St Helens only made the play-off by virtue of a better points difference than the Catalans Dragons which meant that after a poor season by their very high standards they were the favourites with the bookies to drop out of the race for Old Trafford at the first hurdle as they took on a Warrington Wolves side who were still smarting from not making the top two.

Should Warrington meet expectations and secure the victory then they would set up a visit to Hull KR next weekend, whereas as win for St Helens would see them travel to Wigan to face the old enemy, the Warriors, for a place in the Grand Final.

It promised to be an intense battle.

Hull Kingston Rovers were massive bookies favourites for the win as the league leaders travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium to take on Paul Wellens St Helens side who were kept scoreless by arch-rivals Wigan Warriors last weekend and who have only registered two win in their last eight outings.

Hull KR are top of the table and a win would almost certainly mean that they would end the weekend ahead of the rest of the field whereas a loss for Saints would plunge them further into crisis and drag them deeper into the fight for a play off place with four other sides.

There was plenty to play for in the sunshine on Merseyside.

The original derby, Wigan versus St Helens, was the second game of the Magic Weekend and there was plenty at stake for a Warriors side looking to bounce back from last weeks drubbing at the hands of Leeds Rhinos and return to the top of the table against a Saints side who needed the win to further their case for the top six.

Wigan were without Harry Smith who picked up a three-game suspension last week with Adam Keighran moving into the halves, but it was a Saints side which has been decimated by injuries and who came into the game looking very under strength.

Wigan were slight favourites with the bookies, but St Helens were only given a four-point start on the coupon, it promised to be a close game.

St Helens broke a five-game losing streak last weekend with a comprehensive win over a desperately poor Hull FC side and came into tonight’s fourth against fifth challenge against the Salford Red Devils looking for a win which would lift them above their visitors on points difference.

A place in the top six is still very much on the cards for both sides, but the jostle for positions at the end of round twenty-seven is still very much alive with both sides wanting to finish as high up the ladder as they can.

St Helens were the favourites with the bookies having been handicapped by eight points on the coupon.

There is no denying that St Helens are in the midst if an uncharacteristic run and they went into today’s game against Hull FC seeking to avoid a sixth consecutive loss, an unwanted record which they last suffered during the 1985-86 season in the pre-summer era.

But with Hull FC having an awful season down the wrong end of the Super League table the bookies had installed the red vee as favourites for the win and handicapped them by eight points on the coupon.

Both sides had a myriad of missing players with injuries recently costing Hull Liam Sutcliffe and King Vuniyayawa, while Saints were without the services of Jonny Lomax and Jack Welsby.

Second travelled the short journey to fourth as Warrington Wolves looked to get within two points of the league leaders against a St Helens side who came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses and in danger of dropping to sixth by the end of the weekend and losing four on the bounce for the first time in six years.

The home side were slight favourites with the bookies for a win but with just a two-point handicap on the coupon it promised to be the tightest of games at the end of a sweltering day as summer arrived.

Warrington won the only encounter between the two sides in 2024, eliminating Saints from the Challenge Cup at the quarter final stage, but you have to go back to June 2021 to find the last Warrington victory in a Super League encounter.

A Sunday afternoon cracker to complete round fifteen as St Helens made the short trip to Salford looking for the win to return to joint top of the table as they took on a Red Devils side who needed the win to reduce the points gap between themselves and the top sides.

Paul Rowley’s side were initially unchanged with Ryan Brierley still out with a rib injury but a warm injury for Tim Lafai saw Loghan Lewis brought into the starting line-up, while Paul Wellens made just one change as he brought in Bennison for Makinson who is out with a medium-term foot injury.

Saints were the favourites for the win with the bookies handicapping them by eight points on the coupon but this was a game billed as the best fixture of the weekend as Salford looked to complete a 2024 double over their visitors.

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.

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.

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 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.

A place at Wembley on the 8th June, to take on cup holders St Helens, awaited the winners of a mouthwatering encounter between the Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors as the second Challenge Cup semi-final took place at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens.

It couldn’t be closer in the league with both sides currently unbeaten after three rounds of the Women’s 2024 Super League and sat in equal top place and just a small separation in achieved points difference.

