2005 National League Cup Explained

The 2005 National League Cup (known for commercial reasons as the Northern Rail Cup) was a British rugby league competition. The 2005 competition was the first to feature sides from National League Three: previously the competition had only featured sides from National Leagues One and Two.

There were no cross-group games in the 2005 competition, each team therefore playing only six games in the group stages. The top team from each of the first five groups progressed to the quarter-final directly. The second-placed team in each of these groups, plus the top team from group six (the group of teams from National League 3), played an additional round to determine the remaining three spots in the quarter-finals.

The winners of the 2005 Northern Rail Cup were Hull Kingston Rovers.

Group stages

Group 1

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	5	0	1	238	56	182	10
	6	4	0	2	184	140	44	8
	6	2	0	4	115	207	-92	4
	6	1	0	5	89	223	-134	2

Group 2

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	5	0	1	288	118	170	10
	6	4	1	1	171	150	21	9
	6	2	0	4	137	241	-104	4
	6	0	1	5	116	203	-87	1

Group 3

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	5	0	1	240	95	145	10
	6	5	0	1	244	104	140	10
	6	2	0	4	147	181	-34	4
	6	0	0	6	62	313	-251	0

Group 4

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	6	0	0	237	50	187	12
	6	3	1	2	123	127	-4	7
	6	1	1	4	104	141	-37	3
	6	1	0	5	60	206	-146	2

Group 5

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	5	0	1	244	105	139	10
	6	4	0	2	124	140	-16	8
	6	2	0	4	135	137	-2	4
	6	1	0	5	93	214	-121	2

Group 6

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
	6	5	0	1	327	96	231	10
	6	2	2	2	146	167	-21	6
	6	2	1	3	100	190	-90	5
	6	1	1	4	80	200	-120	3

Knockout stages

Home team given first.

Play-off Round

• Swinton Lions 40–24 Batley Bulldogs (1 May)
• Featherstone Rovers 44–20 Workington Town (1 May)
• Hull Kingston Rovers 64–14 Bradford Dudley Hill (1 May)

Quarter-finals

• Featherstone Rovers 14–38 Castleford Tigers (29 May)
• Doncaster Dragons 54–38 Halifax (29 May)
• Whitehaven 28–22 Rochdale Hornets(29 May)
• Hull Kingston Rovers 62–0 Swinton Lions (29 May)

Semi-finals

• Hull Kingston Rovers 28–26 Doncaster Dragons (19 June)
• Castleford Tigers 36–14 Whitehaven (19 June)

Final

• Castleford Tigers 16–18 Hull Kingston Rovers (17 July, Bloomfield Road, Blackpool)