For the second consecutive week we had a full programme of games in the Betfred Championship as we entered round eleven with two teams still unbeaten at the top of the pile in Toulouse and Featherstone, while the league was propped up by a winless Swinton Lions.

Featherstone Rovers hosted Newcastle Thunder on Saturday night with the remainder of games taking place on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s games saw Halifax at Batley, Widnes at Bradford and Dewsbury at Oldham.

London Broncos hosted Swinton, Whitehaven played York and Toulouse had a journey to take on Sheffield.

After almost a month’s hiatus due to Covid problems the Leeds Rhinos returned to action with a trip to the AJ Bell Stadium to take on a Salford Red Devils side who were looking to join Wakefield on three wins from eleven games, after the West Yorkshire side shocked the Wigan Warriors on Thursday evening.

The game had been re-arranged from Friday night to allow Leeds to release players for the England game, and coach Agar named Gale, Leeming, Prior and Oledzki in his starting line-up all four backing up from their representative duty.

The Red Devils had a six-point start on the coupon, the Rhinos favourites for the win, but neither side would improve their league table position by taking the win.

After being taught a rugby league lesson in the opening State of Origin game by New South Wales, the Maroons of Queensland had a mountain to climb to level the series; a tall and snow covered mountain and one which they would have to scale without oxygen, liquids, and dressed only in their under crackers.

Brad Fittler made just one change to his dominant Blues side with Angus Crichton replacing Jake Trbojevic while Maroons coach Paul Green went for more wholesale changes with Andrew McCullough, Coen Hessm Francis Molo and Josh Papalii all making the side in place of Alexander Brimson, Harry Grant, Jaydn Su’A and Joe Ofahengaue.

Once again, the Blues were very short odds for the win which would seal the series victory at the Suncorp Stadium in Sydney.

Seventeen months after taking up the reigns as England head coach, Shaun Wane finally got to pick a seventeen and see his side take to the field against a Combined Nations All Stars side picked and coached by former Kangaroos head man, Tim Sheens.

There was plenty of controversy about the game; clubs reticent to release players; a full round of Super League taking place this weekend; the very late announcement of the All Stars side; and complications around coronavirus.

England were big favourites for the win, but Shaun Wane would have been keen to not underestimate the challenge ahead.

The first ever Women’s International between England and Wales was the curtain raiser to the Men’s England against Combined Nations All Stars mid-season match with both games being played at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium in Warrington.

It was Wales first ever test match and with nine players making their debut the Welsh were big outsiders with the pundits and bookies.

After taking a drubbing at the hands of Hull FC last weekend, Leigh Centurions would not have been relishing a trip to the Halliwell-Jones Stadium to take on a Warrington Wolves side who were in fine form and themselves looking for a fifth consecutive win.

The Centurions were still pointless in their first season back in the top flight and in fear of being cut adrift by Wakefield Trinity and the Salford Red Devils who are currently four points ahead of them in the league table, but with Warrington missing several players to the England against Combined Nations game tomorrow night, this was their chance to spring a surprise.

Leigh had an eighteen-point start on the coupon, and for the straight win the home side were massive favourites, but a win was unlikely to change their league position unless Wakefield could get an unlikely win against Wigan.

Odsal Stadium in Bradford was the venue as Huddersfield Giants met Featherstone Rovers in the Women’s Superleague 2021 round six match, the two sides coming into the game with one win each and Featherstone ahead of their opponents by virtue of a better points difference.

There was nothing to choose between the two sides on paper and the stage was set for a close game between two competitive sides looking for a boost to their season.

Once again the Toulouse Olympique XIII home fixture was a victim to a COVID postponement, this time the opposition was to have been the Bradford Bulls, so we were left with six games in round ten, all played with three o’clock kick-offs on Sunday afternoon.

There were some interesting looking ties, most notably the Sheffield Eagles trip to the Widnes Vikings and, on paper, Whitehaven travelling to the Trailfinders to take on the London Broncos.

Dewsbury had a daunting home game against Featherstone Rovers while Batley had to go to the York City Knights.

The final two games were Newcastle Thunder at home to Oldham and the Swinton Lions playing hosts to the Halifax Panthers, both of which looked likely to be one-sided.

Now four points adrift at the bottom of the table, and on the brink of a very prompt return to the Championship, Leigh Centurions went into Saturday afternoons game with Hull FC knowing that another loss would compound their crisis.

Hull FC gave a debut to Mitieli Vulikijapani as they looked for the win which would re-establish some breathing space over the red side of the city following the Robins sensational win over Wigan Warriors last night but they knew that a loss would see them drop out of the top five to the advantage of their neighbours.

Few gave Leigh a snowball in hells chance of getting a win.

Fan Engagement experts are seeking the thoughts of rugby league fans on how much clubs value them as Think Fan Engagement (TFE) have launched their first ever survey of Rugby League fans.

TFE is the publisher of the popular Fan Engagement Index for English football, which ranks clubs in the top four divisions of the game, and which is driving change in the relationship between clubs and fans in the game.

The Rugby League survey is aimed at fans of English and Welsh clubs in Super League, Championship and League One, and is looking to understand how fans of those clubs feel about how clubs and the governing bodies, engage with their fans, and consult on a range of issues including ‘rebranding’ and name changes.

