Another foregone conclusion as St Helens made the journey south to take on a London Broncos side now cut adrift at the bottom of the table following Hull FC’s victory over the Leeds Rhinos yesterday afternoon but in a round where Leigh beat the Catalans Dragons, Salford overcame Warrington and the Tigers ran the Warriors close, who knew what surprise could happen.

London were given a thirty-four point start on the handicap coupon as the bookies, pundits, and supporters of both sides predicted a walkover for Paul Wellens side as they sought the two points which would again propel them to the top of the table as we pass the half way stage in the 2024 competition.

Surely it was just a matter of how many the Saints would win by.

The bookies were struggling to call the game between the Catalans Dragons and Leigh Leopards as they gave the visitors just a four-point start on the coupon despite the seven-point difference between the two sides on the league table.

A win for the Dragons would see them up to fifth, a big win could see them end the weekend in fourth while victory for the Leopards would see them to within one point of the Huddersfield Giants and towards the middle of the table in their own quest for a top six place.

Both sides had a benefitted from a week’s rest for the Cup Final and were ready to go ‘guns’ blazing’ for the win in the south of France, the Dragons looking to turn around a recent poor run of form.

An emotionally charged Leeds Rhinos travelled across the M62 for a Saturday afternoon encounter with a Hull FC side who had already been written off for this game, and the season, by their supporters and pundits.

The Rhinos needed a win to keep in touch with the top six as they looked to sneak a play-off place while a big points win would bolster their puny looking points difference as it might be crucial later in the season, whereas Hull FC simply needed a win, and they would take it any way that they could.

The Airlie Birds had an eight-point start on the coupon, the bookies expecting a closer encounter than most Black & Whites fans who were fearful of another big loss.

After a disappointing Wembley outing last weekend, the Warrington Wolves attention returned to Super League and a chance to get back to winning ways against a tricky and unpredictable Salford Red Devils as the Halliwell-Jones played host to a top half of the table clash.

A win for the Wolves would keep them in contention at the top end of the table, but a loss would see them slip away from the top contenders and level on points with their visitors.

Warrington were big favourites with the bookies for a bounce back win as Salford were given a ten-point start on the coupon, despite their week off to regroup and recover from any niggles.

England will face Samoa this autumn in a two-match Test series sponsored by ABK Beer – at The Brick Community Stadium, Wigan, on Sunday 27 October and at AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds, on Saturday 2 November.

Tickets are on sale now for the two matches, which will also be televised by BBC Sport domestically and on SuperLeague+ overseas.

The two-match Test series, Samoa's first in England, offers Head Coach Shaun Wane and his team an opportunity to avenge the bitter disappointment of their World Cup Semi Final defeat in November 2022.

 

It was a foregone conclusion that Wakefield Trinity were going to lift the 1895 Trophy as the curtain came down on an exciting afternoon at Wembley as the final game saw them face a brave Sheffield Eagles who are having an excellent league season.

Wakefield were 1/12 to lift the trophy but you could get 6/1 on the Eagles, a one-sided game if there ever was one, and when the sides met five weeks ago in the league the West Yorkshire side were 36-10 winners.

It was going to take grit and determination for the Eagles to get anything out of this game and liftthe Trophy for a second time in six years, but under the coaching of Mark Aston they would give everything that they had in the quest for the win.

Rugby league paid its respect to Rob Burrow and his family and friends by delaying the kick-off of today’s Challenge Cup Final to seven minutes past three in recognition of the ‘pocket rockets’ Leeds shirt number after his passing last Sunday which caused immense sadness throughout the community.

Wigan Warriors went into the game as favourites to beat a Warrington Wolves side who some fancied as strong underdogs thanks to the coaching of Sam Burgess who has teased some great performances out of his side in his first year in charge.

Warrington had a six-point start on the handicap coupon but Wigan coach Rob Peet had spent the week telling his side not to underestimate their opposition although they would have needed little instruction after recording just a single point win in the Cup Final rehearsal last weekend.

