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The 2022 Women's Challenge Cup (sponsored as the 2022 Betfred Women's Challenge Cup) was the 10th staging of the Rugby Football League's cup competition for women's rugby league clubs. The competition was won by St Helens who beat Leeds Rhinos 18–8 in the final at Elland Road on 7 May.

Format

The competition has a different format from previous years. Instead of being a straight knockout tournament, the first stage was played using a single round-robin format with the top two teams from four groups advancing to the quarter-final stage, at which point knockout format was resumed.

Entry was limited to the 12 teams of the Women's Super League plus three Championship teams; Hull FC, Oulton Raidettes and Widnes Vikings; together with the Army women's team. Each team was seeded into one of four pots with one team from each pot being drawn into each group.

On 6 March 2022 Widnes Vikings withdrew from the competition and were replaced by another Championship side, Dewsbury Moor.

Group stage

The draw for the group stages was made on 7 December at Elland Road, Leeds. Making the draw were footballers Jermaine Beckford and Gemma Bonner.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	St Helens	3	3	0	0	210	0	+210	6	Advance to quarter-finals with home advantage
2	Warrington Wolves	3	2	0	1	86	78	+8	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Barrow Raiders	3	1	0	2	54	104	−50	2
4	British Army	3	0	0	3	8	176	−168	0

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Leeds Rhinos	3	3	0	0	178	8	+170	6	Advance to quarter-finals with home advantage
2	Huddersfield Giants	3	2	0	1	168	44	+124	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Leigh Miners Rangers	3	1	0	2	78	138	−60	2
4	Hull FC	3	0	0	3	0	234	−234	0

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	York City Knights	3	3	0	0	200	4	+196	6	Advance to quarter-finals with home advantage
2	Wigan Warriors	3	2	0	1	106	52	+54	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Bradford Bulls	3	1	0	2	32	124	−92	2
4	Dewsbury Moor	3	0	0	3	4	162	−158	0

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Featherstone Rovers	3	3	0	0	148	10	+138	6	Advance to quarter-finals with home advantage
2	Oulton Raidettes	3	2	0	1	64	42	+22	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Wakefield Trinity	3	1	0	2	44	56	−12	2
4	Castleford Tigers	3	0	0	3	10	158	−148	0

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals are scheduled for the weekend of 9/10 April. The teams topping each group will have home advantage in the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee
St Helens	24–0	Huddersfield Giants	10 April 2022, 14:00	Totally Wicked Stadium
Leeds Rhinos	40–0	Warrington Wolves	10 April 2022, 14:00	Headingley Rugby Stadium
York City Knights	92–2	Oulton Raidettes	10 April 2022, 14:00	York Community Stadium
Featherstone Rovers	12–10	Wigan Warriors	10 April 2022, 18:00	Post Office Road
Source:

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was made on 10 April with the matches played on 24 April as a double header at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Team 1	Score	Team 2	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee
York City Knights	24–26	Leeds Rhinos	24 April 2022, 14:30	Halliwell Jones Stadium
St Helens	82–0	Featherstone Rovers	24 April 2022, 17:30
Source:

Final

The final was played at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 7 May 2022. The match formed part of a triple-header with the semi-finals of the men's Challenge Cup. The attendance of 5,888 was a new record attendance for a women's rugby league match in Great Britain.

Details

Broadcast matches

See also

• 2022 Men's Challenge Cup

Notes

1. Hull forfeited the game after being unable to raise a team. Under the RFL operational rules, the match was awarded to Leeds as a 48–0 win.

References

1. Hughes, Steven (16 December 2021). "Women's Challenge Cup schedule confirmed". LoveRugbyLeague. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
2. "Saints to face Wolves in Challenge Cup". BBC Sport. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
3. "Betfred Women's Challenge Cup update". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
4. "Betfred Women's Challenge Cup Round 1 Draw made". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
5. ^ "Betfred Women's Challenge Cup Round One Round-Up". RFL. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
6. ^ "England Watch | Women". RFL. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
7. ^ "Betfred Women's Challenge Cup Quarter-finalists confirmed". RFL. 3 April 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
8. Flynn, Leanne (25 March 2022). "Women's game against Hull FC called off". Leeds Rhinos. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
9. "Betfred Women's Challenge Cup | Round 2 Preview". RFL. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
10. "A new format, a new final venue - Why we should look forward to the 2022 Women's Challenge Cup". Rugby League News. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
11. "Betfred Womens Challenge Cup 2022". Forty20. Vol. 12, no. 1. January 2022. p. 27.
12. "England Watch | Women - Challenge Cup quarter-finals". RFL. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
13. Ibbetson, Stephen (5 April 2022). "Draw details confirmed for Challenge Cup semi-finals". TotalRL.com. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
14. "Leeds Rhinos women book Cup final spot". RFL. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
15. "St Helens overwhelm Featherstone as Cup defence continues". RFL. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
16. "Elland Road to host Betfred Women's Challenge Cup Final". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
17. "Women's Challenge Cup final: St Helens come back to beat Leeds Rhinos and retain trophy". Sky Sports. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.

• RFL Women's Challenge Cup
• 2022 in English rugby league
• 2022 in English women's sport
• 2022 in women's rugby league