The reigning Betfred Super League champions, St Helens, will travel to Australia in February 2023 to face NRL champions, Penrith Panthers, for the World Club Challenge in what will be new head coach, Paul Wellens’ first competitive fixture.

The match will take place at the home of the Panthers, the BlueBet Stadium on Saturday 18 February, 2023 (6pm KO local/ 7am UK).

In what will be a first for fans in the UK, the World Club Challenge will be broadcast free-to-air by Channel 4 and will be part of double header by the broadcaster that day with the Betfred Super League clash between Hull KR and Wigan Warriors live at 1pm.

With the build up to the twenty-fifth Super League Grand Final being overshadowed by Saints inedible chicken wings, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos made their way to Old Trafford for another great showdown between the two most successful sides in Super League history.

Whoever lifted the trophy would create a fairy-tale ending. A Saints victory would signal a record fourth consecutive year as Champions and ensure that their name is writ large in the pages of our great games record books. A win for the Rhinos would be a sensational end to a season which had seem them staring down the barrel of relegation before the mid-season arrival of inspirational coach Rohan Smith.

Most of the neutrals were backing the underdogs in Blue and Amber, but the bookies fancied the Saints and handicapped them by six points on the coupon. The Rhinos have never lost to Saints at Old Trafford, the last meeting being in 2011, but that wouldn´t have crossed Kristian Woolf´s mind as he plotted their downfall and sought to make sure that it would be one game too far for the Rhinos resurgence.

The omens didn´t look perfect for, the soon to be departed, Kristian Wolf as his Saints side sought their fourth consecutive Grand Final and a trip to Old Trafford to face their season finale nemesis, the Leeds Rhinos, next weekend.

The Salford Red Devils came into the game on a fantastic run of form, having clinically despatched the Huddersfield Giants last weekend after humiliating them on their own ground. Paul Rowley´s side were looking for their second trip to a Grand Final, having lost out to today’s opposition in 2019, but would have to do it without the services of star man Brodie Croft.

Despite the loss of Alex Walmsley, the bookies still fancied Saints for the win and had given the Red Devils an eight point start on the handicap coupon, but most supporters and pundits were struggling to call the result for what had all the hallmarks of a classic battle.

The two best sides in the women’s game over recent years were forced into a semi-final battle at Emerald Headingley as Leeds Rhinos took on St Helens for a place against York City Knights in the Grand Final in a fortnights time.

A place in the flagship event in the women’s game was up for grabs in a final which will be played at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens on the 18^th September.

The two sides have met three times this season, Saints taking the honours on two occasions and the Rhinos with one win. The last meeting was at the start of last month when Saints ran out as 30/22 winners. Saints finished two points ahead of Leeds in the final league table and were favourites to pick up the win and make progress.

This was the night that St Helens, who´ve led from the front all season, would seal the minor premiership and where better to do it than on the home ground of their arch-rivals the Wigan Warriors. Wigan needed the win to push the presentation of the trophy on to round twenty-six.

The bookies went with home advantage but favoured Wigan by the narrowest of margins, giving the Saints a narrow two point start in the coupon. Only two points have separated the two sides on their last two meetings, Saints winning the league game at the Magic weekend by 20-18 while Wigan won the Challenge Cup Semi-final by the same score line in May.

Saints were without Will Hopoate and Tommy Makinson, seeding some doubt in the Saints supporters’ minds, but they had sold out their crowd allocation as their fans believed they would see their side sew up the top spot and end Wigans unbeaten home record in 2022.

It´s been one of those seasons for Hull FC where inconsistency has tarnished a good start and has seen them slip out of the play-off positions and into the bottom half of the table. A win in Round 23 of Super League was now crucial to see them back within shooting distance of the top six, the bad news was that they were facing the Champions as St Helens came into town.

Hull FC had been given a ten point start on the handicap coupon as the bookies favoured St Helens to collect another win which would put them a step closer to sealing the minor premiership. A win for FC wouldn´t alter their league position, but it would move them level with the Salford Red Devils and within a point of the Leeds Rhinos in sixth spot.