In a repeat of the last two Women’s Challenge Cup Finals, holders St Helens took on the Leeds Rhinos at Wembley Stadium with the Blue & Amber hoping to stop four consecutive wins for the Red Vee and win the trophy for the first time since 2019.

Between them, these two sides have won the last five finals, and St Helens were the strong favourites to get another win for the Totally Wicked Stadium trophy cabinet, but Leeds had the hurt of the last two seasons to draw upon for motivation.

Saints won the league encounter in round four by a narrow margin of 12-6, all indications were that this would be equally as close.

Saturday’s Betfred Challenge Cup Final between Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors will kick off at 307pm, as Rugby League celebrates the life of Rob Burrow CBE – the former Leeds Rhinos, England and Great Britain scrum half who wore the number 7 jersey with such courage and distinction throughout his playing career.

Following Burrow’s death at the age of 41 last Sunday, supporters will be able to leave tributes at the Rugby League Statue outside Wembley Stadium from 945am on Saturday morning – offering the opportunity to fans of all clubs to show their appreciation and admiration for his courage and humanity, as so many Leeds devotees have done already at AMT Headingley.

There will be further chances to demonstrate that affection with the Wembley crowd invited to join in one minute’s applause after 7 minutes of each of the four Finals on Rugby League’s traditional showpiece occasion – starting with the inspiresport Champion Schools Final in the morning, followed by the second Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup Final to have been played at Wembley, which features Burrow’s beloved Leeds Rhinos taking on the holders, St Helens.

 

It’s the time of year when Australia comes to a standstill, as Wednesday becomes Origin day, and people crack open the tinnies and don their colours for the greatest clash in world rugby league as the Maroons took on the Blues in the opening match of the 2024 State of Origin.

Queensland have won the last two series by two games to one so New South Wales were hoping for to go one up at the Accor Stadium in Sydney with the bookies finding it almost too close to call, giving the Blues a two point start on the handicap coupon.

It was Billy Slater’s New South Wales against Michael Maguire’s Queensland and the whole of Australia was holding its collective breath.

We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of England, Great Britain and Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow at the age of just forty-one years from complications of the Motor Neurone Disease which he has suffered so bravely and inspirationally since his diagnosis almost five years ago.

Rob passed today at Pinderfield's Hospital in Wakefield after a short illness after he was admitted earlier in the week and he leaves behind his dedicated wife Lindsey, along with his three children Macy, Maya and Jackson who have been so brave over the last few years and inspirational in their support of Dad and family man Rob.

Rob retired from rugby league in 2017 after sixteen successful seasons at his only club, Leeds Rhinos where he made 492 appearances and scored 195 tries and 157 goals.

During his club career he won eight Super League Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups, three World Club Challenge Cups, three League Leaders Shields, two Harry Sunderland Trophies, three selections for the Super League Dream Team and an MBE in the 2021 Queens New Years Honours List.

The was a perfect professional, feared and admired by all in the game, able to play way beyond his stature and weight, and a fabulous representative of the game in the public eye.

Another Sunday afternoon, another loss for the London Broncos, and another win for the Salford Red Devils as they retake their place in the top six which had been temporarily lost to the Leeds Rhinos yesterday teatime, or so all the pundits, fans, and bookmakers predicted.

Having made the journey to the AJ Bell Stadium, London were given a thirty-two-point start on the handicap coupon as a landslide victory was predicted for the Red Devils on a glorious afternoon in Salford.

A win for Salford would lift them back to sixth spot in the table, two clear of the Rhinos in seventh, a win of any type for the visitors would lift them off the bottom of the table and push Hull FC into the basement position.

The West Yorkshire derby had it all to play for as Castleford Tigers travelled the short distance to Headingley to take on the arch enemy the Leeds Rhinos as both sides desperately needed the two points on offer.

The visitors couldn’t improve their league position with a win but could increase the gap between themselves and the bottom two club while the Rhinos knew that a win by more than twelve points would lift them into the top six, at least for the next twenty hours.

The Rhinos were handicapped by ten on the coupon, the bookies thinking that it would be a Rhinos win but not necessarily a convincing one.

