​Storm set to do battle with Knights in rearranged semi-final

​Hazardous weather conditions in the Hemel Hempstead area, combined with difficult travelling conditions for the visitors, saw Sunday’s game given a new date, with the league match against Essex Rebels now being postponed to make way for the National Cup clash.

The Knights game, which will get under way at 7pm at Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre, will finally end 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, with those two sides also set to meet in their semi-final this weekend.

*Any tickets that have been purchased for this Saturday's originally-scheduled game with Essex Rebels will still be valid for the match with Newcastle Knights.

Please note if you have already purchased this ticket the opposition will still show as Essex Rebels but the QR code will work on the door.