We have details on how you can take part.

The top of the table beckoned for the Melbourne Storm as they started their round fourteen match against the lowly Wests Tigers.

The form book, pundits, ladder and bookies were all predicting a big Melbourne victory but Michael McGuire needed to stop the rot and where better than against one of the best sides in the competition.

The Storm made three changes from last time with Christian Welch, George Jennings and elson Asofa-Solomona into their side in place of Jesse Bromwich, Marion Seve and Trent Loiero.

Wests had two changes with Ken Maumalo and Moses Bye in for Adam Doueihi and Billy Walters.

The race to avoid the drop at the bottom of Super League is hotting up as we enter round ten, and a fixture between two, lower league ladder dwellers, in the Salford Red Devils and the Huddersfield Giants.

The Giants are currently in ninth but came into the game knowing that a win would lift them seventh spot while a win for the Red Devils would move them equal with Wakefield on win percentage but it would need to be a massive victory to take them higher above Trinity on points difference.

The Giants were massive favourites with the bookies and the pundits with the bookies giving Salford a twelve-point start on the coupon as they faced their former coach.

Coming into tonight’s tenth round game against the Warrington Wolves, hosts St Helens knew that a win would lift them back to the top of the table, above a Catalans Dragons side who are without a fixture this weekend due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Leeds Rhinos club.

But Warrington are snapping at the heels of the leading three as they looked for their seventh win of the season which while giving them more points than Saints or Wigan would still leave them trailing them on win percentage.

Saints were the big favourites with the bookies and the tipsters having being penalised by eight points on the handicap coupon, as the two sides met in the Cup Final that could have been, had Castleford not knocked out the Wolves in the semi-final a fortnight ago.

Castleford teenager Jason Qareqare scored his first try for the Tigers within a minute of the game starting last Thursday, having learned that he would be playing by phone when he was in a maths class at his school in York, and returning to the classroom on Friday.

 

So impressive was that debut that coach Daryl Powell named him in the line-up for a repeat performance against Wakefield at the Mobile Rocket Stadium tonight, though from the bench.

 

For the first time for several weeks we had a full calendar of fixtures with all of the Championship sides in action for round nine with a single fixture on Saturday afternoon and the remainder of games being played on Sunday.

Oldham and Sheffield got the round underway on Saturday before a bonanza on Sunday when; Halifax played York, Dewsbury took on the all-conquering Toulouse, Swinton hosted Newcastle, Whitehaven were at home to Batley and in the game of the round Widnes took on London.

The final game was a late kick-off between rivals Featherstone and Bradford.

With St Helens taking an enforced weekend off due to COVID infections within their ranks the door was open for those sides who had aspirations on the top spot but todays two opponents in the streamed game, the Huddersfield Giants and Warrington Wolves were playing catch-up as the Giants had just one win coming into this round five game, the Wolves currently pointless.

Both teams were playing in their first season in Super League but it was the Wolves who had a paper advantage having beaten todays opponents in the preliminary round of this seasons Betfred Challenge Cup by 38-12.

It promised to be an interesting encounter.

Martin Blondel, Kevin Sinfield and Steve Ball received honours for their work with charties and communities within and outside of the sport this week.

Martin Blondel MBE
Long time Steve Prescott Foundation General Manager has been honoured for his services to the community.

It was sixth against eleventh as Hull Kingston Rovers played hosts to the Salford Red Devils in a truncated round nine which saw the postponement of two of tonight’s fixtures at Huddersfield and Leeds due to positive COVID tests and required self-isolations.

While the Robins couldn’t leapfrog their near neighbours Hull FC after last nights win over the Castleford Tigers, they could keep up the pressure on the black and white half of the city as both sides chase a play-off place finish.

Salford had the chance of going above Wakefield Trinity if they could secure their second win of the season by a large enough margin, but the bookies thought that unlikely, giving them an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

Fresh from their stunning Challenge Cup semi-final win over the Warrington Wolves, the Castleford Tigers were looking to add the scalp of losing semi-finalists Hull FC as they sought the win in the ‘Rainbow laces’ round which would lift them above tonight’s opposition and into fifth place in the Super League 2021 table.

FC were the favourites with the bookies, despite being away from home, but there wasn’t much in it as the Tigers were only given a four-point start on the handicap coupon.

Castleford gave a debut to promising seventeen-year-old youngster Jason Qareqare (pronounced Garygary) on the wing and had Peter Mata’utia at full back in place of Niall Evalds, one of five changes from the side which won last time out.

Hull will have to do without the services of Josh Griffin for some time after he ruptured an Achilles in the semi-final loss.

The most eagerly anticipated Wednesday night of the year had arrived as the crowd packed into the Townsville Queensland Country Bank Stadium, TV’s across the Antipodes were switched on, cold tinnies were opened, and the World settled back to be royally entertained by the opening State of Origin encounter between New South Wales and Queensland as the 2021 series got underway.

Queensland regained the shield in 2020 after losing out to New South Wales in the previous two seasons but it was the Blues who were strong favourites with the bookies, despite the Maroons being at home in front of a deeply partisan crowd.

There was only one real certainty, it was going to be a sensational game.