Challenge Cup sixth round: St Helens, Leigh Leopards, Hull KR into Challenge Cup quarter-finals as Morgan Knowles sees red again

St Helens, Leigh Leopards and Hull KR booked passage through to the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, as Saints' Morgan Knowles was red carded again on his return from suspension...

Halifax Panthers 6-26 St Helens

St Helens ran in five tries but had Morgan Knowles sent off in the dying seconds as Paul Wellens' men were forced to dig deep for their 26-6 Betfred Challenge Cup sixth-round win over Halifax Panthers at The Shay.

The gutsy second-tier part-timers made the world champions work for every inch of turf and secured the biggest cheer of the night when Jacob Fairbanks burst over to get them on the scoresheet with five minutes left.

Joey Lussick topped the Saints try count with two, while Tommy Makinson scored one and kicked three conversions, but Saints' night was soured seconds from the hooter when Knowles, in his first game back from a ban, saw red for a high tackle on Tom Inman that sparked a 10-man brawl.

Inevitably the big match build-up had been dominated by recollections of the most recent of Halifax's five Challenge Cup wins, when they clung on to beat Saints 19-18 in front of a crowd of over 90,000 at Wembley.

In a tumultuous subsequent period they were founder members of Super League in 1996 and 10 years later flirted with bankruptcy before beginning the haul back, culminating in their most recent clash with Saints in the Challenge Cup semi-final in Bolton in 2019.

Wakefield Trinity 12-40 Leigh Leopards

Leigh strolled into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with a routine seven-try success at Wakefield.

The Super League form book extended into knockout competition as Leigh triumphed 40-12 to record a fifth consecutive victory while winless bottom club Wakefield suffered a 13th defeat from 13 games this year.

The pattern of this match was set as soon as Leigh opened the scoring within two minutes. Jorge Taufua knocked on a Lachlam Lam kick and the ball was recycled swiftly for Tom Briscoe to score.

After 10 minutes, Leigh already had a foot in the next round. Ben Reynolds produced a delightful, cute chip on the last play for his captain John Asiata and Reynolds' conversion of both tries made it 12-0.

Wakefield debutant Oli Pratt had the home side's best chances of the first half. He was held up after good play and then tackled after a break on the last play from a deflected kick.

Instead the Leopards strengthened their advantage, Briscoe scoring his second from neat handling by Lam and Gareth O'Brien.

Lam was involved again in their fourth try, finding forward Kai O'Donnell to far too easily go through Wakefield's defence as Reynolds' boot made it 22-0 at half-time.

Trinity had something to cheer when they got the first points of the second half, Jay Pitts crashing onto a pass from close range and diving over as Will Dagger converted.

But a comeback did not appear likely and within four minutes O'Donnell had scored with a similar effort at the other end. Ricky Leutele then followed in, steaming over from a Lam pass as two more Reynolds kicks extended the scoreline to 34-6.

Dagger scored a further consolation try for Wakefield, pouncing on a grubber which the Leigh defence failed to handle and converting himself.

But Super League's top try-scorer Josh Charnley scored his 15th of the campaign with five minutes left to wrap up a first quarter-final appearance in five years for the Leopards.

Hull KR 50-0 Batley Bulldogs

Ethan Ryan scored a hat-trick of tries as Hull KR reached the quarter-finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup with a comfortable 50-0 victory over Batley at Craven Park.

Rovers dominated the first half against their Championship opposition who rarely threatened the home line as Kane Linnett, Ryan and captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall all scored try doubles.

Further tries after the break from Mikey Lewis, Sam Luckley and Ryan's third wrapped up a regulation victory for the Super League side.

Craig Lingard's side gave plenty of effort but never got into the contest as the difference in class told in all areas of the pitch.