A win of any description would be enough to ensure that St Helens ended round two at the top of Super League, but stood in their way was Danny McGuire’s Castleford Tigers who were themselves looking to get the first points of their 2025 campaign.

The Tigers were given a twenty point start on the handicap coupon by the bookies who couldn’t see anything other than a Saints win based on their commanding demolition of Salford last weekend coupled with a low expectation of the Tigers despite their golden point loss to the much-fancied Robins last time out.

Castleford needed to stop Saints getting on a roll, because if the did then the likelihood was that they would be on the end of a hiding.

The most talked about game of the round, for all the wrong reasons, was the game selected by the BBC for free to air broadcast as St Helens played host to an Academy line-up from the Salford Red Devils who were seemingly trying to prove a point to the games administration.

The lowest shirt number in the Salford starting thirteen was twenty-seven with all thirteen selected starters unlikely to get another game in 2025 once their takeover paperwork is rubber stamped, much to the embarrassment of their fans.

Salford had a fifty-two-point start on the coupon and were expected to take a heavy beating as they selected their side under a restricted salary cap which included just three players on the substitutes bench, two of which were rumoured as unlikely to take the field in the eighty minutes.

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.