It would all come down to who was the hungriest for the win.

After suffering a big loss to the Salford Red Devils last time out, Champions and Champions elect St Helens were looking for a win which would move them within touching distance of the minor premiership as they took on the Castleford Tigers at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

The Tigers needed the win themselves to further stake their claim to a top six finish and a shot at the play-offs, a loss would leave them still battling against several other sides for the last couple of play-off places available.

The bookies were in no doubt as to who would be collecting the two points, the Tigers given a fourteen point start on the handicap coupon with Saints expected to win comfortably.

Two sides separated by just over twenty miles down the M62, but by a gulf in difference in recent achievement, met at the AJ Bell Stadium as Salford Red Devils took on St Helens in the final game of an incredible round twenty-one of Super League 2022.

St Helens were the bookies favourites, but comfortably in top position and playing the side in eighth, they perhaps might have expected more than a ten-point deficit on the handicap coupon.

A win for Saints would move them within a point of securing the minor premiership, but a victory for the home side would lift them up two places and into the play-offs.

With Toulouse Olympique XIII going down in a close game with the Salford Red Devils on Saturday, Willie Poching´s Wakefield Trinity side had the ideal opportunity to lift themselves off the bottom of the table. The only snag was that they had to get a win against the most dominant side in Super League, defending Champions and Champions elect St Helens. It was top against bottom.

Optimism was in short supply amongst the Wakefield supporters, and the bookies agreed as they gave the home side a fourteen-point start on the coupon, all expectations were that Trinity´s position at the bottom would continue and they would see a worsening of their points difference.

The sides took the field in miserable conditions as the rain fell.

Top against third, St Helens versus Huddersfield Giants, was clearly the game of round nineteen as the Giants looked to close the gap on the league leaders and continue their rebirth under coach Ian Watson as they continue to aim high and show a positive attitude.

Both sides have lost just once in their last eight outings and came into the weekend on the back of good win last weekend at the Magic Weekend. The side with home advantage were the bookies favourites as they gave away ten points on the handicap coupon to their visitors.

Alex Walmsley was back for the Saints with Agnatius Paasi on the bench after starting last time out against Wigan while the Giants had Will Pryce at full back in place of Tui Lolohea alongside a couple of other changes.

Magic Weekend´s game two on Saturday saw a top of the table clash between St Helens and Wigan Warriors in a game which could go a long way to deciding who lifts the Minor Premiership at the end of the season. A win for Saints would lift them four points clear of the chasers and into poll position to end the season on top of the pile.

Saints were slight favourites with the bookies, Wigan being given a two-point start on the handicap coupon, mainly due to the omission from the Saints side including Walmsley and Makinson while Wigan looked strong on paper.

It promised to be another close one to entertain the ever-increasing crowd.

Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara made a myriad of changes to the side which lost to Castleford by golden point last week. Saints were without Konrad Hurrell as they also made changes while looking to draw further clear at the top of the table.

The sun was ´cracking the flags´ as last season´s Grand Finalists took to the field with the home side having their work cut out to try and half a seven-game winning run for the Saints, having only won one in the last three themselves.

Saints won both previous meetings between the two sides in 2022 and were favourites to take the two points again tonight in the south of France.

If there was one foregone conclusion from round sixteen of Super League 2022, it was that St Helens would defeat the Rhinos and extend their lead at the top of the table in the Thursday evening fixture broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Both sides made several changes from the sides which lined up a fortnight ago, Saints had a few missing and named Bennison at full back and Sironen in the second row, while Leeds notably had Sezer back in the halves and skipper Leeming at hooker.

The bookies had given the Rhinos a fourteen-point start on the handicap coupon, they had little chance of registering their sixth win of the campaign.

It would be lucky round thirteen for either the Warrington Wolves or St Helens, but the smart money was on St Helens extending their lead at the top of the table against a Warrington side who are struggling for any kind of consistency as new coach Daryl Powell continues to find his feet.

