After their loss to struggling Huddersfield Giants last time out the Warrington Wolves had a point to prove as they welcomed their incoming coach, Daryl Powell, and his current Castleford Tigers to the Halliwell-Jones Stadium for Saturday afternoon’s second game.

The Wolves were the favourites with the bookies to bounce back from last weeks disappointment with the Tigers getting a four-point start on the coupon despite the home side sitting one place below the visitors in the current league table.

It was an impressive and strong looking starting line-up for the Salford Red Devils as they welcomed the Wigan Warriors to the AJ Bell Stadium as they looked for their second win of the season against a side so far unbeaten in 2021.

The way things stand in the table, and with this seasons win percentage calculations, neither side could improve their league position as a result of today’s game as the teams kicked off a weekend of six fixtures over Saturday and Sunday, almost unheard of in Super League outside Magic Weekend.

Wigan were nailed on favourites with the bookies, Salford getting a twelve-point start on the handicap coupon.

A bottom of the table clash between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Newcastle Knights kicked off the eleventh round of the NRL with the Cowboys, sitting in twelfth, being favourites over the eleventh placed Knights.

The winner would move into the top eight, the losers would face an increasingly steep mountain to make the play-offs.

Both sides were ordering drinks in the 2021 last chance saloon and a loss would see the season getting away from them as any hopes of a top eight finish starts to dissipate.

Five games over three days comprised the sixth round of the Betfred Championship with one casualty being the encounter between the Sheffield Eagles and the Halifax Panthers which was postponed due to COVID issues at the South Yorkshire club.

Bradford’s game with Newcastle Thunder was also postponed and will now take place in early June.

Batley and London met on Saturday while Widnes played York and Whitehaven went against Toulouse on Sunday.

The final two encounters were delayed until Monday evening when crowds were allowed back into Stadia with Dewsbury travelling to Swinton and Featherstone hosting Oldham.

Things we’ve missed; the click of the turnstile, the buzz in the street, the shouted order for beer across a crowded bar, and of course, exchanging banter with opposition fans.

After just over fourteen months of empty stadiums, a limited number of fans were tonight allowed back into the grounds as the governments lockdown restrictions were eased and with 4,000 supporters in the Halliwell-Jones it was Warrington Wolves who were the hosts for the first crowd present televised match as they hosted the Huddersfield Giants.

Unbeaten in six outings it was the Wolves who were big favourites for the win to maintain their spot in the top half of the table, and hopefully pick up a couple of places, against a Giants side with one win in their last four outings which has seen them in ninth and scrapping about for points to get their season underway.

After suffering a 44-0 defeat in their opening fixture of the 2021 Women’s Super League, Wakefield Trinity were looking for better against a Leeds Rhinos side which has scored an average of seventy points per game in their opening two fixtures while conceding an average of just eight.

Wakefield were without seven regular first-teamers and Leeds rang a couple of changes to their, so far, successful squad.

The odds were stacked against Trinity and they knew that it would take a superhuman effort with a fair sprinkling of luck for them to keep in touch with the Champions.

In the last Super League game scheduled to be played behind closed doors due to the COVID pandemic, the Leeds Rhinos were hosts to Wakefield Trinity with both clubs desperate for a win to signal a change of fortune after torrid starts to their 2021 campaigns.

The last time that Wakefield won a Super League game was way back on the 29^th October 2020, six and a half months ago, but the opposition on that occasion was the Leeds Rhinos as Trinity inflicted a massive 30-6 defeat in a game played at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens, although Leeds win narrowly a few days later.

Leeds won the previous meeting in 2021 by 28-22 although this was the only win of the opening five rounds for the Rhinos.

Wakefield were the underdogs with the bookies and were receiving an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

Seven fixtures made up round five of the Betfred Championship with games played over three days starting with a Friday night fixture between the Sheffield Eagles and the Batley Bulldogs.

Saturday saw Oldham host Whitehaven and the rest of the games were spread over various kick-off times on Sunday with Swinton getting the day underway as they faced the Bradford Bulls.

The remaining fixtures involved London hosting Newcastle, Widnes playing away against Toulouse, Halifax travelling the short distance to Dewsbury and York and Featherstone rounding off the weekend with the evening game.

A place against either the Warrington Wolves, St Helens or Hull FC was up for grabs as the Castleford Tigers took on the Salford Red Devils in the last of the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup quarter finals at Emerald Headingley.

On paper there was a chasm between the two sides with the Tigers sitting third in Super League with just a single defeat while the Red Devils were third from bottom with just a single victory, but this is the cup and the form guide can be ripped up and thrown away for a one-off fixture with a semi-final place on offer.

The Tigers were strong favourites, especially after winning the Super League match between the two sides a week ago, but after reaching the final last season the Salford side were not just there making up the numbers.

The draw for the semi-finals of the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup was made at half time during the fourth quarter final at Headingley, with the balls being pulled out of the bag by Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Peacock.

Warrington Wolves and St Helens made it into the semi-finals yesterday evening and were joined earlier today by Hull FC after they knocked out the Wigan Warriors.

