Blackwood Bulldogs ensured Wales’ continued rugby success over Scotland this weekend after beating
Edinburgh Eagles 28-16 on Sunday to qualify for the third round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.
The Bulldogs became the first non-professional Welsh side to qualify for the third round in ten years
and now they hope to be drawn at home after enduring an 800-mile round trip to play this Sunday’s tie.
“It’s been quite a weekend,” said Blackwood chairman Andrew Smith. “We set out at 4.30am on Saturday
and didn’t get back until late on Sunday evening. We were hosted by the Murrayfield Rugby Club on the
Saturday where we, eventually, enjoyed watching the Six Nations game and we were delighted to be able
to continue the Welsh victories over Scotland.
“We’d love to get a home draw in the next round but we know whoever we draw we’ll have a tough game
as we could get teams like Widnes, Halifax or Featherstone Rovers.”
Eagles put on quite a show with the Challenge Cup on display at the impressive Meggetland Sports Complex,
but came up short against a very impressive Bulldogs side.
The third round draw will take place on Tuesday at 6pm at the Metro Centre in Gateshead where Blackwood,
along with the 12 other qualifiers from this weekend’s second round ties, being joined by 20 Co-operative
Championships clubs and three from the French Federation, including Toulouse Olympique who play in the
Co-operative Championship.
