The final game of the Rivals round saw the Leeds Rhinos host the Huddersfield Giants as seventh played eighth for a place in the top six at the end of the weekend and as the competition reached the quarter point of the 2023 season.

A win would take the Rhinos above their opponents today, but a win by twenty-nine or more points would see them above Salford and into sixth.

A win by more than sixteen would see the Giants above St Helens and into fifth spot in the table while if they were to beat the Rhinos by thirty-three or more, they would send Leeds below Leigh in the table.

The bookies had installed the Rhinos as slight favourites but had only given the Giants a two-point start on the coupon.

The scene was set for a classic battle between two evenly matched sides.

The 2023 Women´s Super League got underway as the first part of an Easter Sundey double-header when the defending Champions, Leeds Rhinos took on York Valkyrie in the opening Group 1 league game at Emerald Headingley before the Mens side took on the Huddersfield Giants.

Arch enemies for the whole of the 2022 season, this was a repeat of last year’s Grand Final on September 18th 2022 which saw the Rhinos record a 12-4 win to lift the trophy after York had only lost one game during the regular season, beat the Rhinos twice in the league, and had won the Minor Premiership with ease.

Both sides have made multiple personnel changes over the close season so this was a great opportunity to see who would be challenging for honours in the season ahead.

The tie of the Rivals round saw top side Warrington Wolves travel to the Catalans Dragons and enter the cauldron of the Stade Gilbert Brutus looking to maintain their perfect start to the season against a side who were looking to draw level on league points with their opponents.

The bookies and pundits fancied a Warrington win but with the Dragons only having been given a six-point start on the handicap coupon they were not convinced of their own odds setting.

A Dragons win would lift them level on points with the Wolves and a win by forty-one points or more would see them end the Easter weekend at the top of the pile, but a loss would see their opponents opening up a four-point gap at the top of the table at the quarter point of the season.

Just eleven miles separate Rivals Leigh Leopards and the Salford Red Devils as round eight of the competition threw them together for the second time in 2023 as seventh and ninth battled for a place in the top half of the table.

A victory for either side would lift them above the Huddersfield Giants into sixth spot, but fifth looked just out of reach as Salford would need a thirty-seven-point win and Leigh would need to win by ninety-three or more.

Salford had been made the slight favourites with the bookies, Leigh being given a two-point start on the handicap coupon, but there was very little to choose between the two sides.

The Leopards hoped that home advantage, and all the usual Leopards razzamatazz, would be enough to secure a fourth win for the home side in their first eight outings and get revenge for their loss on the opening weekend of the season.

It was a second capacity crowd of the day as third placed Wigan Warriors face their massive Rivals and fifth placed St Helens in one of the games of the round with local bragging rights up for grabs and for the neutral it was a chance to gauge which of these two sides was the forerunner for a Grand Final place.

Wigan were without the injured Jai Field in a major blow but were still slight favourites with the bookies having been given a two point handicap on the coupon.

Saints hadn´t really hit their straps since their World Club Challenge win, but it would be typical of Saints to hit top form in the derby match.

A packed stadium of over twenty-four thousand, and national television audience settled down for what could be a classic encounter.

The opening Good Friday encounter was the Hull derby between an FC side coached by Tony Smith against the side which sacked him last season and now under the stewardship of Willie Peters as the fifth placed side travelled to a sold out MKM Stadium to take on the side languishing in eleventh.

At best a win for FC would raise them back above the Castleford Tigers on points difference but a win of twenty-six points or more would send KR into fourth spot ahead of the Saints and Wigan derby being played out later in the afternoon.

The visitors were slight favourites with the bookies as they were penalised four points on the handicap coupon, but the pundits thought that the game was too close to call, the stage was set for a classic encounter between the two arch enemies, two great Rivals.

The Easter weekend Rivals round got underway on Thursday night with a bottom of the table four pointer between the Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity as the two sides propping up the Super League 2023 table met at the Wheldon Road Jungle with everything at stake.

