London Broncos to enter Challenge Cup in Second Round

Jake Watson • 28 November 2024

Man of Steel Lewis and record pointscorer Jowitt to conduct Betfred Challenge Cup draws



Mikey Lewis and Max Jowitt will conduct the draws for the first two rounds of the 2025 Betfred Challenge Cup at the RaisE Business Centre in Goole next Monday evening.


They will be joined by Scott Taylor, three times a Challenge Cup winner at Wembley with Hull FC and Wigan Warriors who has been appointed as the head coach of Goole Vikings when they join Betfred League One in 2025 - meaning they will be in the Second Round draw for the first time.



Lewis and Jowitt may now be stars of the Betfred Super League, but both have strong connections to community clubs who will enter the First Round draw.


Lewis, the England and Hull KR half-back who was the 2024 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel, started playing with the West Hull community club, who have been regulars in the Challenge Cup over the last two decades.


Jowitt, the Wakefield Trinity full-back who set a new record for Rugby League by scoring exactly 500 points in the club’s triumphant 2024 season in the Betfred Championship, fell in love with the sport as a youngster at Stanley Rangers – the Yorkshire Men’s League club who will return to the Challenge Cup in 2025.


West Hull and Stanley Rangers are two of 34 teams from the community game who will enter the First Round draw, with ties to be played on the weekend of January 11-12 – kicking off the 2025 season.


That will be followed by the Second Round draw when the 12 English teams in the Betfred Championship and the 11 clubs from Betfred League One join the 17 First Round winners to produce 20 ties – the winners of which will be joined by the 12 Betfred Super League big guns in the Third Round draw in January.



The 11 Betfred League One clubs include Goole Vikings, newcomers to the professional ranks in 2025, who will be hosting the draw at the RaisE Business Centre. The Vikings will celebrate the presence of the Challenge Cup in the town ahead of their debut season with a trophy tour around local schools and tournament sponsors Betfred – and are inviting fans who want to have their photo taken with the Cup to come to the RaisE Business Centre between 4-530.


The draws will be shown live on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and App – with coverage starting from 6.30pm.


The ball numbers for the draws have been confirmed as follows:


Betfred Challenge Cup Round One


1 - British Army, 2 - RAF, 3 - Royal Navy; 4 – Maryport (Cumberland Rugby League); 5 - GB Police; 6 – Longhorns (Ireland Rugby League); 7 - Telford Raiders (Harry Jepson Trophy winners); 8 - Crosfields, 9 - Dewsbury Moor, 10 - Hunslet ARLFC, 11 - Ince Rose Bridge, 12 - Leigh Miners Rangers, 13 - Lock Lane, 14 - Oulton Raiders, 15 - Rochdale Mayfield, 16 - Siddal, 17 - Thatto Heath (BARLA National Cup winners), 18 - Waterhead Warriors, 19 - Wath Brow Hornets, 20 - West Bowling, 21 - West Hull, 22 - York Acorn; 23 - Blackbrook, 24 - Haresfinch, 25 - Orrell St James; 26 – Mirfield; 27 – Edinburgh Eagles (Scotland Rugby League); 28 - Eastern Rhinos; 29 - Hammersmith Hills Hoists; 30 - London Chargers; 31 - Wests Warriors; 32 – Aberavon Fighting Irish (Wales Rugby League); 33 – Doncaster Toll Bar, 34 - Stanley Rangers.


Betfred Challenge Cup Round Two

1 – Barrow Raiders, 2 – Batley Bulldogs, 3 – Bradford Bulls, 4 - Cornwall, 5 - Dewsbury Rams, 6 - Doncaster, 7 - Featherstone Rovers, 8 - Goole Vikings, 9 - Halifax Panthers, 10 - Hunslet, 11 - Keighley Cougars, 12 – London Broncos, 13 - Midlands Hurricanes, 14 - Newcastle Thunder, 15 - North Wales Crusaders, 16 - Oldham, 17 - Rochdale Hornets, 18 - Sheffield Eagles, 19 - Swinton Lions, 20 - Whitehaven, 21 - Widnes Vikings, 22 - Workington Town, 23 - York Knights, 24-40 First Round Winners.

TOULOUSE GALLERY

by Jake Watson • 16 June 2025
TOULOUSE GALLERY You can now take a look through the best images from the Championship clash with Toulouse at the State Ernest Wallon. Photo credit: David Gibson #WeAreLondon

POST-MATCH REACTION: Toulouse vs London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 15 June 2025
POST-MATCH REACTION: Mike Eccles following narrow Toulouse defeat London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles felt that despite defeat in France to the league leaders Toulouse Olympic, it was a performance with "plenty of positives and lots to build on." The Broncos would twice take the lead in the first-half only to be pegged back on both occasions to go into the break 12-12 but a last minute try from Benjamin Laguerre would seal the points for Sylvain Houles side. Watch the full post-match interview with Mike Eccles below. #WeAreLondon

TEAM NEWS: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 15 June 2025
TEAM NEWS: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Here is your starting line-up for this afternoon’s Championship with Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon. Brandon Webster-Mansfield comes in at centre to make his full debut and Connor O’Beirne returns to the starting line-up following injury. #WeAreLondon

MATCH PREVIEW: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 14 June 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos London Broncos head into one of the stand out fixtures of the season on Sunday when they make the trip to the south of France to take on Toulouse Olympique. Not only is it a visit to the side topping the Championship table but it is also the destination of one of the best days in the club's recent history. Securing promotion against Toulouse in 2023 was the last meeting between the two sides but despite the Broncos coming out on top that day it is the French who will be favourites on Sunday. Broncos come into this game on the back of a losing run but shoots of improvements were clear to see in the narrow defeat to Widnes last time out and will be boosted by the squad named. Squad Information Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet.

