The quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup certainly gave us everything – with great rugby, two shocks, and one good, hard competitive grudge match between two evenly-matched sides, it was as good a weekend of sport as I’ve seen in a long time. Only Wigan’s 60-6 demolition of Cas slipped under the radar, which tells you a lot given the unusual nature of the score line (sorry, Cas fans). My own Hull KR got their revenge on Leigh for last year’s crushing defeat in the final, in a game that could have gone either way until the last ten minutes, with KR eventually producing some top-quality rugby to break Leigh and go through (sorry, Leigh fans). Huddersfield, it’s probably fair to say, would have been expected by many to be on the receiving end of a nearly 30-point thrashing, but dealt one out to the Dragons instead, and away from home no less, in one of the biggest upsets we’ve seen this season (sorry, Dragons fans). And whilst Saint Helens weren’t overwhelming favourites, the 31-8 score line must have come as a nasty, nasty shock (no apology for you, Saints fans – you’ve won enough for God’s sake!)

This was knockout rugby at its very best, but IMG proposed to dilute it. Instead of this, we are to have group matches and then knockouts. We may not have seen anything on the scale of Maidstone’s 1-0 win over Ipswich in the FA Cup, with a difference of over 100 places between the teams, but rugby league doesn’t have football’s strength in depth.

I grew up in a dual-code household – my father is a Londoner and my mother is from Hull. Growing up in Bedfordshire and then Gloucestershire my main exposure has been to union, but I have watched league all my life as well. Union’s former knockout cup is much missed. I have grown up hearing my dad’s friends recount stories of Wasps, one of the foremost teams in England, travelling to Aspatria and how much they enjoyed visiting a club they would otherwise never go to; or how Pertemps Bees upset odds of 250-1 to beat them in the 2004 final. Through several changes in format, it is now a round-robin plus knockout format between Premiership and Championship clubs. My team, championship side Bedford, beat Leicester 47-28 this season – a bit like York beating Warrington by 30 points. But nobody noticed because we were already out.

That’s what rugby league risks losing if the Challenge Cup becomes a round-robin format. Not just the upset factor (York Acorn beating professional side Cornwall this season is a good example), but also the prestige amateur side Hammersmith Hill Hoists got from playing (and scoring) at Halifax, and the opportunity for Wakefield to visit Siddal, who in turn made a lot of money from that encounter, and gave their fans a try against Championship opposition. We also run the risk that the upsets, when they do happen, will ultimately mean less if progression isn’t on the line.

Reforming the Challenge Cup (if that proposal is still being considered – all seems to have gone quiet on that front) would be a colossal mistake and take something of great value away from this amazing sport.

Written by Thomas Haynes (Contributor & Hull KR fan)