Quarter-final day
Today in 1965 saw Hunslet in Challenge Cup quarter final action at home to Leeds. To reach this stage they had seen off Oldham 12-4 in the first round and Batley 24-4 in the second, both ties being at Parkside. A crowd of 13,853 gathered to see Hunslet have a large advantage in possession from the scrums but still only scrape home 7-5. The home side were without Ken Eyre and Bill Ramsey, both suspended which weakened their side. A John Griffiths try and two goals from Billy Langton took Hunslet into a 7-0 lead before Leeds hit back with a Cowan try and an Oldroyd penalty before half time. The second half was scoreless as Hunslet held on for the win which took them through to the semi-final.
After Hunslet’s heroics against Hull Kingston Rovers and Halifax in the 1983 Challenge Cup, they were favoured with another home draw in the quarter final and Castleford travelled from Wheldon Road for the tie. A record crowd for the re-formed club of 14,004 generated receipts of £30,417 and they saw a close fought match with the teams tied 5-5 at half time. However Castleford eased away in the second half to emerge winners at 13-8. Stewart Smith scored a try and Eric Fitzsimons kicked two goals and dropped one.
Not that we need reminding but the 2020 campaign was abruptly ended today by the Covid epidemic. Hunslet had won their two league games and has just lost the last of their three Challenge Cup matches at Featherstone before sport was closed down for the season. It would be 14 months before they would play again.
Other Challenge Cup ties today were…..
In 1948 Hunslet had reached the quarter finals after a 1st round epic against Widnes which required a replay after the two legged tie. Played at Widnes Hunslet went through after becoming the first team to win at Widnes that seson. The second round also needed a replay with Dewsbury being brought back to Parkside, Hunslet going through 11-0. The quarter final saw Hull visit Parkside. The ground was pretty much full an hour before kick off as thousands travelled from Hull for the match. In a dour, forward dominated match, Hull were the better side and going into the last 10 minutes Hunslet were happy to be looking at a replay when,from a scrum in Hull’s “25”, loose forward Des Clarkson picked up and gave a short pass to Ginger Burnell who went over the line under the posts. Clarkson’s conversion “franked Hunslet’s ticket” to the sem-final.
In 2003 Hunslet travelled to Knowsley Road to visit juniors Haydock and easily went through 46-4.
