The clash between second placed St Helens and a Warrington Wolves side in third, was on paper the most intriguing game of the Bank Holiday Monday rounds with the opportunity that a win for the home side would lift them within a whisper to their opponents with three games left in the regular season.

The bookies were struggling to separate the two sides but gave Warrington a two-point handicap on the coupon, making them slight favourites for the win.

Both sides will figure in the play-offs but tonights game would give us some indication of who was more likely to be at Old Trafford in 2021.

The original, and some would argue, the best derby in the game was the Rivals round meeting between the fourth placed Wigan Warriors and a St Helens side sitting pretty in second spot but knowing a win would leave them trailing the Dragons at the top of the table, while a loss would see them open the door to third placed Warrington.

Despite both sides coming into tonight on the back of defeats, Saints were the favourites with the bookies, and the pundits, with Wigan having been given a six-point start on the handicap coupon in what for them had been an indifferent season, their fans hoping that they’ve saved their best for the play-offs.

It was Saints who won the meeting between the two sides back at the start of July by 24-6, but a great crowd at the DW Stadium were hoping that it would be much closer this time out.

A win would still not be enough to send home side St Helens into top spot as they took on a struggling Castleford Tigers side who came into the game trying to keep alive their slim hopes of an end of season play off place and a shot at Old Trafford for departing coach Daryl Powell.

Saints had James Bentley back in the seventeen but were without the services of Regan Grace who picked up a knock last weekend and was rested as a precaution while the Tigers had O’Brien and Richardson in the halves with Matago and Millington starting in the front row alongside McShane.

The bookies couldn’t see past the thirteenth Saints win of the 2021 Super League season and they had given the Tigers a fourteen-point start on the coupon, the same margin by which Saints beat the Tigers in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley in July.

 

Without a shadow of doubt, the game of the round in Super League was the top of the table clash between St Helens and the Catalans Dragons at a floodlit and rain drenched Totally Wicked Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A win for the visitors would put them almost out of sight on 94.

11 win percent, with Saints down to 78.

57, but a home win would put Saints on 85.

71 percent while the Dragons would drop down to 88.

24, and it would be all to play for over the closing rounds.

The bookies had made Saints big favourites to for the win and had given the Dragons an eight point start on the coupon, mainly due to the number of first-teamers that weren’t available to Steve McNamara for selection, but this is a different Catalans side and one with the potential to go all the way to Old Trafford and get their name on the games ultimate prize.

Being without a win since the last weekend in June wasn’t the ideal way for Hull FC to prepare for a Monday night home game against a high-flying St Helens side who were looking to maintain pressure on minor premiers elect, the Catalans Dragons.

A loss for FC could see them drop below archrivals Hull KR, depending on how their fared in their home game against the Dragons on the other side of the city, whereas either outcome would not have any effect on Saints league position.

Saints comfortably won the first meeting between the two sides back in early June and the bookies and pundits all tipped them to do the double.

The eagerly anticipated Betfred Challenge Cup Final saw St Helens and the Castleford Tigers meet for the very first time in the showpiece final as the two sides ran out into a crowded and sweltering Wembley for what promised to be a fascinating match.

There is currently a gulf between the two sides in league position with the Tigers having had a torrid time in recent weeks with some awful results while Saints haven’t lost for a month and have a recent 24-0 over their opponents tucked under their belt.

But this is Wembley, and this is the Challenge Cup Final, and it usually throws up surprises and shocks despite St Helens being massive favourites for the win.

One of the seasons most eagerly anticipated games had a unfamiliar new slot as St Helens took on fierce rivals, the Wigan Warriors, for a Sunday evening kick-off in the opening game of round thirteen of Super League.

The Warriors have been on a downward spiral having lost on their last four outings while this is Saints first game for almost three weeks after the game against Hull KR was postponed, and they were awarded a walkover against the Castleford Tigers, who couldn’t raise a team.

The bookies couldn’t see past a home win, and a continuation of Wigan’s misery, and they gave the Warriors a twenty-point start on the coupon.

