After thrashing the Champions St Helens last time out, Hull FC had another home match against one of the top teams in the competition as they took on the league leaders, the Catalans Dragons, in a rare Saturday afternoon kick off.

A win for the Airlie Birds would see them level on points with the Leeds Rhinos in eighth spot but likely trailing them due to an horrendous negative points difference, while the Dragons knew that a win would see them four points clear at the top in their quest for the minor premiership.

The Dragons were slight favourites for the win with FC given a four-point start on the coupon, perhaps a reflection of the 38-6 scoreline in favour of the French side when the two sides met in the south of France in round three.

It was fourth against seventh on a night which could see a big shuffling of positions at the top end of the table and depending on results elsewhere could have seen the home side Leigh into second spot, or the visitors from Hull KR into third.

Leigh were favourites with the bookies, Hull KR having been given a six-point start on the coupon, but it was Hull KR who came into the fixture on the back of a two-game winning run while the Leopards lost a close match in the south of France against the Catalans Dragons last weekend.

It promised to be a close encounter between two sides with big play-off hopes.

Fresh from hammering the Huddersfield Giants six days ago, the Leeds Rhinos made the trip to the Halliwell-Jones to face a Warrington Wolves side who fell to a surprise defeat at the hands of the Castleford Tigers on their last outing.

A win for the home side would put them back level on points with the league leaders, but unless it was by a margin of seventy points or more, they would still be second on points difference, while the Rhinos knew that they couldn’t improve their league position, but could get closer to seventh placed Hull KR.

The Wolves were the slight favourites with the bookies but with the Rhinos only having been given a two-point start on the coupon they really had a dilemma over who would win the game and take the two points.

While the game of round sixteen was undoubtedly the trip of the Leigh Leopards to the Catalans Dragons last night, the Sunday afternoon fixture between the Salford Red Devils and Wigan Warriors ran it a close second on paper as the sixth placed side looked to overtake their hosts while the home side had one eye on the second spot which a big win would deliver.

Wigan were the slight favourites with the bookies with the Red Devils having been given a four-point start on the coupon, the margin of Warriors victory when the two sides met at the DW Stadium in March.

Both sides came into the game hungry for the points to assist in their quests for top six finishes.

If the rumours are to be believed, both coaches in tonight’s round sixteen Super League fixture at Emerald Headingley were both sipping from a drink already served in the last chance saloon as ninth took on tenth in an uninspiring fixture with both sides starting to drift too far from the play-off spots to make their end of season inclusion a likelihood.

The Rhinos were slight favourites with the bookies, the Giants having been given a four-point start on the coupon but with losses to the bottom two sides in their last two outings it would be a brave man who put his fifty pence on a home victory.

The Rhinos have lost their last four on the bounce while the Giants have lost their last two.

A win for the Rhinos would put them back in the eighth place that they lost the previous night to Hull FC, a win by twenty-two or more would lift the Giants above the Rhinos and into ninth.

Just five days after the two sides met in the quarter finals of the Challenge Cup, Hull FC and St Helens were thrown together again by the vagaries of the fixture computer for a round sixteen Super League match with the Black & Whites looking for revenge and hoping to keep thirteen players on the field beyond half time.

The home side were obviously without the services of Griffin after he received a seven-game suspension for what he said to the referee after the half time hooter last weekend, but coach Tony Smith made several other changes to his side as they looked for a reversal.

Saints were without the services of injured Percival and Makinson who were replace by Hopoate and Bennison.

FC came into the game on the back of a sixteen-game losing streak against the Saints, their last win coming back in August 2017, and the bookies had the visitors down as favourites to take the points and lift themselves up into third spot, just two behind the joint league leaders.

With Queensland one game up in the three-game series, round two headed for the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane as the excitement reached fever pitch for the second game of the 2023 State of Origin series.

The coaches each made four changes to their line-ups with Maroons Billy Slater adding AJ Brimson, Jeremiah Nanai, Moeaki Fotuaika and Xavier Coates to his side, Brad Fittler drafting in Damien Cook, Mitchell Moses, Reece Robson and Stefano Utoikamanu into his seventeen.

But it was the absentees this time which were of most note with Arrow, Cobbo and Dearden missing out for Queensland while Cleary, Hynes, Koroisau and Pangai Junior were all out for the Blues.

Queensland were narrow favourites with the bookies to get the series win, with a four-point handicap on the coupon, but most neutrals were hoping for a Blues win to take the series into an exciting third game.

Venues and broadcast details for the semi-finals of both the Men’s and Women’s Betfred Challenge Cups can now be confirmed, with double-headers at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday 22 July and Headingley Stadium, Leeds, on Sunday 23.

On Saturday 22 both Saints teams will be in action at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, following their respective semi-final victories at the weekend.

St Helens Women play York Valkyrie (KO 11-45am), while the Men face Leigh Leopards (KO 2-30pm).

And both Wigan Warriors sides are involved in the following day’s (Sunday 23 July) Betfred Challenge Cup double-header at Headingley Stadium, where Warriors Women take on Leeds Rhinos (KO 2-15pm) and the Men play Hull KR (KO 5pm).

Few people gave Championship side York RLFC Knights any chance of making progress in the Challenge Cup as they welcomed high flying Super League side Leigh Leopards to the LNER Community Stadium.

York coach Andrew Henderson had a long injury list which left him without the services of half a dozen first team choices, while Leigh’s Adrian Lam could pick an almost unchanged side, although he was without the injured Edwin Ipape and Ricky Leutele.

The last time these two sides met was in the Championship play-offs at the end of last season when York were massacred by Leigh, the suspicion was that it would be a similar outcome in the last quarter final with a game against St Helens the prize for the winners.

