The last 16 of the !895 Cup took place on the weekend, which is where the Championship sides came into the competition, and there are plenty of Welsh players who continued on the road to Wembley.
Five of them are at Widnes Vikings, who had a close win away at Hunslet. Matty Fozard and Rhys Williams each went over for tries with Mike Butt, Rhodri Lloyd and Gavin Bennion also starring for the Vikings. Widnes will now travel to York Knights, who narrowly edged out a Halifax Panthers side for whom Owen Restall came off the bench.
There will definitely be Welsh presence in the semi-finals of the Cup as Featherstone Rovers will host London Broncos. The capital side, who fielded Curtis Davies and Huw Worthington at the weekend, qualified at the expense of Dewsbury Rams. Caleb Aekins scored two tries for Featherstone Rovers who had a big win over Billy Walkley‘s Keighley Cougars.
Gil Dudson could also star under the Wembley arch in May. He starred in Oldham’s crushing 58-6 win over Rochdale Hornets and will be looking forward to hosting Barrow Raiders in the next round.
But the Wembley dream is over for our captain Elliot Kear, who scored in the 2023 final. His Batley Bulldogs side lost in a brutal encounter at home to Bradford Bulls, who now host Sheffield Eagles.
Elsewhere, Denive Balmforth came off the bench to star in Hull FC’s 11-10 win at Huddersfield Giants in the Super League, whilst Max Clarke was in the Carcassonne XIII side who had a golden point victory at RC Saint-Gaudens XIII in the French Elite League.
