YORK City Knights hope it won't be a case of deja vu after being paired yet again with Villeneuve in the Powergen Challenge Cup.

Last night's third round draw sees the French champions visit the Minster city for, amazingly, the third time in four years, and so far the Leopards have a 100 per cent record at Huntington Stadium having beaten York Wasps in both 2001 and 2002.

The 2004 tie takes place on Sunday, February 8, a week after the Knights' National League season kicks off with the first round of Arriva Trains Cup fixtures.

Knights chief executive Steve Ferres said revenge would not come into it. "Villeneuve have played York twice in three years but history goes through the window and it's about what happens on the day," he said. "There's different players involved and it's a different club."

Villeneuve coach Brad Davis, who moved to France after ending his playing career at Wakefield last season, is a former York player and was linked with the top job at Huntington Stadium this autumn before the appointment of Richard Agar.

Ferres added: "It's a tough one but that's what cup ties are all about. There are some good teams in France and they've got an experienced leader in Brad Davis. They will also have been playing regularly whereas we will have played only one competitive match."

Villeneuve's previous two games at York were both fourth round Cup ties against the then struggling Wasps club.

They won 22-8 in 2001 and 17-8 in the Wasps' fateful 2002 campaign which ended prematurely just five weeks later with the closure of the club.

Craig Forsyth is the only member of the current Knights squad who played against the Leopards in 2001, though he left soon after, while Mark Cain and Mick Ramsden played in the 2002 tie, which became the Wasps last-ever appearance in the Challenge Cup.

Villeneueve, along with fellow French clubs UTC, Pia and Limoux, could not be drawn at home at this stage of the Cup, though that will alter from the next round when Super League clubs enter the competition.

Other notable ties include those involving Russian clubs Locomotiv Moscow, who are at Chorley Lynx, and Dinamo Moscow, who travel to Rochdale Hornets having become the first Russian club to win a Challenge Cup tie when they beat West Yorkshire amateurs West Bowling in the second round.

Updated: 10:39 Friday, December 19, 2003