RUGBY league’s oldest club competition gets back underway this weekend as teams across the UK – and abroad – set their sights on Wembley and begin their quest for Challenge Cup glory.

There are three Bradford district sides involved in first round action this Saturday, spurred on by the draw which placed all three at home.

One of those sides with hopes of making it into the second round and beyond are Bradford Dudley Hill, who will host Leeds-based Milford Marlins.

Hill had a rough 2018, getting relegated into National Conference League Division Two after finishing bottom, but the Challenge Cup provides the perfect opportunity for them to start the new season with a bang.

It will also see returning coach Paul Baxter take charge of his first competitive match since his last stint at Dudley Hill in 2008-2009.

Steve Wright, Bradford Dudley Hill team manager, said: "It's good to start. Games against Milford - local pride is at stake, it's a derby game to start and it's usually a feisty affair. We like to rough them up and they like to rough us up."

Wright said the side's 16-8 win in a recent friendly against Dewsbury Moor - who swapped spots with Dudley Hill after they were promoted from Division Two - had given them a good starting base.

He added that getting through to the third round of the Challenge Cup - when League One sides now enter the fold - was the aim.

Wright said: "Everybody wants to get to the third round and to come up against professional opposition. In 2004 we beat Keighley - I think we're the only amateur side to have ever beaten a Championship side, which Keighley were then, in the cup."

In that year, Dudley Hill put in impressive performances against Embassy, then Birkenshaw, before knocking out the Cougars in the third round with a 16-14 win.

They bowed out in the next round, but the importance of the cup is not lost on Wright.

He said: "You can always be better off in many ways. It can always give a bit of a monetary boost, but more than anything the players want to test themselves against better players."

The tie against Milford also provides the Bradford side with the perfect opportunity to get revenge for a double league loss last season.

Wright said: "If we get a result we can put the rights wrong from last year. They're a team who were in the play-offs in Division One, so it will stand us in good stead going into next season."

Speaking more of the rapidly approaching opening day of the league, Wright added: "There's lot of teams we're used to playing regularly in this division.

"Then you've got teams who've come up from Division Three, such as Beverley, and it's going to be the most competitive ever. It will be good to get back to the big West Bowling derbies as well."

West Bowling themselves will take on London's Hammersmith Hills Hoists in the cup, a club formed just over a decade ago and named after Hills Hoist rotary washing line, first created in Australia.

Drighlington will also be in action against a team from outside the rugby league heartlands when they take on All Golds, who are based in Cheltenham and play in the West of England League. The All Golds were also the champions of the Harry Jepson Trophy in 2018.

All matches kick-off at 2pm on Saturday.

* West Bowling preview in Friday's T&A