National Cup semi-final for Hemel Storm at the StormDome this Sunday

Mark Clark’s Hemel Storm will face Newcastle Knights at home in the semi-final of the National Cup, it has been confirmed after a draw determined the sides’ fates.

The fixture will be played on Sunday 5th January, cutting short the long break from NBL action for the festive period.

Storm last tasted success in the competition in the 2022/23 season, where they won all four trophies in an unprecedented undefeated campaign.

The semi-final will mark their first Cup clash on home soil of the term, with their run to this stage consisting of a trio of away fixtures. First, they overcame tricky ties with Division Two sides Barking Abbey and London Elite, surviving the potential banana-skin contests with a couple of slight scares, before narrowly defeating MK Breakers in the quarter-final.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have somewhat cruised to this stage, completing comfortable victories over Division Three side West Yorkshire Hawks and Division Two Manchester Magic. That saw them progress to the quarter-final stage, where they claimed a 14-point win over Division One strugglers Bradford Dragons.

The sides have met once already this year, with Storm coming out on top on their visit to Newcastle in just the second weekend of the league season, and the reverse fixture is scheduled for the 29th March.

The Knights will first battle the Storm in a bid to reach the Cup showpiece event in Manchester on Sunday 19th January, where either the Derby Trailblazers or Reading Rockets will await them.