The semi-finals will be played on the 5^th June before the final at Wembley on the 17^th July.

With the Warrington Wolves and St Helens already into the semi-finals of the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup, all eyes were on the BBC coverage of the double-header from Emerald Headingley starting with an intriguing fixture between Hull FC and the Wigan Warriors.

The two sides met just nine days ago when the Warriors triumphed by just a two-point margin at 16-14 thanks to a fifty-sixth minute Zak Hardaker penalty goal.

What we witnessed was another decent scrap between two teams from the business end of the Super League table.

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.

The game of the round was first up in round nine of the NRL as the South Sydney Rabbitohs hosted the Melbourne Storm in a battle at the top of the table as both sides tried to stay in touch with the peerless Penrith Panthers.

Souths are currently third in the table within two of the league leaders while Storm are fifth, two points behind the Bunnies and in the full knowledge that win of any description would lift them into second spot and get themselves within two points of the early season leaders.

The Storm inflicted the Rabbitohs only defeat of 2021 back in March and both coaches made numerous changes to last weeks side as they sought the two points.

With the game between Toulouse Olympique XIII and the Widnes Vikings postponed due to COVID issues, round four of the Betfred Championship comprised six fixtures with two games being played on Saturday and the remaining four over various kick-off times on Sunday.

Oldham and Halifax faced off on Saturday, as did the Sheffield Eagles and London Broncos.

Sunday’s early game saw Newcastle take on Batley while Whitehaven and Bradford occupied the traditional three o’clock slot.

Widnes and Swinton got underway just after five and the evening match was between Dewsbury Rams and the York City Knights.

The Huddersfield Giants entered round five still seeking their first league points of the season as they encountered a Leeds Rhinos side who are struggling themselves and currently at the wrong end of the table.

The Rhinos had lost Richie Myler (suspended) and Kyle Eastmond (hamstring) after last week’s defeat but did welcome back Liam Sutcliffe who would pair up with Kruise Leeming in the halves.

The Giants were fancied by the bookies but without the services of Ashton Golding, and both Joe and Jake Wardle.

The Rhinos had a six-point start on the coupon; it was Ian Watson’s ideal opportunity for his first points as coach.

Featherstone Rovers and the Leeds Rhinos met in the second round of the Women’s Super League with the reigning Champions looking to record their second win at the start of the 2021 season while Rovers hoped for a better showing after suffering a heavy defeat to Castleford Tigers in their opening fixture.

Belle Vue in Wakefield was the venue for a double header with the Rhinos being big favourites to take the two points and move to the top of the table, at least until Saints played their game later on in the afternoon.

Fresh on the back of a winning trip to Perpignan, the Warrington Wolves swapped the south of France for north Cheshire as they welcomed Tony Smith’s Hull KR, a side looking for their third win of the season to lift them level with the home side.

Greg Inglis made his long awaited, and much anticipated, debut for the Wolves after signing from the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Sitaleki Akauola was given a place on the bench for the first time this season but there was still no place for the out of favour Blake Austin.

Tony Smiths side came into the game having soundly beaten the Rhinos and full of confidence with a never say die attitude.

The Salford Red Devils were looking for back-to-back wins after getting their opening 2021 victory last weekend against the Leigh Centurions, but they were up against a Castleford Tigers side who are tucked into third position in the early season table as they chase Wigan and St Helens.

Despite home advantage the Red Devils had an eight-point start of the coupon as the bookies favoured another Tigers victory but many pundits were expecting a better start from Salford and Daryl Powell knew that if they clicked then it would be a tough encounter.

The two sides also knew that this was the curtain raiser for next weeks Challenge Cup quarter final where a place in the last four would be up for grabs.

When the Catalans Dragons and Wakefield Trinity met in the third round of the Challenge Cup three weeks ago it was a comfortable victory for the French side as they ran out as 26-6 winners to make progress and line up a quarter final tie against the Warrington Wolves next weekend.

Coach McNamara made several changes to his victorious cup side with McIlorum and Seguir in the starting line-up and Joel Tomkins and Jordan Dezaria on the bench.

Wakefield had loanees Olly Ashall-Bott (Giants) and Josh Eaves (Saints) in their seventeen and making debut as they suffered a temporary injury crisis.

Trinity can’t get a win anywhere and you get the feeling that if they were handed one, they’d probably drop it, while the Dragons slipped up against Warrington last week to tarnish their unbeaten record in 2021.

The bookies strongly fancied a Dragons win with Wakefield being given an eight-point start on the coupon.

Two of the remaining three unbeaten sides in Super League 2021 met at the DW Stadium in the opening game of round five as Hull FC visited the Wigan Warriors in arguably the tie of the round.

Wigan put FC to the sword on the three occasions that they met last season with 26-12, 36-4 and 29-2 victories and it is over two years since Hull were last victors over the Cherry and Whites.

FC were without Bureta Faraimo who picked up a two-week suspension after a ‘reckless’ tackle in last weekends win over Wakefield Trinity, he was replaced on the wing by Mahe Fonua.

Wigan were without an injured Tommy Leuluai and Zak Hardaker retained his full back selection.