Eighth placed Bradford Bulls had a Championship game against a Swinton Lions in twelfth spot as both sides knew that a win was crucial for them to keep alive their play-off hopes as the season edges towards its mid-season.

Bradford were the favourites with the bookies, with few pundits giving Swinton much hope despite the Bulls recent coaching issues and six changes made to last week´s Bulls starting line-up.

Lee Greenwood was interim Bulls coach, but many supporters were happy that past coaching messiah Brian Noble was also involved in the set up as an advisor.

The final game of round twelve of Super League was the Saturday lunchtime encounter between a down on their luck Champions St Helens and some might say, an over-performing Salford Red Devils as eighth welcomed sixth to the Totally Wicked Stadium in front of the Channel 4 cameras.

A win for the Saints would lift them above the Leeds Rhinos and into seventh, but a win for the visitors could lift them as high as second, should they record a cricket score against Paul Wellens´ unpredictable side.

St Helens had been installed as the bookies favourites for the win, despite them only winning once in their last four outings against a side who had been victorious in their last four.

It was an intriguing prospect.

Matt Peet´s side defeat at Hull KR last time out, a loss which cost them their place at the top of the table, ensured that their return to the DW Stadium was one that they would be desperate to mark with a win, as they took on the Leeds Rhinos in a Super League rehearsal of next weeks Betfred Challenge Cup sixth round tie.

The top of the Super League was far from the mind of Rhinos coach Rohan Smith who was more concerned about a top six finish and preventing his stars from facing up to one another in the tunnel, like they did after last weekend´s loss the Salford Red Devils.

Leeds had been given a ten-point start on the coupon with the Warriors strong favourites for a return to form, and possibly to the top of the table should leaders Warrington slip up against third placed Hull KR in one of tonight’s other Super League fixtures.

2023 is proving a tense year for the teams propping up the table in Super League, particularly when Hull FC travelled to Wakefield to take on Trinity in front of the Sky cameras on Thursday night.

  The Black and Whites arrived looking for their third win on the trot, on the other hand they are the only team to concede more points than Wakefield in the eleven games played to date but the visitors were the firm favourites with the bookies ahead of kick-off.

Jake Clifford got the game under way for FC after a stand-out performance in last week's win over Wigan.

The final game of Round Ten of the Championship took place in front of the Viaplay cameras at the Fox´s Biscuit Stadium as sixth placed Batley Bulldogs took on a Widnes Vikings side which started the game in fourth place in the table.

A forty-three-point win for Craig Lingard´s side would lift them above their opponents and into the top four while John Kear´s men needed a massive victory to go above the Sheffield Eagles and into third spot.

Batley were slight favourites with the bookies, but they were struggling to find much between the sides, Widnes getting just a two-point start on the handicap coupon for the Bank Holiday Monday game.

Two sides in danger of slipping out of the play-off race met at the LNER Stadium as tenth placed York RLFC Knights took on a London Broncos in eleventh spot with both sides already four points adrift of the top six spots in the nine round old league table.

Both sides have lost on their previous two items and neither side have registered a win since March, the Knights having to look as far back at two months for their last two league points, despite a minor cup run which will see them take on the Broncos again in a fortnights time.

York were the favourites with the bookies and had been handicapped by twelve points on the coupon, but the Broncos have the propensity to spring a surprise when least expected.

On a night of five Superleague fixtures, fourth placed Catalans Dragons took on a St Helens side in sixth place in what looked like the game of the round as two sides who are disappointed with their current league position looked for the all-important two points that would help them to keep pace with the league leaders.

Makinson and Walmsley were back for the Champions while the Dragons looked to halt a three-game losing streak which has seem them tumble down the table and without a win since the first of April.

The bookies made the Dragons slight favourites giving Saints a two-point start on the handicap coupon, the home side looking to restore some French pride after last weekend´s crushing international defeats.

After a week away from Super League for the International break, action returned on Thursday night as Hull FC looked for their second consecutive win as they faced the daunting task of a game against the league leaders, the Wigan Warriors.

Neither side could improve on their current league position but for the visitors it would give them a two-point lead at the top of the table, whereas for the Airlie Birds it would lift them four points clear of the Castleford Tigers and give them a comfortable cushion in tenth place.

The bookies thought it would be a closer game than most pundits, FC getting an eight-point start on the coupon, as most fans wearing both colours heading for the stadium forecast a sizable win for the Cherry and Whites.

England´s women had set a high bar for the men’s side as they took the pitch to take on a youthful French side who had been hit hard by withdrawals from their initial squad.

England hadn´t been immune to the same issue and were missing several first-choice players.

It was the forty-ninth meeting between the two sides, England having only lost on seven occasions, and the last time that the two sides encountered one another was during the last World Cup when England won by 42-18.

Shaun Wane had a much-changed squad including a new captain, following the international retirement of Sam Tomkins, as George Williams who took the armband on his home ground for the first time.

The first match of an England versus France double header at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium in Warrington saw the Women´s game as the two sides returned to the international game for their first outing since the World Cup last November.

It was the twentieth meeting between the two sides, England having win eighteen of the previous encounter while the nineteenth, in June 2015, was drawn.

The sides last met in a test match at the same stadium in June last year when England won comfortably by thirty-six points to ten.

Despite a number of changes from their World Cup line-up, the England side were firm favourites for the win.