Leeds have been the defeated finalists in the last two seasons after back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019, while the Cherry & Whites have never made it to a Challenge Cup Final, eighty minutes would lead to elation and heartbreak, but few would be brave enough to call the outcome before the kick-off.

The first of the weekend’s four Challenge Cup semi-finals got underway on Saturday lunchtime as York Valkyrie took on the holders, St Helens, at the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster in a game which the bookies couldn’t decide on a favourite.

The York side had illness in the camp with several of their star players missing as they cobbled together a side to match the side who have lifted the Women’s Challenge Cup for the last three seasons.

York were victorious in the league meeting between the two sides in round one when they recorded a 20-16 win in a close game, on paper it really was too close to call.

After their stunning comeback win against the Rhinos in round eight, the Huddersfield Giants set their sights on the champions St Helens as they travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium for a Thursday evening encounter which could see them move level with three other teams in second place in the league table.

The Giants were the underdogs as Ian Watson’s side took on Paul Wellens troops with the bookies giving the visitors a ten point start on the handicap coupon.

The Saints won big last time out against lowly Hull FC but that victory came on the back of two consecutive losses, but a win of any description would send the red vee back to the top of the pile, at least until the rest of the weekend games take place.

The bookies fancied St Helens to make progress in the Challenge Cup and join a semi-final line-up of Hull KR, Huddersfield Giants, and the Wigan Warriors, as they welcomed the Warrington Wolves to the Totally Wicked Stadium with an eight-point handicap on the coupon.

With no meeting so far in 2024, the last time that the two sides met was back in September 2023 when the Saints were the victors by 16-8, but the last time that there was a meeting in the Challenge Cup, also a quarter final stage, back in 2020 it was Warrington who secured the win before losing to Salford in the semi-final.

Huddersfield experienced the ‘magic of the cup’ when they beat the Dragons in France last night, the question on everyone’s lips was whether this Sunday afternoon would be Warrington’s turn.

The original derby pitted St Helens against the Wigan Warriors in the traditional Good Friday encounter which would see one of the two sides go clear at the top of the table while a big points loss for either side would see them slipping down a very tight league table.

It was a sell-out crowd at the Totally Wicked Stadium as arguably the best two sides in the competition went head-to-head, a mouthwatering prospect for the neutral as well as supporters of both sides.

The bookies were struggling to split the sides, making the home side slight favourites, and handicapping them by a couple of points, but it really was anyone’s as Saints looked to end a brilliant and lengthy Wigan winning streak.

St Helens were strong 18-8 winners over the Leeds Rhinos when tonight’s Challenge Cup hopefuls met in a regular round Super League encounter last weekend, and the bookies made the visitors slight favourites again by giving the Rhinos a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

The Rhinos had Paul Momirovski back in the centres alongside Rhyse Martin while Saints had Waqa Blake in the centres and Moses Mbye at scrum half for Lewis Dodd, and Curtis Sironen back in the starting line-up with Batchelor on the bench.

A place in the quarter finals was up for grabs and on paper there was little to choose between the two sides.

Despite home advantage, the Leeds Rhinos were given a four-point start on the handicap coupon as they took on the reigning Champions St Helens at Headingley Stadium in the sole Friday evening game in Super League XXIX.

Saints already had second place and knew that a win in excess of twenty-two points would see them above arch-rivals Wigan Warriors into top spot, the Rhinos knew that a win would lift them to second spot in the table overnight.

Saints were without the suspended Mark Percival after last week’s sending off and lost Tommy Makinson in the warm-up while Leeds had ex-Saint James Bentley back in their side after his suspension.

This was the first of two encounters between the two sides in two weeks.

The top of Super League beckoned for either the Huddersfield Giants or St Helens as the two sides met at the John Smiths Stadium for a round two encounter which was the prelude for many to the World Club Challenge match between Wigan and Penrith which would take place later in the evening.

With Jake Connor sidelined due to concussion protocols, Tui Lolohea stepped into the Giants full-back spot while the visitors were without the services of Konrad Hurrell, and Waqa Blake after last week’s comfortable win over London Broncos.

St Helens were the favourites for the win with the Giants having been given a ten-point start on the handicap coupon but this early in the season it was a bit of a guessing game.