York Wasps were left to rue what might have been as their Challenge Cup dreams were washed away in the driving rain at Huntington Stadium.

Had they overcome Villeneuve Leopards yesterday, they would have been facing a trip to Rochdale or Hunslet in the last 16.

Though that wouldn't have been the money-spinner the Wasps would have wanted, with both sides languishing in the bottom half of the NFP a place in the quarter-finals would have been a realistic possibility.

Sadly it is now Villeneuve who will be living that dream. And nobody could begrudge them their victory as they extinguished in fine style the widely-held belief that French teams cannot play in the rain and the mud.

In fact it was York who struggled to cope with the conditions in a poor display of attacking rugby.

They barely got out of their own half in the first 40 minutes and when they did it invariably ended with the ball on the floor.

Given Villeneuve's territorial advantage in the first half it was testament to the Wasps defence that the French side led just 12-0 at the interval.

Scrum-half Freddie Banquet showed all the skills which had made him such a hit in Super League to hand Villeneuve the cutting edge which York lacked.

His teasing kicks caused constant problems while the Wasps did not possess the kicking skills to pose the same kind of threat.

Three times in the first 15 minutes the Leopards almost broke the deadlock as a result of Banquet's kicks.

It was more good luck than good judgement that none resulted in tries. York were also relieved to see Banquet's early penalty attempt swing across the face of the posts.

But not surprisingly it was Banquet who set up the opening try, which came after the Wasps had again squandered possession. His perfectly timed pass allowed centre Gilles Cornut to slice through the defence from 30 metres out to score in the corner.

Banquet's towering conversion from the touchline made it 6-0. It had taken Villeneuve 27 minutes to get on the scoresheet but they soon added to their tally when player-coach Grant Doorey forced his way over for a typical prop's try.

The Wasps defence looked to have Doorey covered but he somehow managed to get the ball down, despite the attention of three tacklers, and leave Banquet with a much easier conversion.

It could have been worse for York on the stroke of half-time when Villeneuve's best move of the match saw the ball passed through five pairs of hands but winger Ludovic Perolari knocked on when a try looked on the cards.

Coach Lee Crooks must have had a few harsh words for his Wasps players at half-time as they looked a different side at the start of the second half.

They were duly rewarded when they forced a drop out and some quick thinking by Paddy Handley saw the stand-off go over from acting half near the corner flag.

It was too wide out for Gareth Oulton to convert but it gave the Wasps real hopes of a revival.

Unfortuantely the revival was short-lived. Ten minutes later, centre Daniel Verginol took Banquet's pass, stepped inside the cover and although York full-back Rich Darling wrapped himself around Verginol's legs he wasn't able to prevent the Frenchman getting the ball down over the line.

That handed the advantage back to the Leopards and, despite excellent running from Gareth Lloyd and some enterprising play from Gareth Dobson once he switched to hooker, the Wasps couldn't haul themselves back into contention.

Verginol made sure of the victory when he took Vince Wulf's pass and dragged three defenders with him to go in for his second try 17 minutes from time.

Shaun Austerfield got on the scoresheet against his former club when he was the first to Handley's grubber kick but with only seven minutes left it was too little too late.

York Wasps: Rich Darling 6, Paul Butterfield 6, Shaun Austerfield 6, Gareth Lloyd 8, Gareth Oulton 6, Paddy Handley 7, Gareth Stephens 6, Darren Crake 6, Alan Pallister 6, Craig Forsyth 6, Spencer Hargrave 6, Craig Moore 6, Gareth Dobson 7. Subs: Danny Waite (for Stephens 76mins) -, Mick Hagan (Crake 26) 6, Lee Hutchinson (not used), Charles Hoggard (Hargrave 70) 6.

Re-subs: Crake (Pallister 50) Blood-bin: Hoggard (Forsyth 54, returned 65)

Sin-binned: None Sent off: None

Villenueve Leopards: Michael Van Snick, Ludovic Perolari, Gilles Cornut, Daniel Verginol, Chad Dillinger, Laurent Frayssinous, Freddie Banquet, Grant Doorey, Vince Wulf, Dragan Durdevic, Artie Shead, Brock Mueller, Laurent Carrasco.

Subs: David Collado (Shead 32), Romain Sort (Doorey 65), Jerome Hermet (Perolari 60), Jamal Faqir (Sort 75). Re-subs: Doorey (Durdevic 70)

Blood-bin: Sort (Mueller 22, returned 40) Sin-binned: None Sent off: None

Updated: 13:26 Monday, February 12, 2001