Wheelchair Challenge Cup

Current season or competition: 2024 Wheelchair Challenge Cup
The women's, men's, and wheelchair Challenge Cup trophies
Sport	Wheelchair rugby league
Instituted	2015 [1]
Inaugural season	2015
Country	England   France   Scotland   Wales
Winners	Catalans Dragons ( 2023)
Most titles	Halifax Panthers (4 titles)
Broadcast partner	BBC Red Button (final only)
Related competition	RFL Wheelchair Super League

The Wheelchair Challenge Cup is a wheelchair rugby league competition organised by the Rugby Football League.

History

The Wheelchair Challenge Cup was established in 2015. ^[1] Originally the tournament was played using a knockout format. Halifax defeated Medway Dragons 120–40 in the opening round of the 2015 competition ^[2] and went on to win the final against Mersey Storm ^{[3] [4]} before completing the double by winning the league championship. ^[5] Another double followed for Halifax in 2016 which included a 92–48 win over Leeds Rhinos in the cup final. Leeds had scored over 100 points their previous two rounds but faced a Halifax side who had not lost a match since June 2015. ^{[6] [7]} Halifax repeated the double again in the 2017 season with a 110–48 cup final win over Leeds that included 15 tries by Jack Brown. ^[8] Other notable matches included a 160–0 win for Leeds over Argonauts in the opening round and the first all-Scottish match in the competition between Dundee Dragons and Glasgow Panthers in the quarter-finals. ^[9]

In 2018, a plate competition was introduced which was intended to reduce the number of one-sided fixtures being played. The two plate finalists qualified for the quarter-finals of the cup though the finals of both competitions were played on the same day. ^[10] Hereford Harriers defeated North Wales Crusaders for the plate and Halifax won the cup competition for the fourth time by defeating Dundee Dragons 62–18 in the final. ^[11] In 2019, the plate was replaced by Challenge Trophy played as a separate competition competition for teams outside of the Super League. Leeds Rhinos won 74–46 against Argonauts to win the cup for the first time. ^[12]

Following the cancellation of the 2020 competition a new format was introduced in 2021 with the teams playing in a round-robin tournament. ^[13] The top two teams qualified for the final which was a repeat of the 2019 final with Leeds retaining the title with a 60–26 victory. ^[14] The following year it was the top four from the round-robin stage that qualified for the semi-finals. French team, Catalans Dragons, made their début in the competition, but lost in the final to Leeds who claimed the cup for the third time. ^{[15] [16]} The 2023 competition saw the top two teams advance to the final. Catalans and Leeds were both unbeaten in the qualifiers and drew 4–4 against each other to set up a rematch in the final which Catalans won 66–20 to add the Challenge Cup to their French Championship and Coupe De France titles. ^{[17] [18] [19]}

From 2024, the Challenge Cup reverted to a straight knockout format, like the running game, for the five Super League sides, Catalans Dragons, and the Challenge Trophy finalists. ^{[20] [21]}

2024

Finals

List of finals

Year	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Venue	Ref.
2015	Halifax Panthers	?–?	Mersey Storm	unknown	[3] [4]
2016	Halifax Panthers	92–48	Leeds Rhinos	Huddersfield Sports Centre	[22] [23]
2017	Halifax Panthers	110–48	Leeds Rhinos		[8]
2018	Halifax Panthers	62–18	Dundee Dragons	Richard Dunn Sports Centre, Bradford	[11]
2019	Leeds Rhinos	74–46	Argonauts	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	[12]
2020	Tournament cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Leeds Rhinos	60–26	Argonauts	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	[14]
2022	Leeds Rhinos	48–34	Catalans Dragons	Allam Arena, Hull	[16] [24]
2023	Catalans Dragons	66–20	Leeds Rhinos	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	[18]

Results by club

Team	Winners	Runners-up
Halifax Panthers	4	0
Leeds Rhinos	3	3
Catalans Dragons	1	1
Argonauts	0	2
Dundee Dragons	0	1
Mersey Storm	0	1

Challenge Trophy

In 2018, the Rugby Football League introduced a Plate competition as part of the Challenge Cup. ^[10] It was planned to continue in 2019, ^[25] but was instead replaced by the inaugural Wheelchair Challenge Trophy. ^[26] The Challenge Trophy is played alongside the Challenge Cup, for teams outside the Super League. This was originally played as a separate competition, ^[27] but in 2024 it was announced that the two finalists would qualify to take part in the Challenge Cup. ^[21]

List of finals

Year	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Venue	Ref.
2018	Hereford Harriers	63–32	North Wales Crusaders	Richard Dunn Sports Centre, Bradford	[11]
2019	Gravesend Dynamite	75–48	Hull FC	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	[28]
2020	Tournament cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Gravesend Dynamite	19–12	Warrington Wolves	Warrington
2022	Gravesend Dynamite	82–40	Mersey Storm	Allam Arena, Hull	[29]
2023	Gravesend Dynamite	88–80	Sheffield Eagles	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	[30]
2024	Hereford Harriers	17–16	Edinburgh Giants	National Basketball Performance Centre, Manchester	[31] [32]

Results by club

Team	Winners	Runners-up
Gravesend Dynamite	4	0
Hereford Harriers	2	0
Edinburgh Giants	0	1
Hull	0	1
Mersey Storm	0	1
North Wales Crusaders	0	1
Sheffield Eagles	0	1
Warrington Wolves	0	1

See also

• Wheelchair Super League
• Challenge Cup
• Women's Challenge Cup

References