The 2012 Championship Cup (known for commercial reasons as the Northern Rail Cup) was the 11th season of the rugby league football competition for clubs in Great Britain's Co-operative Championship and Championship One.
In the final staged at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool, Halifax defeated Featherstone Rovers 21-12 to claim the trophy.
Format The twenty teams were split up into two pools. Each team played two home games and two away games against teams in their pool. The top four teams in each pool following the conclusion of the group stage fixtures then progressed into an open draw for the knock-out quarter-final stage. The competition started on February 5.
Toulouse Olympique competed in this competition despite withdrawing from the Co-operative Championship. All the teams from the Championships competed except for the newly reformed North Wales Crusaders.
2012 competition results
Pool 1
Round 1
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance London Skolars 16 – 32 Toulouse Olympique 9 April, 12:30 BST New River Stadium 0 Keighley Cougars 16 – 22 Batley Bulldogs 12 February, 14:00 GMT Gareth Hewer Cougar Park 1,095 Dewsbury Rams 6 – 36 Halifax 12 February, 15:00 GMT Tim Roby Tetley's Stadium 1,347 Oldham 0 – 68 Featherstone Rovers15 February, 20:00 GMT Jamie Leahy Whitebank Stadium 672 Rochdale Hornets 0 – 0 South Wales Scorpions9 May, 20:00 BST Spotland Stadium 0
Round 2
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Toulouse Olympique 24 – 24 Keighley Cougars 18 February, 19:00 GMT Stade des Minimes 650 Batley Bulldogs 50 – 16 London Skolars 19 February, 14:30 GMT Warren Turley Mount Pleasant 601 Featherstone Rovers 38 – 6 Dewsbury Rams 19 February, 15:00 GMT Clint Sharrad Post Office Road 1,943 Halifax 38 – 6 Rochdale Hornets 19 February, 15:00 GMT Matt Thomason The Shay 1,881 South Wales Scorpions 36 – 36 Oldham 19 February, 15:00 GMT Peter Brooke The Gnoll 849
Round 3
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Batley Bulldogs 34 - 12 Toulouse Olympique 25 February, 14:00 GMT Greg Dolan Mount Pleasant 620 Halifax 32 - 34 Featherstone Rovers 26 February, 15:00 GMT Robert Hicks The Shay 2,530 Oldham 28 - 30 Dewsbury Rams 26 February, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium 573 Rochdale Hornets 16 - 40 Keighley Cougars 26 February, 15:00 GMT George Stokes Spotland Stadium 604 South Wales Scorpions 30 - 38 London Skolars 26 February, 15:00 GMT Tom Crashley The Gnoll 205
Round 4
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Toulouse Olympique 44 - 30 South Wales Scorpions 3 March, 19:00 GMT Matthew Thomasson Stade des Minimes 0 Keighley Cougars 26 – 12 Oldham 4 March, 14:00 GMT Ronnie Laughton Cougar Park 0 Dewsbury Rams 32 - 10 Rochdale Hornets 4 March, 15:00 GMT Matthew Kidd Spotland Stadium 0 Featherstone Rovers 22 - 34 Batley Bulldogs 4 March, 15:00 GMT Jamie Leahy Post Office Road 0 London Skolars 12 - 16 Halifax 4 March, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium 0
Pool 1 qualification table
2012 Northern Rail Cup: Pool 1 1 Batley Bulldogs 4 4 0 0 140 66 74 0 12 2 Featherstone Rovers 4 3 0 1 162 72 90 1 10 3 Halifax 4 3 0 1 122 58 64 1 10 4 Keighley Cougars 4 2 1 1 106 74 32 1 9 5 Toulouse Olympique 4 2 1 1 112 104 8 0 8 6 Dewsbury Rams 4 2 0 2 74 112 -38 0 6 7 London Skolars 4 1 0 3 82 128 -46 2 5 8 South Wales Scorpions 3 0 1 2 96 118 -22 1 3 9 Oldham R.L.F.C. 4 0 1 3 76 160 -84 1 3 10 Rochdale Hornets 3 0 0 3 32 110 -78 0 0
Teams qualifying for the next round
Source: Northern Rail Cup Table – The RFL
Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1
Pool 2
Round 1
