Rugby league: Doncaster gear up for tough test in 1895 Cup opener
Doncaster RLFC turn their attention to the 1895 Cup this weekend when they entertain Salford in their first round tie at the Eco Power Stadium on Saturday (3pm).
The club have never been past the quarter-final stage of the competition, limited to non-Super League clubs, since its inception in 2019, but four of this season’s squad have played in the final during their time at Sheffield Eagles.
They received a bye in the preliminary round and their prospects of making the quarter-final were both enhanced by being drawn at home and being paired with a Salford side still struggling to come to terms with life in the Championship after being relegated from the Super League last September and being liquidated with huge debts.
The Dons posted a 78-8 win when the two sides met in the league back in early March since when the new-look Reds have had a change of head coach. They continue to struggle to attract new players mainly due to unpaid wages and bills run up by their disgraced former owners and rely heavily on loan players.
Boosted by a number of Super League reserve team players, Salford fielded arguably their strongest side of the season last weekend and claimed their third win when beating visiting Batley Bulldogs courtesy of a last-minute drop goal.
“They’ve they’ve managed to bring in some better players since we last played them and I’m expecting it to be a lot closer game than that one was,” said Dons head coach Richard Horne. “As always, we’ll treat the opposition with respect because if you don’t do that any team in this comp can beat you on the day.
“There might be one or two but I don’t think I’ll be making huge changes to the side which beat Sheffield 46-0 last time out. I want to build some consistency going into the home game against (leaders) London Broncos on Sunday week.”
Horne went on record earlier this season to express his disappointment that this year’s final would not be played at Wembley as part of the Betfred Challenge Cup final day, but reaffirmed his desire to win the competition ahead of Sunday’s game.
“We play to win every game we play and we are probably one of the favourites to win the competition and we’ll back ourselves against anybody at this moment in time,” he said.
*Meanwhile, the Eco-Power Stadium will host a Challenge Cup semi-final once again this year. The ground will play host to the Warrington v Hull KR clash on Sunday, May 10 (4pm) live on BBC Two.