BOTH Crosfields and Woolston Rovers will be entering the unknown in the Challenge Cup first round on Saturday.

Soap travel to National Conference League Division Two rivals Wigan St Judes while Rovers – in the competition for the first time since 2011 – visit Halifax-based Ovenden.

Rovers’ opponents are coached by Hull FC and England star Jake Connor, under whom they have won all 25 of their games.

They are also the only team in this year’s Challenge Cup to play in a winter league – they are currently clear at the top of the Pennine League Championship.

Head coach Mal Holt admits his side do not know much about their opponents but is calling on them to be “strong and aggressive” in order to reach the second round – as they were in a 56-16 friendly victory over Crosfields on Saturday.

“We are looking forward to entering unknown territory this week,” he said.

“We don’t know too much about Ovenden apart from the fact that they are unbeaten at the top of their league, so we will need to be really switched on.

“After a very impressive run out against Crosfields confidence is high, but we are also wary that we need to put in the same performance against Ovenden.

“We were too strong and aggressive for Crosfields, which was our game plan and will be going forward.

“We have had an excellent pre-season and are raring to go into this game and also the National Conference League season.”

Warrington Guardian: Woolston Rovers interim head coach Mal Holt. Picture by Mike Boden

Woolston Rovers head coach Mal Holt

Soap have been in pre-season training since mid-November having missed out on promotion to Division One last year thanks to a play-off semi-final defeat to Saddleworth Rangers.

This will be their second consecutive year in the Challenge Cup but head coach Ian Boden admits they will go into their short trip to St Judes as underdogs.

Boden also insists they are not reading too much into their friendly defeat to Rovers.

“We have been working on our fitness and we’ve had very little sessions with the ball,” he said.

“This showed on Saturday when we played Woolston but we’re not reading too much in to the game.

“Judes should be a tough encounter with us beating them at home and them beating us at their place last season.

“With them having home advantage and a change in coaching staff during the winter, they will be the favourites and we are going up against the unknown.

“We’ve added to the squad this year with a couple of new faces and are looking forward to playing in the Challenge Cup.

“These occasions are always special and hopefully we can get a win to progress in this historic competition.

“We’re really looking forward to the challenge and are chomping at the bit ready to start our season off.”

Both games kick off at 2pm.

Warrington Guardian: Ian Boden won two of his three games in interim charge of Crosfields

Crosfields head coach Ian Boden