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Gateshead Thunder 10 - 48 Doncaster 15 February, 20:00 GMT Gateshead International Stadium 243 Hunslet Hawks 34 - 18 Whitehaven 15 February, 19:30 GMT Dave Merrick South Leeds Stadium 305 Leigh Centurions 48 - 16 Barrow Raiders 12 February, 15:00 GMT George Stokes Leigh Sports Village 1,860 Workington Town 14 - 28 Sheffield Eagles 12 February, 15:00 GMT Chris Leatherbarrow Derwent Park 532 York City Knights 30 - 22 Swinton Lions 23 February, 20:00 GMT Huntington Stadium 504
Round 2
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Barrow Raiders 31 - 24 Workington Town 19 February, 14:00 GMT Jamie Leahy Craven Park 1,366 Swinton Lions 18 - 24 Hunslet Hawks 19 February, 14:00 GMT Thierry Alibert Leigh Sports Village 475 Doncaster 18 - 29 York City Knights 19 February, 15:00 GMT Ronnie Laughton Keepmoat Stadium 418 Sheffield Eagles 23 - 22 Leigh Centurions 19 February, 15:00 GMT Robert Hicks Don Valley Stadium 1,045 Whitehaven 44 - 18 Gateshead Thunder 19 February, 15:00 GMT Gary Dolan Recreation Ground 649
Round 3
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Barrow Raiders 32 - 16 Swinton Lions 26 February, 14:00 GMT Dave Merrick Craven Park 1,083 Doncaster 12 - 56 Sheffield Eagles 26 February, 15:00 GMT Warren Turley Keepmoat Stadium 731 Leigh Centurions 30 - 12 Hunslet Hawks 26 February, 15:00 GMT Chris Leatherbarrow Leigh Sports Village 1,374 Workington Town 44 - 16 Whitehaven 26 February, 15:00 GMT Matthew Kidd Derwent Park 1,147 York City Knights 26 - 22 Gateshead Thunder 26 February, 15:00 GMT D Sharpe Huntington Stadium 635
Round 4
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Sheffield Eagles 36 - 4 York City Knights 2 March, 19:30 GMT Robert Hicks Don Valley Stadium 0 Swinton Lions 30 - 12 Workington Town 4 March, 14:00 GMT Clint Sharrad Leigh Sports Village 0 Gateshead Thunder 0 - 42 Leigh Centurions 4 March, 15:00 GMT Tom Crashley Gateshead International Stadium 0 Hunslet Hawks 20 - 10 Doncaster 4 March, 15:00 GMT Peter Brooke South Leeds Stadium 0 Whitehaven 10 - 18 Barrow Raiders 4 March, 15:00 GMT Recreation Ground 0
Pool 2 qualification table
2012 Northern Rail Cup: Pool 2 1 Sheffield Eagles 4 4 0 0 143 52 91 0 12 2 Leigh Centurions 4 3 0 1 142 51 91 1 10 3 Hunslet Hawks 4 3 0 1 90 76 14 0 9 4 Barrow Raiders 4 3 0 1 97 98 -1 0 9 5 York City Knights 4 3 0 1 89 98 -9 0 9 6 Swinton Lions 4 1 0 3 86 98 -12 2 5 7 Doncaster 4 1 0 3 88 115 -27 2 5 8 Workington Town 4 1 0 3 94 105 -11 1 4 9 Whitehaven 4 1 0 3 88 112 -24 1 4 10 Gateshead Thunder 4 0 0 4 50 160 -110 0 0
Teams qualifying for the next round
Source: Northern Rail Cup Table – The RFL
Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition Points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1
Finals
Finals Tournament bracket
Quarter-finals
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Keighley Cougars12–60 Featherstone Rovers19:30 BST, 14 June 2012Jamie LeahyCougar Park828 Sheffield Eagles40–8 Hunslet Hawks14:00 BST, 15 June 2012Ronnie LaughtonDon Valley Stadium286 Leigh Centurions32–12 Batley Bulldogs14:00 BST, 16 June 2012Clint SharradLeigh Sports Village2,002 Halifax54–24 Barrow Raiders15:00 BST, 16 June 2012The Shay1,448 Source:
Semi-finals
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Featherstone Rovers54–16 Leigh Centurions19:30 BST, 5 July 2012Jamie LeahyBigfellas Stadium1,721 Sheffield Eagles22-24 Halifax19:30 BST, 6 July 2012Ronnie LaughtonDon Valley Stadium Source:
Final
Home Score Away Match information Date & time Referee Venue Attendance Featherstone Rovers12–21 Halifax15:00 BST, 29 July 2012Jamie LeahyBloomfield Road, Blackpool6,691 Source:
References
External links https://web.archive.org/web/20080831022046/http://www.therfl.co.uk/index.php http://www.northernrail.org/northernrailcup