 

Coming into tonight’s tenth round game against the Warrington Wolves, hosts St Helens knew that a win would lift them back to the top of the table, above a Catalans Dragons side who are without a fixture this weekend due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Leeds Rhinos club.

But Warrington are snapping at the heels of the leading three as they looked for their seventh win of the season which while giving them more points than Saints or Wigan would still leave them trailing them on win percentage.

Saints were the big favourites with the bookies and the tipsters having being penalised by eight points on the handicap coupon, as the two sides met in the Cup Final that could have been, had Castleford not knocked out the Wolves in the semi-final a fortnight ago.

A week after Saints and Hull FC met in their round eight Superleague encounter the two sides went toe to toe again as they faced up in the semi final of the Challenge Cup at the Leigh Sports Village with the Airlie Birds looking to avenge their 34-16 loss and take their place at Wembley Stadium for the final.

Hull had Andre Savelio in for Joe Cator and changed Cam Scott for Jordan Johnstone on the bench.

Saints gave a debut to Dan Norman, off the bench in place of Agnatius Paasi while Tommy Makinson was back for Mark Percival and Regan Grace for Josh Simm.

Few but the most ardent of Airlie Birds fans could see past a Saints win, the bookies included, but the Challenge Cup is a strange beast.

The first major final of the year, the Women’s Betfred Challenge Cup Final saw the York City Knights take on St Helens at the Leigh Sports Village.

Neither side had appeared in a previous Challenge Cup final, Saints having despatched holders Leeds Rhinos in the semi-finals while York were the surprise package in this season’s competition having seen off Castleford Tigers to get to the final.

Saints were the massive favourites to lift the trophy, in its ninth year, after running in an average of over seventy-five points a game while conceding just six points in total in their opening three games while York have struggled a little with just the one league win under their belts.

After Saints crown slipped in the south of France last weekend when they lost their first game of the season, they knew that a home game against Hull FC awaited them on their return to blighty.

A win for FC would put them within a point of both Saints and the Catalans Dragons and level on win percentage with the Wolves but unless they ran in plenty of points it wouldn’t lift them from fifth in the table.

A loss for Saints would drop them further down the table in advance of the Dragons v Warriors match tomorrow afternoon.

Saints were big favourites with the bookies but there was the added emotion for both sides of the game being the first leg of the Steve Prescott Trophy in 2021 as the great man was honoured once again.

Two of Super League’s form sides met at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan as the Catalans Dragons welcomed the league leading and unbeaten St Helens to play a game in front of a thousand Dragons supporters, the first time fans had been allowed into the ground since last September.

Saints were the favourites for their seventh win of the 2021 season, but the Dragons were old given a six-point start on the coupon as a competitive game was forecast.

The Dragons knew that they would need to start brightly to avoid the thrashing that they had suffered in their last two encounters with the Saints but with Sam Tomkins and Samisoni Langi both being withdrawn after the warm-up, Steve McNamara was forced into some potentially unsettling team changes very close to kick-off.

The Giants registered their first Super League win of 2021 last weekend against the Leeds Rhinos but the Challenge Cup quarter finals had handed them a cruel game against league leaders St Helens in the second of a double header at Emerald Headingley.

A place in the last four was up for grabs, the Giants have only won one of the last ten Super League encounters with Saints and haven’t beaten them in the Challenge Cup since their semi-final win in 2009, going on to lose the final to the Warrington Wolves.

On paper there was only one possible winner as top of the table St Helens made the trip to the John Smith’s Stadium to take on a Huddersfield Giants side who are yet to record their first win of the season after three attempts.

Almost everything was stacked against the Giants and the bookies were certain that Ian Watson would not be getting his first win of the season against the Champions and favourites for 2021.

In the end it was a brave effort by the Giants as Saints, for the first time this season, looked fallible.

The BBC must have been ‘chomping at the bit’ to announce their first-choice game for terrestrial television broadcast as soon as St Helens v.

