Welsh side eye cup upset

Welsh Conference Premier champions Blackwood Bulldogs are aiming to cause a big upset this Sunday when they face Co-operative Championship One side Oldham in the third round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Blackwood know that a shock victory in the tie at Sedgley Park could set up a dream Carnegie Challenge Cup fourth round clash with Welsh Engage Super League team Crusaders RL.

Andrew Smith, Blackwood Bulldogs chairman, said: “Everyone in Blackwood is looking forward to Sunday’s game.

“We know how tough it will be, Oldham are a professional side who have played five competitive games already this season while we’ll only be on our third game of the year with some of our lads maybe having to play rugby union the day before.

“But we’ll have a strong side going up there as usual and we’re once again determined to do Wales proud.

“We’ll go out there full of confidence. Cup shocks have happened throughout the competition’s history and who knows? We could pull off another one this Sunday if we play well. It would be fantastic to be drawn against the Crusaders in the fourth round.”

The Bulldogs’ full-back David James scored a hat-trick of tries in the last round of the competition and has been training with new Neath-based semi-professional side South Wales Scorpions, with whom he will commence playing once Blackwood’s Cup run ends.

David James said: “It will be a really good experience to go up against Oldham this Sunday.

“We’re fielding more or less the same team as in the earlier rounds so we know that we can do a good job.

“It’ll also be good for me to see how Oldham play as hopefully I’ll be facing them again twice more this year when the Scorpions play them.”

Blackwood Bulldogs’ Carnegie Challenge Cup second round game was covered by the BBC’s Super League Show and the TV cameras are set to be there again for the Oldham match.