I like these early rounds of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.
I know they are not everyone's cup of tea but you usually get a bit of magic as the best of the amateurs play each other and you invariably get the "near miss" games where pro clubs are rocked to their very foundations by the commitment of their opposition, the speed of attack and ferocity of defence.
So far this season there have been a couple of near misses - Warrington Wizards put up a heck of a fight before losing to Swinton while despite scorelines which looked a little more comfortable at Leigh Sports Village it was in truth anything but for Whitehaven, who scored all seven of their tries in the latter stages of the first and second halves during a 40-20 win which brought a magnificent performance from Leigh Miners.
Leigh East were no less heroic yesterday with Hunslet having to use every ounce of now-how and experience to win 30-14.
There was a shock too with Siddal becoming the 21st amateur side to topple pro opposition since the Challenge Cup was opened up again to amateur clubs in the 1990's. Brad Attwood and Scott Caley both formerly of Halifax were the heroes with two tries each in a comprehensive 26-0 win over Doncaster that eclipsed the previous record amateur win of 27-4 which came when Beverley knocked out the now defunct Highfield in 1995-96.
I will wait with baited breath for other results today.
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