A seven point or more win for the home side would lift them ahead of Hull FC in advance of tomorrows Hull derby, while a win by a margin of twenty-seven or more would raise Trinity above the Tigers and off the bottom for the first time this season.

The bookies had made the Tigers firm favourites for the win, having given Trinity a ten point start on the coupon.

Wakefield have only averaged a single converted try per game in their opening seven fixtures, having been kept scoreless on four occasions, it was beginning to look desperate for the side from WF1.

Ian Watson returned to his old stomping ground as he took his ninth placed Huddersfield Giants to the AJ Bell as they looked for the win which would allow them to leapfrog the Salford Red Devils and move up into sixth spot in the table.

Paul Rowley´s Salford had a three from six start to the season and went into the game knowing  that a twelve point or more winning margin would elevate them to fifth in the table.

Both sides came into this game on the back of a loss as the bookies struggle to choose between them, making the Red Devils slight favourites.

The game of the round in the weekend´s Challenge Cup fixtures pitched two Championship sides against one another as the high-flying Sheffield Eagles, currently in third spot in the table, travelled to take on ninth placed York RLFC Knights at the LNER Community Stadium in the BBC televised game.

The bookies were struggling to pick a favourite, opting to slightly favour the Eagles and giving the Knights a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

It was sure to be a massive battle between two sides with play-off aspirations.

York took a beating at the hands of Championship favourites Featherstone in their last run out while the Eagles stunned Toulouse in France with a big win over their play-off adversaries.

York beat West Bowling in the third round while Sheffield overcame Siddal, today promised to be a much tougher ask for both sides.

Fresh from their terrific league win over the Bradford Bulls, the Keighley Cougars licked their lips at the prospect of a fourth round Betfred Challenge Cup game against a League One side who have been unable to register a single win so far in their 2023 league campaign as the North Wales Crusaders made their way to darkest West Yorkshire.

The bookies and pundits could see nothing other than a Keighley win as they gave the League One side a thirty-six-point start on the coupon.

The Crusaders have eliminated Thatto Heath Crusaders and the Royal Navy in the earlier rounds while Keighley managed a narrow two-point win over Hunlet in the last round.

The prize on offer was a fifth-round visit to either Hunslet ARLFC or the Batley Bulldogs to try and win a place in the sixth-round draw and a possible trip to one of the Super League giants and the chance of a decent pay day.

On paper, the league leaders had a home banker as they welcomed a hapless Hull FC to the Halliwell-Jones Stadium for a Saturday lunchtime game broadcast to a rugby hungry audience on Channel 4.

The Wolves are the only side in Super League with a  one hundred percent record in 2023 as they look for their seventh consecutive win at the start of the season while FC haven´t managed a win in March as they struggle to find any kind of form under the coaching of new boss Tony Smith.

The Wolves were big favourites to continue their great run with the pundits and bookies heavily tipping them for the win, but the Airlie Birds came into the game knowing that they must turn the corner at some point and why wouldn´t that be today?

Fourth took on seventh as two sides tied on six points in the fledgling table met at Craven Park in the televised Friday night game with the home side installed as slight favourites with the bookies and giving the Rhinos a two point start on the handicap coupon.

With St Helens taking on bottom side Wakefield the likelihood was that either of these two sides would need a big winning margin to end the night in fourth on points difference, but both would probably settle for the top half of the table after round seven.

KR welcomed back Jordan Abdull to their line up but were without Shaun Kenny-Dowall, while the Rhinos were without Richie Myler and Nene MacDonald while they gave a debut to Luke Hooley at full back and welcomed Mikael Oledzki back into the side.

Round Seven of Super League 2023 got underway with the Battle of the Borough as Leigh Leopards hosted the Wigan Warriors with eighth toaking on third with local bragging rights up for grabs between the two sides located just eight miles apart.