The visitors were unchanged from the side which beat Hull FC last time out while the Wolves welcomed back Gareth Widdop to the side who were thrashed by the Catalans Dragons in the south of France in the last round.

The home side had an eight-point start on the handicap coupon, but many pundits thought that the margin would be somewhat higher than that.

If Friday the thirteenth didn´t give Hull FC a sense of foreboding, then meeting St Helens the week after they were eliminated from the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage to archrivals Wigan Warriors would have filled them with fear as they braced themselves for the inevitable backlash.

Despite Saints needing the points to extend their lead at the top to two points, the bookies only gave the Airlie Birds a ten-point start in the handicap coupon, recognising that there was plenty of motivation for the visitors to regain the fourth spot that they gave up last night to the Giants and stay in touch with the top two.

There was no denying that it was an intriguing fixture on paper but always with a chance that Saints would run away with it as they looked to get last weekend out of their systems.

The luck of the draw threw together Super League´s top two sides in a semi-final encounter of the highest calibre as St Helens faced the Wigan Warriors for a place in the Challenge Cup final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of the month.

Saints won the Super League encounter earlier in the season on Good Friday, but this was the Challenge Cup, and you can never write off Wigan in the cup, even if the bookies had made Saints the clear favourites and given Wigan an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

The bookies believed that Saints were a shoe-in for the first final berth, it would take a miracle for Wigan to progress.

The Women’s Challenge Cup Final, the first game of a superb Elland Road triple header, saw the top two female sides in the country up against one another as St Helens faced the Leeds Rhinos for the first silverware of the season.

The game was played out in front of the BBC TV cameras and shown live to the nation on BBC2 and what a great advert for the game, and specifically the women´s game it was.

Saints knocked the Rhinos out at the semi-final stage last season before going on to beat York in the final and the Rhinos were runners up to Saints in the Women´s Super League last season. It really was a match between the two best and most successful sides in the Women´s game.

Castleford's Mend-A-Hose Jungle played host to a clash between two widely different teams: a home club still struggling to find any consistent form in its 'new era' – despite getting two of their three wins this season over the Easter weekend - and the visiting champions St Helens, who have lost just one game in defence of their title so far and that a surprise loss to basement club Toulouse Olympique.

Following that busy schedule, Saints coach Kristian Wolf names an unfamiliar line-up after the strains of the Easter schedule, with seven young players moving up from the reserves where they regularly play together.

The Tigers' Lee Radford resisted the temptation to make whole-sale changes, but injury meant James Clare started at full-back while youngster Jason Qareqare had his first start of the year on the left wing.

Top were taking on second in the final Rivals round game in front of a full house at the Totally Wicked Stadium as the Champions St Helens took on one of the major challengers to their crowd, the arch enemy, Wigan Warriors.

Whoever picked up the two points today would be two points clear at the top of the league ahead of Easter Monday´s clashes but Wigan would have to do it without Zak Hardaker who was dropped, for disciplinary reasons, by coach Peet while Saints were without the injured Will Hopoate.

Kristian Woolf knew that a win this afternoon would be a big boost for St Helens but if Wigan could pick up the points in the oppositions lair, then they would be flying high.

With Hull KR, St Helens and the Huddersfield Giants already confirmed for the 2022 Challenge Cup Semi-Final double-header at Elland Road, all that remained was for Wakefield Trinity and Wigan Warriors to do battle for the final spot in Sunday afternoon´s game at Belle Vue.

Trinity were missing a handful of stars including superstar winger Tom Johnstone, Jacob Miller and David Fifita but Wigan were close to full strength for this crucial cup tie.

The bookies favoured the nineteen-time cup winners from Wigan as they game Wakefield an eight-point start on the handicap coupon, but most pundits were struggling to choose between the two sides, especially after a recent great run of games from Trinity which has seen them into the top half of the table and eliminating Warrington in the previous round of the cup.