As we prepare for tomorrow´s game against the French there was great news for the international game as a three game test series was announced for the Autumn when England will take on the Tongans.

The three games are scheduled for St Helens, Huddersfield and Leeds on the 22^nd October, 28^th October and 4^th November respectively as the organisers seek three sell-out crowds by sticking with the M62 corridor.

The two sides last met at the semi-final stage of the 2017 World Cup in Australia and it will be eighteen years since the last encounter between the two sides on British soil.

The draw for the sixth round of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup took place at the BBC in Salford this evening, as the surviving four clubs from the first five round were joined by the twelve Super League sides in the final sixteen.

After making progress in this weekend´s fifth round ties; York RLFC Knights, Halifax Panthers, Batley Bulldogs and London Broncos were all hoping to pull out one of the top clubs to test themselves against with the hope of a giant killing and progress into the quarter finals.

The draw was made live on the BBC News channel with the balls being drawn by Jodie Cunningham, England Women´s Captain.

A win for the Wigan Warriors, over Wakefield Trinity at the DW Stadium, would see them go ahead of Warrington and to the top of the table on points difference, ahead of the international break which would see England in action against France next Saturday.

The question on the lips of the travelling Wakefield supporters was not whether their side would get their first win of the season but how many they would lose by and if they would even manage to register a point after suffering five nulls so far in a catastrophic start to their 2023 season.

Wigan were handicapped by thirty points on the coupon, not surprising as Wakefield have averaged just five points a game while leaking thirty through their paper-thin defences.

There was zero chance of a shock.

Fourth placed Hull KR travelled to Castleford confident that they could continue one of their best starts to a season with every hope of a victory over the 10th placed Tigers, who still with just two wins and four points all season.

But the hosts at least started their search for the elusive third win under the direction of a permanent coach: Andy Last, the man who'd be in temporary charge of the team since the club and previous coach Lee Radford had parted ways by mutual consent.

But could the appointment change the team's fortunes against a team fresh off an impressive win over St Helens.

  Rovers kicked off to a Tigers team playing in their third strip - a copy of the 1986 strip they beat KR in at at the '86 Wembley Cup Final – because the primarily black home strip was too close to the Robins' blue away strip.

 

Seventh placed Leeds Rhinos had a tenth-round date over the Pennines with ninth placed Leigh Leopards with the home side knowing that a win by thirteen points or more would see them take the Rhinos ladder place while a win for the visitors would see them into the top five and depending on points difference and other results, as high as third.

Both sides won last time out and came into tonight’s game evenly matched on paper, so much so that the bookies could hardly separate them and giving the home side just a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Both coaches named an unchanged starting thirteen from last weekend, the Rhinos bringing Bentley onto the bench in place of Johnson while the Leopards fielded an identical seventeen.

Thursday night saw top placed Warrington Wolves take on a St Helens side currently languishing in eighth spot after a disappointing start to their 2023 campaign.

Both sides came into the game on the back of losses, Warrington having fallen to the Wigan Warriors last time out while St Helens were well beaten by Hull KR.

The bookies struggled to split the two sides but leaned towards a home win, giving the Wolves a two-point start on the coupon.

Daryl Powell didn´t want to make it consecutive losses for his Wolves side, and Paul Wellens was even keener to avoid a third consecutive loss for Saints for the first time since August 2017.

The stage was set for a belter.

The two sides tipped pre-season by many as the two relegation prospects have had contrasting starts to the season and while both Wakefield Trinity and the Leigh Leopards will have identified this afternoon´s encounter as a key one for their season the Bookies strongly favoured that it would be the Leopards who would inflict further misery on the home side.

Wakefield are winless after the first eight rounds of Super League, and have failed to score a single point in half of their games so far in 2023.

The Leopards have beaten both Hull sides and claimed the famous scalp of Champions St Helens in their opening games and will count themselves as unlucky to have lost narrowly in three other outings, especially last week´s two-point loss to Salford.

First and second in the Super League engaged in a tussle at Wigan as Darryl Powell’s Warrington came to town in a bid to go another round unbeaten, secure their position ahead of the chasing pack and put the 2022 rebuilding season behind them - along with the commentator’s annual joke about ‘this year’ being the Wolves’ year.

Wigan, straight off a powerful win over champions St Helens in the Easter rivals round, had their eyes on replacing Warrington at the top of the table and setting themselves up for an assault on Saints’ title.

The hosts kicked off in front of a record crowd and both teams were balanced in the opening sets, until the Warriors forced a goal-line drop-out in the fourth minute and scored in the subsequent set.

The last time that tonight’s visitors to Headingley won a game was on their last visit on the 24th February when Hull FC recorded a 22-18 victory over the Leeds Rhinos before they went on a six game losing streak.

The Rhinos rode their luck last time out and secured a narrow win over the Huddersfield Giants thanks to a second half fightback which saw them pick up their fourth win of the campaign and elevate themselves to seventh spot in the table.

The bookies had the Rhinos as strong favourites for the win giving the visitors a sixteen-point start on the handicap coupon.

Sixth entertained tenth when Castleford travelled to Salford, hoping to get their season properly under way ad build on last week's close - and tough - fought win over neighbours Wakefield.

Their hosts, too, were hoping to get their season on a consistent track, having recorded just four wins in the eight rounds so far, compared to the Tigers' two.

One-club veteran Adam Milner started at loose forward for Cas replacing the suspended Joe Western.