YORK City Knights Ladies’ Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup semi-final has been confirmed for Saturday, May 22 during a double-header day at the LNER Community Stadium.

The Knights’ last-four tie against Castleford Tigers will be played at Monks Cross at 12.30pm before Saint Helens clash with holders Leeds Rhinos at 3pm.

No tickets will be sold for these fixtures at the request of the stadium authorities, although a limited number of passes will be made available to the four competing teams.

Both games will be streamed by BBC Sport on the Red Button and iPlayer, with highlights to be shown on Sky Sports the following Monday.

York teed up their meeting with Castleford - the former side of current Knights director of rugby Lindsay Anfield - with a superb 30-24 win over Wigan Warriors. Grace Field scored a hat-trick in the thriller, with Bethany Lambert and Mel Halstead also crossing.

The four sides are battling for a spot in the final, which will be hosted at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday, June 5, kicking off at 11.15am, with live coverage on BBC Two - a first for Women’s Rugby League.

That is the first part of a triple-header, which continues with the semi-finals of the men’s Challenge Cup, with all three games shown live on the BBC. Hull FC against St Helens will be shown on BBC One (2.30pm) and Castleford against Warrington Wolves will be shown on BBC Two (5pm).

Each of the four semi-finalists will be given an initial restriction-imposed allocation of approximately 600 tickets.

Details for the Women’s Challenge Cup Finalists will be confirmed in the week starting May 24.

The RFL are working with Government and other relevant authorities on the possibility of increasing the capacity, based around staggered entry of supporters of the six teams to the stadium.

Mark Foster, the RFL’s chief commercial officer, said: “After the whole Betfred Challenge Cup competition was played behind closed doors in 2020, this does represent a step in the right direction - with every reason to be hopeful of a much bigger crowd at Wembley on July 17 for the final.

“For Women’s Rugby League, live coverage on BBC Two of the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup final represents another significant milestone.

“We are also delighted to be able to confirm BBC coverage of the semi-final double-header at the LNER Stadium in York.

“We know the restrictions on capacity at Leigh Sports Village are going to mean frustration and disappointment for some who would want to support their teams in person.

“We share that frustration, but this event was scheduled over six months ago and it became clear recently that while it is great that fans would be allowed inside the stadium, it was going to be an event with unique challenges, involving six teams playing at the same stadium in the period between the partial reopening of stadiums to fans in Step 3 of the Government roadmap out of lockdown, and the further easing in Step 4 later in June.

“We are grateful to Leigh Sports Village and the four semi-finalists for the way that they have worked with us to get to this stage and to the BBC for their live coverage of all three games, meaning that those fans who are unable to attend in person at the stadium can still watch the game live on TV.”