Ranking the Championship sides’ chances of Challenge Cup upset in last 16

Aaron Bower 13 Mar 2025 6:15 AM

Championship shocks — Who is most likely to cause a Challenge Cup upset this weekend?

The last 16 of this year’s Challenge Cup is almost upon us: with eight intriguing ties of varying levels of predictability.

And there are still five sides from the Championship left standing – including one who has already caused a major upset in the shape of Bradford Bulls.

They will hope to repeat the trick again this weekend: but of the five lower-league teams left, what are the realistic chances of another upset and one of them beating Super League opposition?

Here’s our ranking of how likely we think the five are to dump higher-level opposition out and reach the quarter-finals..

5. Batley Bulldogs

Sorry, Bulldogs fans: but we just can’t see it this weekend. A trip away to any Super League side is tough: Leigh Leopards is about as tough as you can get right now.

It’s hard to believe these two sides met in a Championship Grand Final as recently as 2022.

The gap between them has widened significantly since that day and while the Bulldogs will undoubtedly give it a real go this weekend, there’s not much chance of them toppling the Leopards.

4. Featherstone Rovers

Much like Batley, there’s no doubting Featherstone will have a real crack at it this weekend when they travel to the south of France to take on Catalans Dragons.

But Steve McNamara’s side look slightly less vulnerable after their win over Leeds last weekend – and any trip to Perpignan is always tough.

There’s a slither of a chance: of course there is. But it’ll be tough.

3. Oldham

Now, we think Sky Sports pundit Barrie McDermott will disagree with us here: because he’s tipped his hometown club to go and get the job done this weekend!

However, we still think there are a couple of Championship sides who stand a better chance than Oldham do. They’ll travel with quiet confidence of an upset, but trips to Craven Park are much, much more tricky than they used to be.

2. Widnes Vikings

It’s a local derby: and anything can happen. Widnes Vikings will be buoyed by the fact they get a crack at Warrington Wolves on home soil, too.

But they’ll also be optimistic having seen the Wire’s recent performances, and if they catch them cold again, who knows what could happen.

We’re heading up the scale towards the ‘possible’ side of things now with the Vikings – but we reckon there’s one more team even likelier to pull a shock off.