Leeds Rhinos was pulled out of the draw machine as the defending Cup winners were pitted against the Super League Champions.

What they didn’t account for was the injury devastation which would hit the Rhinos in the early weeks of the season and make Saints massive favourites to pick up the win and make progress through to the fourth round with very little difficulty.

The Rhinos travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium with very little expectation of getting a result, while complacency could have been Saints main concern prior to the 14:30 kick off with the game being broadcast live to the nation on the BBC.

There were debuts for King Vuniyayawa and Morgan Gannon for the Rhinos against an almost full-strength Saints side.

After losing out to a golden point in their opening match against the Catalans Dragons, Hull KR had the unenviable task of a second round home game against St Helens, in St Helens, as the round one league leaders looked to extend their lead at the top of the table.

Saints were massive favourites with the bookies, KR being given a twenty-point start on the coupon, but stranger things than a Robins win have happened, especially with two rusty sides playing in early season.

Saints only leaked a single try against Salford last time out and KR arrived knowing that they would need to be on top form to take the points.

It was a day which we thought might never come during the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Grand Final from the unfamiliar venue for the showpiece event at the KCOM Stadium in Hull.

It was the defending champions against the minor premiers, the top two sides in the regular competition, and most would argue the most fitting two sides to end the season.

Saints were unchanged from the side which demolished the Catalans Dragons last weekend to make it to the Grand Final.

Wigan had Sam Powell back in their starting line-up, Ben Flower missing out, as the Warriors looked to emulate their win from a month ago, the last time that the two sides met.

There have only been three Grand Finals where one of these two sides didn’t feature although they have only met on three occasions in the season finale, Saints winning on two of the three previous match-ups.

Wigan were very slight favourites with the bookies, St Helens getting a two-point start on the coupon but what we were all hoping for was a hard, fast and close Grand Final to wave goodbye to an extended 2020 season.

Eighty minutes stood between either St Helens or the Catalans Dragons and a Grand Final against the Wigan Warriors at KCOM Stadium in Hull next Friday night.

Saints were massive favourites with the bookies and had home advantage against a Dragons side who were without the services or Michael McIlorum and Joel Tomkins who had both picked up big bans after indiscretions against the Rhinos last weekend.

Saints had the benefit of three weeks off while the Dragons made yet another trip to the UK after surrendering home advantage for last Fridays semi-final against Leeds.

Steve McNamara brought a well drilled side and Saints were fully aware that they’d lost on their last two outings against first Salford and against Wigan in their last game to surrender the minor premiership.

Kristian Woolf will have spent the week making sure his side didn’t slip up for a third time.

Friday 13^th would turn out to be a unlucky one for either the Catalans Dragons or the Leeds Rhinos as the two went head to head in the play-offs to compete for the dubious honour of a trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium next Friday night to take on St Helens.

Despite ending the ‘irregular’ regular season in fourth place, the Dragons had already been disadvantaged by having to make the trip to Warrington’s Halliwell-Jones Stadium for the match due to Covid concerns, the Rhinos making the simple trip across the Pennines, albeit on a Friday night.

Both coaches, Rhino’s Richard Agar in absentia due to enforced coronavirus self-isolation, named strong sides with the bookies having difficulty separating the two and giving slight favourites odds to the Rhinos who were giving away a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Fresh from demolishing the Rhinos on Friday night, the reigning Champions and Champions elect took on the Salford Red Devils in what was, on paper, another one-sided encounter on a Monday evening as St Helens and Salford re-enacted last years Grand Final.

Saints retained the services of Alex Walmsley despite him picking up a two match ban for a Grade C dangerous tackle in the Leeds game (his ban not coming into effect until midnight tonight) as  they named a youthful squad including five debutants; Nico Rizzelli, Ben Davies, Jake Wingfield, Tom Nisbet, and Matthew Foster.

Salford had unsettling news in the camp with their coach Ian Watson being widely linked with a potential move to Hull FC but on the field they welcomed back Dan Sarginson who had been self-isolating since before the Challenge Cup final.