Dudley Hill achieved their ambition to play at Odsal Stadium when the Eagles enjoyed a 16-10 success over Odsal Sedbergh in the semi-final of the Jack Senior Memorial Bradford Cup at Parry Lane.
Club coach Chris Robinson was hoping the first team would make the visit to the famous bowl as a reward for dumping Keighley Cougars out of the Challenge Cup but it is his second string Eagles who join Queensbury in the local showpiece final on a date yet to be set.
The match was fiercely fought throughout and Hill can thank a fine piece of opportunism from veteran John Exley that put them on track early doors. He made a superb break from 40 metres out and outpaced the Sedbergh defence to score under the posts for a lead they never relinquished right up to the final whistle.
Undercliffe and Bank Top Harriers both made the final of the Hudson & Foster Supplementary Bradford Cup to book a place in the Odsal double header.
Bank Top were forced to switch the tie against West Bowling B to the Bankfoot Oval after their ground was vandalised. The game lived up to all expectations and a cracking first half ended all square at
4-4 after a Harrier try from Paul Royston was cancelled out by two penalties from West's Craig Hillam.
Outstanding prop forward Jason Gelders quickly scored a brace on the restart. Cameron Nelson and Dan Oldfield also followed and Bob Brown kept the scoreboard ticking with four conversions and a drop goal as Bank Top put their stamp on the game in the final quarter. Second row forward Steve Carter scored a try and Hillam converted to complete the Bowling tally.
Undercliffe had too much firepower for Thornton A in the 72-4 win at Rawdon Meadows. Thornton did manage to prevent a whitewash thanks to a solitary try from Nick Bolton at the end of what was a brilliant display of open rugby from Pete Dutton's men. Cliff's Liam Jordan was in tremendous form scoring five touchdowns, Steve Wilkinson posted a hat-trick and further efforts came from Alex Scargill (2), Johnny Bravo (2), Gavin Jarvis, Dave Taylor and Paul Lynn. Damien Padgett kicked two conversions before action-man Jordan took over the role and added a further four kicks.
Clayton coach Richard Hesletine was less then impressed with some of the strong-arm tactics used by their hosts in the quarter-finals of the Pennine Presidents Cup at Brighouse Rangers. His charges kept their discipline despite the provocation and responded in the best possible fashion by rattling up a 38-10 victory.
Silsden Park Rangers made a welcome return to form with a convincing 52-14 win over Greetland in Division Two of the Pennine League.
Silsden's tries came from Chris Fell (3), Matt Bowness (2), Danny Horne (2), Andy Bowness and Martyn Fryers.
Thornton moved into second spot in Division Five with a 14-6 win at York Groves. Thomas O'Brien was quickly over the try line and Darren Ellerton collected two-drop goals to go alongside his two conversions. The biggest cheer of the afternoon was when coach Gary Naylor trundled over for the clincher on his first appearance of the season.
Clayton A are top of Division Six after seeing off main rival West Craven Warriors 32-18 at Lidget Green. Danny Caston scored two belting tries and was a clear man of the match award winner.
Ovenden defeated Keighley Town 38-12 in the Halifax Cup semi-final - running in eight tries to three. Keighley scorers were Carlton Farrell, Darren McNulty and Tony Metclafe.
In the Arriva Trains Conference, West Bowling slithered to a 14-6 defeat in monsoon conditions at West Hull.
With the rain pelting down from start to finish Glenn Barraclough was gracious in defeat, acknowledging that the much-fancied Hull outfit just about deserved the spoils on the day.
Bowling were always in contention and fought their way back from an early deficit when scrum half Steve Illingworth won the race to touch down a kick through and full back Lee Innes converted.
The hosts went into the break 8-6 up and kept their stranglehold on proceedings in the second half despite suffering a number of scares.
l The Bradford Dudley Hill v Batley Powergen Challenge Cup tie has been re-arranged for Saturday, February 28.
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