Adrian Lam was facing his past employers as he took on Matt Peet´s side in a game which few were brave enough to call, but the which the bookies were leaning towards an away win having given the Leopards an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

In front of a record Leigh Sports Village home crowd, a fifty-point win would lift the Leopards above Wigan into third spot, but a win of any kind would see them spend the night in fourth.

A win for the visitors would see them up to second in the table, at least until the Dragons play on Saturday evening.

A West Yorkshire derby between Keighley Cougars and the Bradford Bulls drew a big crowd of well over four thousand as the visitors looked to continue their great run which see´s them keeping pace with the top sides in the Championship.

The Bulls travelled to Cougar Park sitting pretty in fourth place in the Championship table but after a disappointing start to their campaign the Cougars were in tenth spot but aware that a win would lift them into the top half of the table.

The Cougars were slight underdogs with the bookies, having been given a six-point start on the handicap coupon, but inside a packed stadium the hope was for a close, competitive and as always, noisy game.

It was a bottom half of the table four pointer as Hull FC took on the Leigh Leopards as ninth travelled to tenth as both sides looked for their third win of the season and a jump up the league table.

The Leopards won last time out but the Airlie Birds have lost their last three.

Both sides were keen for the win to get the lift of a win and move towards the top half of the table.

The bookies made the home side the favourites and had given Leigh a four-point start in the handicap coupon, but it was too nervous sides, and anything could happen.

One of the two remaining Super League one-hundred-percenters, the Catalans Dragons, took on a Round Six trip to Emerald Headingley to take on a Leeds Rhinos side who suffered defeat at the hands of Castleford Tigers last weekend as they continued their indifferent start to the new campaign.

A win by forty-seven points or more would lift the Dragons above Warrington on points difference and into top spot in the table, while a win by forty points or more would see the Rhinos above Hull KR and into fourth spot.

In reality, neither winning margin was likely.

The Dragons were slight favourites with the bookies, but they were struggling to find much difference between the two sides, the Rhinos only getting a measly two-point start on the handicap coupon.

It was third against fourth in round six as the Wigan Warriors took on the Salford Red Devils in the game of the round at the JJB Stadium.

A win for either side would secure third spot at the end of the weekend and keep them in touch with the two sides who have recorded five wins from five so far in 2023, Warrington Wolves and the Catalans Dragons.

Wigan were the favourites to make home advantage pay, Paul Rowley´s side getting a twelve point start on the handicap coupon against Matt Peet´s charges.

The opening fixture of round six of Super League pitted fifth placed Huddersfield Giants against sixth placed St Helens as both sides looked for their third win of the season and a chance to end the evening in fourth spot in the table.

The two sides should have met in the opening fixture of 2023 but that game was postponed due to the World Club Challenge commitment of St Helens who were in Australia to face the Penrith Panthers.

Most eyes this week would be on Jake Connor who would make his Giants debut off the bench, and on a St Helens side who have still to for on all cylinders in the current Super League campaign as they looked to justify the bookies favourites tag.

Super League´s only pointless side, Wakefield Trinity, had an ominous looking trip to the AJ Bell Stadium to take on an in form Salford Red Devils in the final game of round five on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Devils were big favourites for the win, especially after running in sixty points against Hull FC last time out but would need a big points win to improve their league position.

Wakefield haven´t scored a single point in their last three outings and had been conceding at the rate of thirty-three points a game.

There could only be one winner.

Hull KR had this week’s trip to France to take on a high-flying Catalans Dragons who were seeking a win by twenty-three or more points to go above the Warrington Wolves to the top of the table and to maintain their one-hundred-percent start to the season.

The Robins and their fans made the journey knowing that if they could enter the cauldron of the Stade Gilbert Brutus and emerge with the precious points then they would be up to fourth place in the table after the opening five rounds of the competition.

The Dragons were made the bookies favourites with home advantage but with KR having just a twelve point start on the handicap coupon there was some certainty that this would be a competitive game with the visitors having a chance of springing a surprise.