Oldham face top amateurs

OLDHAM RL will take on amateur form team Hunslet Warriors at Whitebank in the third round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday, March 6 (3pm).

It gives Oldham three home games in a row in separate competitions – against Whitehaven in the Northern Rail Cup on Sunday, February 27, followed by Hunslet Warriors in the Challenge Cup on March 6 and Gateshead Thunder in the first Co-operative Championship One game on March 13.

Warriors, whose stand-off is former Oldham, Rochdale and Hunslet Hawks player Darren Robinson, are unbeaten this season.

They top National Conference Division Two with 12 wins and a draw from 13 outings and they are through to the third round of both the BARLA National Cup and the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

In the National Cup, they beat Kells of Cumbria 34-0 at home and then triumphed 12-4 at Oulton Raiders.

To earn their right to test themselves against the Roughyeds, they beat Drighlington away 13-12 after extra time before accounting for NCL Premier Division side Wigan St Jude's 22-16 at home.

Robinson, a young Roughyeds hooker in the early days of the new club, is still kicking goals and scoring tries at the age of 31.

Said Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton: "It will be a tough test for us, as we know from all the other cup tussles we have had with amateur teams down the years."

Roughyeds have won each of their 14 Challenge Cup ties against amateur opposition since the new club was formed in 1997, beating Sharlston Rovers of Featherstone three times (twice at home and once away) and East Hull twice (home and away).

They have also knocked out Heworth, Eccles, Wigan St Jude's, Queensbury, West Hull, Castleford Panthers, Saddleworth Rangers and Blackwood Bulldogs (home) and the Army at Aldershot.