Whitehaven have sent their congratulations to Catalans Dragons on reaching the Challenge Cup final at Wembley

A remarkable 35-16 win over favourites St Helens at the weekend saw them book their second Wembley appearance.

It was quickly picked up on by the Whitehaven club who have been beaten twice by the French side – both on the occasions they made it to the final.

“It must be a lucky omen for the club. Beat Whitehaven and we will get to Wembley! But certainly we want to send the Dragons all the very best for the final because we were treated very well on our visit there this season. We really enjoyed our visit,” was the official Haven Tweet.

Whitehaven went down 56-10 in May this year, a win which put the Dragons into the quarter-finals. Two wins later they reached Wembley.

It will not have gone un-noticed that when Catalans reached their previous Wembley final in 2007 their conquerors were St Helens by 30-8.

They had won 24-14 at the Recreation Ground at the same stage of the competition as this year.

The French club has done particularly well to rally after a poor start to the season when they looked bottom four material for a long time.

Meanwhile, Whitehaven are licking their wounds after a 46-0 defeat at League One leaders Bradford Bulls, preparing for Sunday’s trip to Oldham.

The Roughyeds head four clubs who are locked together on 26 points fighting for play-off places.

Whitehaven are the fourth of those, so clearly Sunday’s clash is of vital importance to both clubs.

Oldham are still waiting to hear about an RFL disciplinary case against their coach Scott Naylor which was adjourned last week.

Naylor was summoned for questioning a referee’s decision in the recent game against North Wales Crusaders at the Vestacare Stadium.

The hearing had started but, given the direction it was taking, it was felt necessary to have the match officials available and they weren’t there.

Naylor and club chairman Chris Hamilton, who both travelled to Leeds, were told in advance they would be available, by telephone if needs be.

The Roughyeds chairman and coach will now have to make a return trip to Leeds when a new date for the hearing is announced.