If you listened to the pundits, the bookies and the neutral fans, then there was only one side who would be lifting the Challenge Cup at the end of eighty Wembley minutes, runaway league leaders St Helens.

But this is the Cup, and it’s a funny old thing, and anything could happen.

Warrington are the side with the recent Challenge Cup pedigree having figured in five finals, winning three since, since Saints were last represented in this auspicious event.

The top two sides in Super League met in the first final of the year, with many believing that they will also meet at Old Trafford in October.

This was the fourth meeting between these two sides in 2019 with Saints having emerged victorious on every occasion, the most recent being a 30-12 win just over a fortnight ago.

Both sides ran onto the sun baked field with the neutrals hoping that it would be more competitive than it appeared on paper.

With St Helens already crowned as minor premiers, and with the Challenge Cup final and Grand Final play-offs just around the corner, they could be forgiven for easing off the gas.

The Rhinos hoped that they could continue a two game winning run, which has lifted them out of the immediate danger of relegation.

Another win would see the Rhinos within a couple of points of safety and they also went into the game needing an eighteen points winning margin to get back to a positive points difference, worth an extra point in the bottom of the table shakedown.

The only change for the Rhinos was on the bench with Nathan Peteru brought in to replace the suspended Brad Singleton who was sent off against the Catalans Dragons last weekend and received a two game ban.

Saints have Morgan Knowles back but are without Alex Walmsley, Lachlan Coote and James Roby.

St Helens took the minor premiers crown with their win, and a Warrington Wolves loss, last weekend.

The outcome of the game was therefore much more important for the Wire who were looking to cement their second place, while Saints were playing for pride.

The two sides met as recently as round twenty, when Saints were 21-10 winners at the Halliwell-Jones, despite trailing by 4-0 at the interval and not scoring their first point until the hour mark.

Saints were looking for a hat-trick of 2019 wins against their near neighbours after also picking up a 38-12 win in round 10, in tonight's Challenge Cup dress rehearsal.

After the ‘battle of Stade Gilbert Brutus’ last weekend the home side made eight changes including the addition of a number of youngsters.

Saints made just a couple of changes to their starting line-up with Jonny Lomax and Matty Costello into the side.

Super League’s top side were up against the Betfred Championships eighth placed side in what was billed, pre kick-off as the most one-sided Challenge Cup semi-final in recent history as St Helens took on Halifax RLFC.

It’s over ten years since St Helens have played in a Challenge Cup final, last winning in 2008, but even longer since Halifax have figured.

They were last in a final in the 1987-88 season when they lost to Wigan, having beaten St Helens the season before to lift the trophy for the last time.

Saints rested the majority of their squad last weekend and lost to the London Broncos but they were massive favourites to beat a Halifax side who have won their last two, most notably last weekend with a big win over the Widnes Vikings.

While most of the Super League attention has been focussed on the shenanigans at bottom of the table, the runaway top two sides had an encounter at a sweltering Halliwell-Jones Stadium as the Warrington Wolves welcomed St Helens for the match of the round.

 

A win was crucial for Warrington if they were to keep hold of any outside hopes of a minor premiership as it would get them within four points of the Red Vee.

A loss would almost guarantee a Saints side, who have only lost twice in 2019, the top spot as they would then be eight points clear.

The Wolves had Tom Lineham back in their side after a three game suspension and the home fans flooded into the packed ground hoping for better outcome than the 38-12 loss that they suffered back in April at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

It was top against bottom as St Helens hosted the Leeds Rhinos, Richard Agars side arriving at the Totally Wicked Stadium on a hiding to nothing.

The bookies could only see one outcome, the continued relentless charge of the home side to the minor premiership.

Saints took a surprising loss to the London Broncos a fortnight ago out after resting several players for their trip south but they made amends with a big win against the Huddersfield Giants last weekend.

The Rhinos lost to the Warriors last weekend and are now desperate for the points after Londons win against Hull KR last night.