MATCH PREVIEW: Mike Eccles looks ahead to Toulouse trip

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Mike Eccles looks ahead to Toulouse trip London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles has done his pre-match interview ahead of the trip to Toulouse and has offered a positive update. Liam Tindall and Connor O'Beirne are in contention to play following injuries and Lewis Bienek will hopefully be ready for the next game against Hunslet. Jack Smith, Connor Barley and Kian McDermott and Lukas Mason make up the rest of the squad. Watch the full interview with Mike below. #WeAreLondon

SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet. #WeAreLondon

Toulouse Training Gallery

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
TOULOUSE TRAINING GALLERY The final session with the squad before we fly out to Toulouse on Saturday ahead of Sunday's Championship clash at the State Ernest-Wallon. #WeAreLondon

Half-season Tickets now available!!

by Jake Watson • 12 June 2025
Half-season Tickets now available!! London Broncos are delighted to announce half-season tickets for the remainder of the season which offer huge discounts on buying regular tickets for each game. With just 6 home games remaining a general admission adult season ticket costs just £60 which is a huge 100% saving on buying individual tickets for each game.  Buy from the link below.

Who has played for both? Toulouse Olympique & London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 10 June 2025
Who has played for both? Toulouse Olympique & London Broncos It’s pretty common when we do these articles that there are a number of current players playing for the opposition, but perhaps Sheffield Eagles and Toulouse Olympique win the record for the highest number this season. So, before you all guess these five, Toulouse have 5 players in the current squad who have featured for London Broncos; Paul Ulberg, Ollie Ashall-Bott, Greg Richards, Callum Gahan and Rob Butler. Let’s focus on some of the players that no longer don the colours of either side and their history with us both; Rhys Curran An Aussie born French international, Curran spent two seasons at London Broncos before hanging up his boots. Still residing in London you can regularly expect to see Rhys coming down to The Cherry Red Records to support his former teammates. However, he can count a number of the Toulouse players as former teammates as he spent a very fruitful four seasons playing for the club between 2016 and 2019 and prior to that he played in Elite VIII for Villeneuve. Through residency (living for three years in France) Curran would play three times for the French national team in 2018.

FANS FORUM - WHAT WAS SAID?

by Jake Watson • 10 June 2025
FANS FORUM - WHAT WAS SAID? Question: Are we going to change our name from London Broncos? GH: I changed the name at Leeds and I can tell you that at the time it was unpopular. The fans of Leeds didn't want to change names. They said, we don't want all these gimmicky names. We did change, and this is the best thing we ever did. They created a new logo, a new brand, a new identity in many respects, a new mascot, and it's the best thing we ever did. If you ask 99% of the Leeds Rhinos fans now they will say that was a pretty good decision. For us, it is being researched and ultimately no decision has been made and everyone needs to have an opinion and give it to me. It may well be (changed), and I was with a fairly prominent person the other day who came up with a very well-reasoned recommendation as to what the name should be. I thought, well, I never really thought about that, but it was a well-presented argument. We need as many of those as possible. We need to think about it and ultimately make a decision in the best interests of the club. Question: Are you going to share it? (suggestion for new name) GH: Well, since you've asked me the question, I will, yes. I won't give you the name of the person I'm talking to, but he's a very prominent person in the media, he's a Rugby League fan, and he's not an Englishman. But he was saying, in his opinion, the name should be simply London Rugby League. I said to him thank you very much for your suggestion and that it needs to be in the melting pot like all the other suggestions. Question: On behalf of all the long-standing London fans in this room tonight, and I know most of them personally, we've all been together for many years. Can we just thank you for the interest and the commitment you've taken to The Club? Thank you. Honestly, it's created a superb momentum because of someone of your stature being involved in London. So, thank you very much. GH: Well, thank you for that, and I feel very humbled by that and what I don't want to do is make any false promises. I think this is a fascinating journey, but it's a journey that I don't know how long it's going to take.  What I do know is it's all based on people's commitments coming together and as I've said several times, I don't have a magic wand. I think my role is to actually galvanise interest and commitment and try and give it an opportunity, manifesting itself for the collective good of the club. That's primarily my role in all of this. And I can see by the attendance tonight that there's a great passion and a great interest and a great commitment as well. So that's a pretty good starting point. So I'm pretty confident that we've got quite a few ingredients in place. It's going to be a tough journey because it's a tough league. The Super League is an incredibly tough competition. The Championship is a terrific competition and it's so competitive. So to make progress we need to be pretty well organised and ready to go. We're ready to go and ready to make progress and my role in all this is to try and actually organise that and make it happen.
More posts