KELLS will have an interest in tomorrow’s Ladbrokes Challenge Cup fourth round draw after an excellent 12-6 win over League One side Hemel Stags.

The west Cumbrians were one of four amateur sides to master League One opposition in Saturday’s third round ties but Wath Brow weren’t among them.

The Hornets went down 32-14 at home to Toulouse Olympique after being in contention for a long time.

Kells played their tie with southern visitors Hemel Stags at the Cumbria Sports Academy ground and it was a hard-fought game played in freezing condition.

All the points were scored in the first-half after Kells had made a flying start by getting the scoreboard ticking on five minutes.

Scrum-half Ross Gainford saw an opportunity and was able to jink his way through the defence from 15 metres and, for good measure, he added the conversion.

The Stags soon gained parity, coming back four minutes later as winger Reece Rance squeezed in at the corner and Ben Stead landed a fine touchline conversion to level the score.

On 15 minutes, however, Kells regained the lead when second-row forward Paul Cullnean barged his way over for an unconverted try.

Two minutes before the break Gainford gave Kells a little extra breathing space when he landed a penalty from 35 metres out.

Both teams had chances to score in the second half but dropped passes and missed drop goal attempts prevented any further additions to the score-line.

Prop David Lowery and second-rower Scott Lofthouse were outstanding for the hosts as Kells continued their fine record in the competition in front of an estimated 200 crowd.

Coach Peter Smith said: “We could have been out of sight by half-time but missed a few chances. I don’t think we played particularly well and Hemel had a few chances themselves in the second-half.

“It was a war of attrition in the second-half but we saw it through and I’m delighted to have reached this stage of the competition which will be an open draw.

“Our main priority is the Conference Premier League, so the Challenge Cup is a bit of a distraction, but it’s something we are quite enjoying at the moment.””

Siddal (who beat Newcastle Thunder 30-4); Pilkington Recs (13-0 conquerors of London Skolars) and Featherstone Lions (32-17 winners over South Wales Scorpions) were the other amateur teams to beat League opposition.

Sadly Wath Brow couldn’t join them as Toulouse full-back Mark Kheirallah was the match star in west Cumbria, scoring four of the six tries and landing four goals for a 24-point haul in the 32-14 win.

The first quarter had belonged to the hosts who twice held the lead.

Winger Luke Davison went in after 14 minutes but Kheirallah levelled five minutes later with the game’s second unconverted try.

On 24 minutes, Davison got over for his second try and at 8-4 Wath Brow looked as though they might be able to shock the French side.

But before the break Toulouse scored two tries to seize the initiative with stand-off Jonathan Ford going in on the half-hour and winger Kuni Minga crossing to minutes before the break. Kheirallah converted the first of them.

Hornets were desperate to score first on the resumption but it was that man Kheirallah who provided the finish to a flowing move on 47 minutes and he also kicked the goal.

But if Toulouse had a man in good finishing form so too did Hornets and the game was opened-up again after 52 minutes when Davison went in for his hat-trick try, converted by full-back Karl Dixon.

Wath Brow had their moments at 14-20 but just couldn’t close the gap any further and two more tries from the dangerous Kheirallah in the 69th and 73rd minutes, which he converted, saw them through to the fourth round which will be played on March 19/20.