The draws for the first and second round matches will take place on Monday 24th November with venue, timings and broadcast details to be confirmed soon. Since Covid we have had some cracking results in the Challenge Cup and look forward to our 2026 Season opener in the sport’s most famous competition. Head coach Darren Bamford and his coaching staff will get the Brothers together for a training camp in early December ahead of the first-round fixture

Format of the 2026 Challenge Cup

• 34 Community entrants are placed in a regionalised draw for Round One.
• The 17 winners then progress to Round Two where they will take part in a mainly
regionalised draw with 21 Betfred Championship Clubs.
• The 19 winners will then progress to join 13 Betfred Super League Clubs in Round Three,
with each of the Super League Clubs to be drawn away from home.
• The 16 winners will progress to Round Four, where an open draw will take place.
• Eight Winners will progress to Round Five, the Quarter Final stage, again with an open draw

As always, the draw is met with great anticipation across the sport especially within RNRL, Army and RAF camps who, alongside GB Police RL, are the only teams in the draw who are not in a League set up.