With Hull KR and St Helens already safely into the semi-finals of the 2023 Challenge Cup, arguably the tie of the round pitted Wigan Warriors against the Warrington Wolves with the third place up for grabs in a game which is too close to call.

Wigan had the home advantage and the bookies handicapped them by four points on the coupon, favouring a win for the side in sixth pace over the one currently second in the table.

Warrington arrived with an unchanged side from last week’s narrow win over the Huddersfield Giants and they knew that they would need to be at their best to beat a speedy Wigan side and the dual threat of Field and French.

The draw for the semi-finals of the Men’s and Women’s 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup took place at the DW Stadium at half time during the Wigan Warriors against Warrington Wolves quarter final game on Sunday afternoon.

At the time of the draw, only two sides were certain of their place, that was Hull KR and St Helens who both made it through their ties yesterday against Salford and Hull FC respectively.

The draws were made by Kevin Brown (Women's), Lois Forsell (Men's)

With one Hull side safely through to the semi-finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup the spotlight now fell on the black and white side of the city as they had the toughest of challenges in a game against a St Helens side who are on a great run of good form and heading to the top of the table.

The bookies had given the Airlie Birds a ten-point start on the coupon and were confident that it would be St Helens who would progress through to the semi-finals, but this is the Challenge Cup and anything could happen in a one-off game.

FC were without a concussed Jake Clifford, a big loss in the centre of the field and having a tremendous season, Jake Hoy drafted into the halves with young Davy Litten getting his first game of the season at full back.

It was a ten-point victory for the Salford Red Devils when the two sides met at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle a fortnight ago, but Hull KR would be hoping to put that defeat behind them and make progress into the semi-finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup as the two sides met at Craven Park in the opening game of an action packed weekend of quarter finals games.

For most people it was too close to call, the bookies giving the visitors a slight edge and awarding Hull KR a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Hull KR came into the game with enforced changes including the absence of injured Lachlan Coote who was replaced by debutant Tanguy Zenon, but Salford named the same eighteen that emerged victorious from the game in Newcastle.

The quarter finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Sup take place this weekend with all four games being broadcast with two on the BBC and two on ViaPlay Sports channel.

The BBC games are, of course, free to air.

There are two games on Saturday afternoon, the first kicking off at noon as Hull KR take on Salford, while the opening game on Sunday is Wigan versus Warrington at two-thirty.

We look forward at the fixtures and who we think will progress into the semi-finals.

I enjoy conspiracy theories.

That is not to say I often believe them but there is a pleasure to be taken in their complexities and contortions.

What they tell us about their proponents and how we all look for patterns in the chaos can be interesting too.

For example, I tend to believe that the works generally credited to William Shakespeare were written by him (with caveats around widely accepted collaborations).

However, that many people prefer, and sometimes make quite compelling cases for, other authorship candidates reflects the evolution of the concept of authorship, differing attitudes to class and formal education, the phenomenon of bardolatry, and the unevenness of our historical record.

Neither Wakefield Trinity nor Leeds Rhinos could improve their league position as a result of a win this afternoon at Belle Vue but for the home side it would be a first win of the season and reduce the arrears to the Tigers, for the visitors it would keep alive their hopes of a play-off spot and bring Hull KR’s seventh spot into focus.

Leeds were big favourites for the win with the bookies having given Trinity sixteen points start on the coupon but with a big partisan crowd expected, along with plenty making the short journey down the A650 to cheer on a Rhinos side who can´t decide whether they are brilliant or rubbish, and who display both traits in near equal measure.

Women’s Super League had a lunchtime kick off at the Totally Wicked Stadium where fourth placed Group One side St Helens had a repeat of Friday night´s men’s fixture as they took on a Wigan Warriors side in second place and chasing down an unbeaten York Valkyrie at the top of the table.

Saints lost their opening round match to the league leaders but then beat the Leeds Rhinos in the second-round while Wigan drew with Warrington in their opening match, beating the Huddersfield Giants by ten points in round two.

There was little to choose between the two sides for this local derby match and it looked like an even encounter on paper.

Warrington Wolves were eyeing a return to the top of Super League, for an hour at least, as they took on a struggling Huddersfield Giants side who themselves needed a win to go ahead of Hull FC in the 2023 league table.

The bookies had the Wolves as strong favourites for the win and had handicapped them by ten points the coupon despite them having lost on their last two outings.

The sides met way back in round two when the Wolves won by ten points in a close game, todays encounter promised to be a little more one-sided.

It was a warm afternoon as the two sides took to the field.

Show me a true rugby league supporter who says that they don’t love a Saints versus Wigan derby, and I’ll show you a liar.

Whether you’re a Warrior or a Saint and hoping that your side will win the most important bragging rights, or a neutral who just likes to see two of the best sides in the game batter one another for the two points.

Wigan won when the two sides met back on Good Friday, but Saints have shown a marked improvement since then and a win today would lift the home side above their arch enemy and into third place in the table, two points behind the league leaders Catalans and Warrington.

Saints have won four on the bounce, while Wigan got thumped last time out against the Catalans Dragons at the Magic Weekend, and as a result the bookies were giving the Red Vee an eight-point handicap on the coupon.

This weekend in Newcastle saw what was, potentially, the last Magic Weekend, should the IMG proposals be implemented in full.

IMG would like to replace the weekend with ‘something else’ as yet unspecified, and it appears that the British rugby league public voted with their feet as they supported the event and by all accounts had a fabulous weekend.

There was a combined attendance of 36,943 on the Saturday and 26,426 on the Sunday for a total of 63,369 for the event as a whole, bolstering the local economy as they basked in decent weather and enjoyed more than the odd shock result.