Both sides made a couple of changes to last weekends sides, Kallum Watkins named in the Leeds second row for his penultimate game before departing for Australia.

On paper there was only one winner as St Helens welcomed Wakefield Trinity to the Totally Wicked Stadium for the third Coral Challenge Cup quarter final.

A semi-final draw containing Hull FC, Warrington Wolves, and one as yet undecided Championship side awaited for the victors, but no-one could see past that being the Red Vee.

St Helens are runaway leaders of Super League, and are already clear favourites to lift the Challenge Cup, but on their day Trinity have put in some tremendous performances and are deserving of their league position just outside the play-offs in sixth.

Danny Brough and Jacob Millar were back for Trinity but they had a mountain to climb against the side who had only previously lost one game all season, and who had Mark Percival, Luke Thompson and Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook returning to action.

After todays two point margin wins for Hull KR and the Leeds Rhinos, the remaining crowd were hopefully of an equally close game between the league leaders St Helens and their opponents the Castleford Tigers as they brought down the curtain on the Magical festival of rugby.

The Tigers have the better Magic record with eight from eleven but are four places and twelve points adrift of the Saints who have spend 2019 sweeping aside all before them.

A Tigers win would lift them up to fourth but of the Saints maintained their roll then they’d end the weekend six points clear at the top of the pile.

It was a thirty point winning margin for the Saints when the sides met in March, the bookies were tipping the same outcome but by a narrower margin.

When the Salford Red Devils hosted St Helens back in round four at the end of February, the Saints travelled back down the East Lancs Road with the two points after a convincing 26-4 win.

Saints are sitting very prettily at the top of the pile, with points in hand over their rivals, but Salford had a massive incentive in knowing that a win could lift them as high as third, thanks to their superior points difference.

Saints were without a number of key players including James Roby and Danny Richardson and despite Salford being underdogs, they must have travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium with hope that they could upset the odds.

Bookies, pundits and supporters all thought alike, there was only one possible outcome of the final Challenge Cup sixth round encounter as the Huddersfield Giants played hosts to the league leaders St Helens.

Saints are currently sixteen points, and eight places, ahead of the Giants in the league table and won by a convincing 40-12 margin when the two sides met back in March.

Saints named the same seventeen which beat Hull KR last weekend but the Giants were without McGillvary, Uate, Lawrence, and Russell from the side which lost by a single point to Wakefield Trinity last time out.

Rarely in the history of Super League has there been a Wigan Warriors v.

St Helens derby match where the odds were so heavily stacked against the home side.

St Helens, with just one loss so far this season, travelled to the DW Stadium to take on a Wigan Warriors side who have had a terrible start to the 2019 season by their own very high standards.

Wigan have only three wins to their name and are occupying a botton three spot but this was the oldest derby, and for most Warriors supporters, the must win game of the season.

A loss would make Wigan's top five hopes very difficult, a win for Saints would keep them in top spot, regardless of other results.

After losing their one-hundred percent start to the season in the south of France last weekend, St Helens had the perfect opportunity to get back on the proverbial horse as they took on the top of the table side, the Warrington Wolves, in a four-pointer.

Saints welcomed back Jonny Lomax to the starting line-up, and Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook on the bench.

The Wolves made a couple of changes themselves ahead of the trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium with Mike Cooper and Jack Hughes both back in the starting thirteen.

Both sides had only recorded one loss in 2019, but only one side could win and go two points clear at the top of the table as Warrington’s best attack in the league was taking on Saints best defence.

The Women’s Super League (WSL) kicked off with a local derby between the Wigan Warriors and St Helens at Robin Park.

For the two sets of players it was the biggest game of the season first up with bragging rights at stake.

A win for either side would set the scene for the season ahead, and despite being so early in the season this was already being billed as a four pointer.

The weather was perfect in Wigan with the sun shining and a decent crowd gathered to witness what was hoped to be a close game and a terrific spectacle.