The round thirteen Saturday afternoon fixture saw a top of the table clash between a second placed Wigan Warriors side needing an eighteen-point win to go top of the table, against the third placed Warrington Wolves who knew they could join St Helens on twenty league points with a victory.

Despite their closeness on the league table the bookies believed that this would be a comfortable victory for the away side as they gave the Wolves a fourteen-point start on the handicap coupon.

It was a packed Halliwell-Jones which welcomed the two sides to the field for a mouthwatering clash as the they met for the first time in 2024, a dress rehearsal for next weekend’s Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

Only two league points separated St Helens and the Catalans Dragons coming into tonight’s clash at the Totally Wicked Stadium with the visitors knowing that a win would lift them level on points with the league leaders, and an improbably large win, by sixty-one points or more, would see them to the top of table on points difference.

Saints were given a ten-point handicap on the coupon which lent some credibility to a bounce back Dragons win after their home defeat at the hands of the Warrington Wolves last weekend.

The league leaders were without the inspirational Jonny Lomax who is out with a hand injury and who was replaced by Moses Mbye at stand-off allowing new stand in skipper Jack Welsby to remain at full back.

A win by a margin of twenty-six points or more would move Wigan Warriors to the top of the table with a game in hand, all that stood in their way was the unpredictable Salford Red Devils who have the chutzpah to beat anyone on their day.

Salford needed the win to maintain their push for the top of the table and to ensure that they spend more time in the top six, defying critics and pundits alike as they continue to make the most out of a small budget and ever smaller playing staff.

Wigan were the favourites for the win with a ten point handicap on the coupon, Salford the clear underdogs, a position that they thrive on.

Still on cloud nine after securing their place in the Challenge Cup final, Warrington Wolves made the trip to the south of France to take on a Catalans Dragons side with the chance to join St Helens at the top of the table the spoils for the victor.

It wasn´t an easy game to call, the bookies giving Warrington a four-point start on the handicap coupon, the normal weighting in favour of the home side due to their home advantage.

Coach Burgess kept the same starting seventeen that beat the Giants in the cup last weekend, Steve McNamara had Theo Fages back in the side in place of Jayden Nikorima who was moved to the bench, but McIlorum and McMeeken were missing from the squad with injuries.

A round twelve encounter between joint league leaders, St Helens, and seventh placed Leeds Rhinos was likely to be a one-sided affair with the bookies giving the Rhinos a fourteen-point start on the coupon despite the Rhinos having Brodie Croft and Harry Newman back in their starting line-up along with on-loan Matty Russell.

Saints would end the night two points clear of the chasing pack of they were to pick up the win, the Rhinos could lift themselves into the top half of the table if they were to grab an unlikely win over the old enemy, something that they haven’t managed since a one-point win in March 2023.

Pre-game there was pessimism amongst the Rhinos fans, expectation amongst those supporting Saints.

When it comes to Women’s Super League it doesn’t get any bigger than a clash between St Helens and the Leeds Rhinos, the top two sides in the game with league leaderships, championships and challenge cup wins between them and a dress rehearsal for next months Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

Old rivalries were renewed in a match which the bookies struggled to find a favourite, edging towards the home side based on their home advantage.

The game was a curtain raiser for the men’s Super League game to be played this evening but there was every chance that this would be a more thrilling, exciting, and closer match than the one kicking off at eight o’clock.

The RFL and Rugby League Commercial have confirmed that Martin Offiah MBE has accepted an invitation to be Chief Guest at the 2024 Betfred Challenge Cup Finals Day – 30 years since he scored probably the most celebrated try in the long history of Rugby League being played at Wembley Stadium.

Offiah played in four consecutive Wembley Finals for Wigan from 1992-95, in which he scored a total of four tries - including the length of the field spectacular against Leeds in 1994, when he was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy as player of the match.

That try earned him a place on the Rugby League Statue alongside four other greats of the sport which was installed at Wembley in 2015, captured in the celebration of his try which has become equally famous, on his knees with his head in his hands in an instant reflection of the moment.