Northumbria men and women both qualified for the English national knock-out cup semi-finals on Saturday. The women had a repeat of the previous weekend league match against Salford and, again, they won without breaking sweat. The men, however, had a much more difficult task away to Sheffield. Again, by coincidence, this was a repeat of the previous league meeting when Sheffield came to Sports Central and almost caused a surprise. Northumbria expected a sterner test away from home and it came in the opening nail-biting set in which Northumbria held their nerve to win 30-28. Sheffield hit back in the second set to win by a comfortable 5 point margin and the tension continued as the crucial third set was won by Northumbria 25-22. Sheffield continued to fight hard to level at 2 sets all but Northumbria hung on to take the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
The semi-finals are scheduled for the first weekend in March and both Northumbria teams have home ties against London Polonia. The second semi-final in the mens cup involves Wessex and Malory Eagles while Swiss Cottage take on South Wales in the womens competition.