Championship and League 1 clubs are targeting the weekend of March 21 as the return date for professional rugby league outside the Super League.

The new start date means it will have been over a year since Barrow Raiders’ last game against Coventry Bears.

Just as planned earlier by the RFL, first round ties in the Challenge Cup will be played on the first weekend.

During the following weekend, the competition’s second round ties will be held.

Just three League 1 teams will enter this season’s Challenge Cup alongside the 13 Championship teams.

As teams were given an option to withdraw from the competition, only Barrow Raiders, Keighley Cougars and West Wales Raiders have decided to enter the first round.

Details of the first and second round draws will be announced shortly, the RFL has confirmed.

Super League clubs will enter the Challenge Cup in the third round.

The start of the domestic season will see different dates for Championship and League 1 clubs.

Championship sides will kick off from April 2-4, the Easter weekend, and run until a top six play-off series in September and October.

The Championship had been due to kick off on the last weekend in February, but following a short pause in training after the announcement of the latest Lockdown, the clubs agreed with the RFL that delaying the start of the season would be a sensible step given the current public health situation.

There is also a desire to minimise the number of fixtures played behind closed doors before the return of fans to grounds.

For similar reasons, the start of Betfred League 1 has been put back until the weekend of May 8-9. This will still allow each team to play the other nine twice in an 18-round season before a Play-Off series.

Details of promotion and relegation mechanisms between the divisions will be discussed and finalised at a meeting of clubs early next month – ahead of publication of fixtures for Betfred Championship and League 1.

With games set to be played behind closed doors, clubs have already agreed that games will be streamed live on the RFL’s Our League platforms