The Betfred Challenge Cup threw up a good old-fashioned Yorkshire derby as Post Office Road played host to a clash between the two old enemies, Featherstone Rovers and the Bradford Bulls.

Rovers came into the game as strong favourites for the win and progress into the second round and a home game against the Batley Bulldogs, but with neither side having had a competitive run-out for over a year, it was a bit of a lottery.

There was just one place between these two sides in the final league table in 2019, Featherstone finishing fifth and the Bulls in sixth.

The two sides met in the fifth round in 2019, the Bulls winning by golden point after a humdinger of a game.

At first glance the West Wales Raiders versus the Widnes Vikings was a strange selection as the first match by the BBC.

But dig a little below the surface and the debuts for Rugby Union superstar thirty-three times Welsh capped Gavin Henson, and former Super League Man of Steel and journeyman Rangi Chase, both in the colours of the ambitious Raiders.

Their including made this a mouth-watering prospect as they took on one of the all-time cup kings.

The favourites were clearly the visitors, playing their rugby in the higher league and with many years of top-level cup pedigree, but with home advantage and a couple of unknowns there was always the chance that the home side may spring a surprise.

Stebonheath Park in Llanelli was the venue, a three-and-a-half-hour drive for the Vikings

Two sides from the wrong end of the fledgling table, the North Queensland Cowboys (14^th) and St George Illawarra Dragons (11^th) looked to get their season started by registering their first win as they met in Townsville.

Both coaches made a single change from last weeks losing sides, the Dragons had Corey Norman in for Clune while the Cowboys had Lachlan Burr in their seventeen, replacing Taumalolo.

The bookies went for home advantage in making the Cowboys slight favourites to pick up the win but with just seven points between the sides on the aggregate scores in 2020, there was very little to choose between them.

After 376 days without a competitive ball being kicked, the Sheffield Eagles and York City Knights were first up from the Betfred Championship as they raised the curtain on the first round of the Betfred Challenge Cup 2021.

Both sides lost on their last outings, but after over a year it counted for absolutely nothing.

The venue was the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, home of the Eagles for the 2021 season.

But it was the York City Knights who were favourites with the competitions sponsors to make progress into the second round and a tie away against the winners of tomorrows game between the London Broncos and Keighley Cougars.

If you fancy a real outside bet, you could back either side with Betfred at 150/1 to lift the silverware at Wembley in the final scheduled for the 17^th July.

Decamped en-masse to the Gold Coast, the New Zealand Warriors, under new coach Nathan Brown, were looking to build upon last weekend’s opening round win against the Gold Coast Titans.

But the opponents tonight were a Newcastle Knights side who also got their season off to a winning start with a 32-16 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs.

There was little to choose between the two sides on paper, with both looking to move to the top of the table with a win.

There was just a single change made by each coach, Adam Pompey in for Aitken for the Warriors and Phoenix Crossland taking the place of Mann for the Knights.

The rain started as the game got underway with the slippy ball likely to be a leveller.

Two sides, both round one victors, went head-to-head at the Bankwest Stadium in Sydney as the Paramatta Eels took on the Melbourne Storm for the honour of sitting at the top of the table, at least until tomorrow's fixtures are played.

The Storm came into the game as bookies favourites having won the last encounter between the two sides in October, and on the back of four straight competition wins.

But the Eels will have been remembering the encounter in August with more fond memories, a game which saw them score fourteen unanswered points in shutting out the eventual Grand Final winners.

The heavens had opened pre-kick off, the conditions levelling the odds.

With a short week to go until the opening round of the Betfred Challenge Cup, and the start of the Super League season just a fortnight away, a number of Super League sides took the opportunity to blow off the cobwebs with ‘friendly’ and ‘testimonial’ games over the weekend.

We take a quick look at the action from some of those games as coaches had a chance to try out some of their possible line-ups in a semi-competitive environment, and we got the chance to take a look through various streaming services as all games were played behind closed doors due to the ongoing pandemic.

It was billed as a pre-season friendly, but when the Catalans Dragons face Toulouse Olympique XIII, there is rarely anything friendly about it once the captains have shaken hands in the centre of the field.

Both coaches took the opportunity to name large squads for the game with the hope of sharing the workload and getting a good look at all their charges in a game situation.

Catalans’ Steve McNamara named a thirteen-man bench while Toulouse coach Sylvian Houles had a squad of twenty-three players, including many names familiar to followers of Super League such as Harrison Hansen, Dominic Peyroux and Mitch Garbutt.

The bookies couldn’t see past a Roosters win as a decent crowd in the Sydney Cricket Ground anticipated the season opener against the Manly Sea Eagles.

The Roosters are amongst the four favourites to win the Grand Final come the end of the season, but they know that 2021 is likely to be a highly competitive season which will require true contenders to be out of the blocks from the first whistle.

The Sea Eagles were without talisman Tom Trbojevic for the season opener after ‘Tommy Turbo’ picked up a hamstring injury in pre-season, his full-back berth being taken by usual stand-off Dylan Walker despite him being under a disciplinary cloud after a pizza shop fracas.