Could last seasons Champions and cup winners get their 2019 season off to the best of starts with a home win.

The champions elect St Helens made the trip to Perpignan to face a Catalans Dragons side still smarting from the beating that they suffered at the hands of the Wigan Warriors last weekend.

A home win would lift the Dragons into fifth place in the table, but they were big underdogs with the bookies, who were convinced that the Saints would pick up the win that they needed to jump over the Warrington Wolves and head back into the top spot at the one third point of the season.

Heavy rain and cooler conditions in the south of France were also likely to benefit the visitors.

The game of round seven of Superleague was the clash of top against third as St Helens travelled to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle to take on the Castleford Tigers.

A win by seventeen points or more would see the home side into top spot, but should the visitors emerge triumphant then they would regain their two point cushion at the top of the table.

Saints were unchanged from the side which prevailed over the Huddersfield Giants last weekend while the Tigers had Grant Millington back in the starting line-up, after suspension, in place of Jesse Sene-Lefeo, who dropped to the bench.

Chris Clarkson also missed out, being replaced by James Clare.

The home supporters were looking for a more convincing performance than their side turned in against Salford last week, but they were up against it with St Helens being installed as strong favourites for the win.

One hundred percenters, and Super League top placed, St Helens travelled over the Pennines to the John Smith’s Stadium to take on a Huddersfield Giants side languising in bottom, with just one win to their name, and the second worst points difference in the league.

The visitors were, not unexpectedly, big odds-on favourites with the bookies with little chance being given to Simon Woolford’s side who are still suffering through injuries suffered in pre-season, and who have now lost the services of Aaron Murphy.

The Giants upset the form book by securing a famous first season win away to Wigan last weekend and Justin Holbrook will have warned his side against any complacency.

A win would see the Giants up towards the middle of the table but if the Saints picked up the points they would go four points clear overnight.

St Helens continued their sure-footed start to the season with a clear 26-4 win over Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium, taking them back to the top of the Betfred Super League for at least 24 hours.

 

And to add to the hosts’ woes, they lost two players to hamstring injuries before the match was 10 minutes old: Griffin in the warm-up and talismanic prop Mossop after seven minutes’ play.

Fresh from their convincing victory over the Salford Red Devils last weekend, the Rhinos were once again on the other side of the Penines, this time to take on a St Helens side looking to maintain their one hundred percent record and with one eye on the top of the table.

Dave Furner made three changes with Oledzki and Sutcliffe back in his seventeen and a late withdrawal of Matt Parcell with injury meaning the Cameron Smith kept his place in the side.

Saints were unchanged for the third consecutive match of their 2019 campaign.

This is a fixture which is rarely a dull one, but the odds were in Saints favour to record the win.

The champions, Wigan Warriors, had a local derby against last seasons league leaders St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium to herald the start of the 2019 Betfred Super League season.

Despite arctic conditions, the endeavours of the ground staff meant that the game was never in doubt, and the stands were packed in anticipation.

New Cherry & Whites boss Adrian Lam was dealt a blow on Wednesday when his side were docked two league points for a 2017 salary cap breach.

But it was something else that he could use as motivation as a somewhat changed side looked to get their season off to a winning start.

St Helens came into the game as pre-season favourites to go all the way to Old Trafford and lift the Super League trophy, but the promise of a long season stretched out in front of both teams.

It was sudden death football as the Warrington Wolves travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium to take on the highly fancied St Helens in the first Super Eights Play-Off, for a place in the Grand Final at Old Trafford in nine days time.

  Few gave the Wolves much hope of making their fourth appearance in seven years, with the smart money being lumped on St Helens first return since they last lifted the trophy in 2014, to record a record eleventh appearance in the showpiece final.

Both coaches made several changes from the sides which met a fortnight ago when Saints were clear winners.

But this was a different matter, at the end of a long season it was a night of knock-out football, and there were nerves on both sides as they looked to secure the ultimate prize.