Quarter-final prize is target for Keighley

With both teams plying their trading in the Championship, March know just how big the opportunity to reach the quarter-finals of Rugby League’s oldest and most prestigious competition is.

“In the last few years we’ve always come up against Super League opposition in round four,” said March.

“So for us to be in round five is obviously a big achievement. If we do get to the quarter-finals, hopefully there will be a massive tie waiting for us.

“But Swinton will be tough, we know that but we’ve got to concentrate on our own game and what we do. If we play well I’m confident we’ll see ourselves in the hat for the quarter-finals.

March’s opposite number – Swinton player-coach Ian Watson – is equally upbeat about the meeting with their Championship rivals.

“It’s a massive game, absolutely huge, not only for the players on a personal note as an experience, but massive for the club as well,” said Watson. “The prestige of getting to the quarter-finals and possibly getting that big Super League club, as well as the prize money, it’s all huge for the club.”

The 37-year-old says his early memories of the Challenge Cup were as a youngster making his way in the game at Salford, in a year where the now-Red Devils shone in the cup.

“I didn’t get a chance to play in the games but the memories of how big an occasion ending Wigan’s run and playing St Helens in the semi-final were are still with me,” said Watson. “I was only 18 at the time but it is a special competition.”