 200 Hunslet Hawks 4 – 24 York City Knights 21 February 2016, 15:00 South Leeds Stadium D Merrick 464 Doncaster 35 – 28 North Wales Crusaders 21 February 2016, 15:00 Keepmoat Stadium A Sweet 513 Barrow Raiders 4 – 14 Rochdale Hornets 21 February 2016, 15:30 Craven Park S Mikalauskas 659 Source:
Pool B
HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance London Skolars 44 – 6 South Wales Scorpions 20 February 2016, 16:00 New River Stadium J Smith 100 Coventry Bears 24 – 48 Gloucestershire All Golds 21 February 2016, 14:00 Butts Park Arena T Grant 146 Oxford Rugby League 34 – 12 Hemel Stags 21 February 2016, 14:30 Maidenhead RFC G Hewer 155 Source:
Second round The second round draw took place on Sunday February 21 live on BBC Radio Leeds. Home teams were drawn by former Great Britain and Leeds Rhinos player Francis Cummins; the away teams by BBC Radio Leeds presenter James Deighton.
HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance Doncaster 12 – 24 London Skolars 3 April 2016, 15:00 Keepmoat Stadium J Roberts 367 Keighley Cougars 54 – 14 Oxford Rugby League 3 April 2016, 15:00 Cougar Park C Straw 402 Rochdale Hornets 16 – 40 York City Knights 3 April 2016, 15:00 Spotland Stadium A Sweet 451 Gloucestershire All Golds 36 – 28 Newcastle Thunder 3 April 2016, 15:00 Prince of Wales Stadium S Mikalauskas 102 Source:
Semi finals The draw for the semi-finals was made on 3 April 2016.
HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance London Skolars 22 – 31 Keighley Cougars 30 April 2016, 14:30 New River Stadium Tom Grant 436 York City Knights 58 – 14 Gloucestershire All Golds 1 May 2016, 15:00 Bootham Crescent Scott Mikalauskas 469 Source:
Final
HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance Keighley Cougars 22 – 18 York City Knights 28 May 2016, 12:00 Bloomfield Road, Blackpool Scott Mikalauskas Source:
References