The bookies couldn’t pick a favourite as the Melbourne Storm and South Sydney Rabbitohs kicked the first ball of the 2021 NRL season in the much-anticipated game at the AAMI Park in Melbourne.

The Storm won both games between the two sides in 2020 and have a fantastic record against the Bunnies having only lost to them on five occasions since 1998.

Souths have never beaten the Storm on this ground, a record which coach Bennett would be painfully aware as he plotted a winning start to the campaign against the defending champions.

The Storm hadn’t lost a round one game since 2001 and coach Bellamy was in no mood to let that record slip on his watch.

After eighteen months without a play-the-ball the Women’s Super League has finally got a start date for the 2021 season.

Ten teams will take part in the competition which will kick off on the 18^th April with four fixtures being played on the opening Sunday of the competition.

The Leeds Rhinos will look to defend their 2019 crown with a game against the York City Knights in a double header which will also see the 2019 beaten finalists Castleford Tigers take on local rivals Featherstone Rovers.

Both games are to be played in Weetwood, Leeds.

Super League have announced some regulatory clarifications or the 2021 season which have already sets hares running in relation to potential relegation and the potential to advantageously postpone fixtures towards the end of the season.

Placings in the league table will once again be determined by a win points average, to allow for the possibility that some games may need to be cancelled due to coronavirus, however all clubs will need to play a minimum of 70% of their fixtures (18 out of the scheduled 25 games).

With a packed fixture calendar, and a scheduled World Cup standing in the way of any over-runs, it looks like a sensible proposal.

The Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium in Mudgee was the venue for the annual NRL Charity Shield game between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawara Dragons.

This would be the thirty-eighth occasion that the Rabboitohs have faced a Dragons side in the tradition pre-cursor to the season with honours shared at sixteen wins apiece, five games having been drawn.

But the Dragons had a mountain to climb having lost all of the last eight encounters.

For what is essentially a pre-season trial game both coaches Griffin and Bennett named extensive benches, but the 5,000 plus spectators in the ground were delighted that near full-strength starting thirteens were sent onto the park.

With one month to go until the start of the 2021 Betfred Super League season, the full fixture schedule can be confirmed.

Several key rounds in the season have already been announced, including Rivals Round (19-22 August), and Dacia Magic Weekend (4-5 September) but now fans can start looking forward to seeing how their team’s season will unfold.

Sky Sports will broadcast all twelve games from the first two rounds which will also be available for season ticket holders via the Our League platform, in a continuation of the service offered last season.

From news breaking on Twitter it appears that there may be a mid-summer revival of the Exiles for a game to be played over the international weekend of the 25^th to 27^th June 2021 with most likely England, but possibly a GB Lions team, taking on an international side made up of overseas players plying their trade in Super League.

It has come to light after the RFL published a job advert for a Team Manager to attend all team events and training session and to be part of the camp during the competition period.

In its third year, the All Stars encounter between the Indigenous and Maori took place this morning in a wet and humid Townsville as Laurie Daley's side took on the team coached by David Kidwell.

Honours had been shared between the two sides with the Indigenous side winning 34-14 in 2019 and the Maoris picking up a 30-16 victory last time out in the 2020 pre-season.

With the start of the NRL season just under three weeks away it was the perfect opportunity for some of the games superstars to blow off the cobwebs and put on a show in four quarters of twenty minutes.

The dates and times of the majority of the opening fixtures in the first round of the Challenge Cup and the whole of weekly round one in the Betfred Championship have been released along with the schedule and arrangements for the live streaming of games.

For Championship fans there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that all of the games are going to be staggered and streamed on the OurLeague App and site, the bad news is that with the exception of the home sides season ticket holders, you will have to pay to get access.

The draw for the opening two rounds of the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup took place on Thursday evening.

  Under new sponsors, the competition will start with the Championship 1 and Championship clubs as the sides start the shortened journey to Wembley and the Cup Final scheduled for the 17th July.

The Cup competition will kick off on the weekend of the 21st/22nd March with eight ties including three clubs from Championship 1 (Barrow, Keighley and West Wales) and the thirteen UK based Championship sides.

The twelve Super League clubs will join in for round three which will be played over the weekend of the 11th April.

Super League have announced the opening fixtures, scheduled for the weekend of the 26th, 27th and 28th March.

All fixtures will be playes as double headers behind closed doors at the Emerald Headingley Stadium in Leeds with defending Champions St Helens taking on 2019 Grand Finalists and 2020 Challenge Cup Finalists, the Salford Red Devils in the opening game.

In a change to the initial schedule for the season, there will now be 25 games including the Dacia Magic Weekend.

The season finale is still planned for Old Trafford on the 9th October.

In 2017, James Burke who represented Jamaica at the Commonwealth Games commited suicide at home in Leeds and his Mum has since released a book covering her experiences ahead of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup scheduled for later this year.

‘In my Defence - Life After Suicide: The things no one tells you, but they should!’ By Sharon Burke was published in January and the author has won widespread praise on social media for her bravery on releasing a guide on such a tough subject.