If it wasn’t for the London Broncos safety net, Hull FC would find themselves propping up the Super League after the opening six rounds of the competition after an awful start to the season for Tony Smith’s men which saw them welcome the Huddersfield Giants to the MKM Stadium.

The Giants smashed the Airlie Birds out of the Challenge Cup a fortnight ago when they secured a 50-6 home win to progress into the quarter finals, the omens weren’t good for the home side.

A win for the Giants would lift them two places and into sixth spot in the table as they would leapfrog the Rhinos and the Red Devils and the bookies fancied the Giants win as the most likely outcome, the visitors being given a twelve-point start on the coupon.

When the just two points cover the top seven teams in the competition then many games become top of the table clashes and a Friday night encounter between the Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves at Headingley Stadium was one such occasion.

A big win for the Wolves, by a margin of more than twenty points, would see them back to the top of the table and while victory for the Rhinos would see them level with at least three other teams on points, they would need an unachievable winning margin of at least ninety-one points to overtake Wigan on points difference.

The bookies made the home side slight favourites for the win and handicapped them by four points on the coupon, it promised to be a close match between two sides who are still seeking some 2024 consistency.

Facing Wigan Warriors on the back of their first defeat in fifteen games is never ideal, but when you are Adrian Lam’s Leigh Leopards who are looking desperately for a win then it is doubly difficult as the two sides met for the first ‘Battle of the Borough’ in 2024.

A win by four points or more would put Wigan back to the top of the pile with a game in hand, a win for the Leopard wouldn’t improve their league position but would edge them a little further away from potential danger.

The bookies weren’t expecting a runaway win as the Leopards edge closer to their first win of the season, and they only gave the home side a twelve-point start on the handicap coupon, expecting that it might be a closer affair than many commentators and tipsters.

A home win for the London Broncos would not only be their first points of the season but it would also lift them off the bottom of table and above the Castleford Tigers, but the Huddersfield Giants travelled south to the capital with other ideas as they needed to secure a win to keep them in touch with the league’s top sides.

No-one, bookies included, gave the home side a ‘snowball in hell’s chance’ of taking the points, the handicap on the Giants was twenty-six points for those who fancy a flutter.

But London will win a game at some point in 2024, and their fans hoped that this might be the one against a side just four places above them in the early season table.

The East Lancashire Road derby pitted the Salford Red Devils against the Leigh Leopards in an Easter Saturday early evening kick off as the side in seventh pace hosted their historical rivals who are currently in ninth after both sides have had an indifferent start to the season.

One of these sides would give their season a kick start with a precious win, the other would remain in the doldrums, the bookies made the home side the slight favourites but after only handicapping them by two points on the coupon they didn’t believe that there would be very much in it.

It was the first time that the two sides had met in 2024, with plenty up to grabs.

Rivals round threw together two rivals whose rivalry wasn’t based on geography as the Warrington Wolves took on the Catalans Dragons at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium in a top of the table battle which would see the winner draw level with St Helens in top spot.

The Dragons won the encounter between the two sides in the south of France on the opening weekend, but the Wolves are starting to find some form in recent weeks.

The Wolves were slight favourites with the bookies for the win and had been handicapped by four points on the coupon but there really was very little to choose between the two sides as the neutrals settled down to watch a close game between two competitive sides with Grand Final aspirations.

The original derby pitted St Helens against the Wigan Warriors in the traditional Good Friday encounter which would see one of the two sides go clear at the top of the table while a big points loss for either side would see them slipping down a very tight league table.

It was a sell-out crowd at the Totally Wicked Stadium as arguably the best two sides in the competition went head-to-head, a mouthwatering prospect for the neutral as well as supporters of both sides.

The bookies were struggling to split the sides, making the home side slight favourites, and handicapping them by a couple of points, but it really was anyone’s as Saints looked to end a brilliant and lengthy Wigan winning streak.

The atmosphere and expectations were much different from when Hull KR and Hull FC met in the opening fixture of the season, when the sides were on parity with high hopes and dreams for the season ahead.

The Good Friday derby game saw a Hull KR side who were doing well in mid-table and who knew that a win would put them level on points with the current top of the table while FC came into the game third bottom with the hopes that a win would lift them above Leigh into ninth spot.

KR humiliated the Airlie Birds on that occasion with a big twenty-two point victory, keeping their old enemy pointless and sending the home crowd home with desperation on their faces.

The bookies expected that it would the Robins who would take the win and the points with a massive twenty-two-point handicap on the coupon, no-one gave the visitors a chance.

The ‘Rivals’ Round of Super League 2024 threw together the Castleford Tigers and the Leeds Rhinos to renew old rivalries and fight for the all-important two points as the opening fixture of the Easter weekend got underway on Thursday night at Wheldon Road.

A first win of the season Castleford, and by a margin of fifteen or more points, would lift them above Hull FC and into tenth place in the table, while a victory for the Rhinos would see them above the other Hull club, Kingston Rovers, and into fifth spot, with a massive points win potentially putting them higher.

The home side had a fourteen-point start on the coupon, the bookies predicting that the Tigers awful start to the season would continue for at least another week.

The Men’s Betfred Challenge Cup returns to BBC TV on the weekend of 13/14 April, with the mouth-watering ties between Hull KR and Leigh Leopards and St Helens and Warrington scheduled for broadcast on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 respectively.

On Saturday 13 cup holders Leigh Leopards visit Sewell Group Craven Park to take on Hull KR in a repeat of last year’s memorable Wembley final, won by the Leopards in dramatic style through Lachlan Lam’s drop goal in golden point extra-time, the kick off in east Hull is 5pm.

The quarter finals of the Challenge Cup are an all Super League affair after the remaining Championship sides were eliminated over the weekend along with the Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils, Hull FC and London Broncos.

The remaining sides went into the hat for tonight’s draw which was held live on Radio 5 Live across the nation and was made by rugby league supporting darts players Michael Smith and Joe Cullen.

The fixtures will be played over the weekend of the 13^th and 14^th April with the television rights still to be decided.

The Halifax Panthers had a giant killing on their minds as they took on the side sitting level top of the Super League after the opening five rounds and 2018 Cup winners, the Catalans Dragons at the New Shay.

The bookies and pundits were firmly of the opinion that it would be a big win for the visitors and gave the home side a thirty-point start on the coupon, but this is the famous Challenge Cup and so far in round six there hadn’t been a single surprise, the hopefuls filing into the stadium in the hope that this would be the one.

The Dragons were taking no chances as they fielded a very strong side giving due respect to the Panthers.

Just a week after the two sides met in the nation’s capital, Warrington Wolves and London Broncos met again in the Challenge Cup, this time at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as London tried to put the previous weekends hammering out of their minds and focus on the slim chance of cup progress.

London had been given a thirty-eight-point start on the coupon and if you fancied a flutter ten you could get 100/1 on a Broncos win, there was zero chance of an upset and every potential that it could be a cricket score in Warrington’s favour.

Warrington made a couple of changes to last week, but it was a fundamental shuffle in the pack for London in the hope of bolstering up round fives paper thin defence.

Leigh Leopards entered the Challenge Cup still seeing their first win of 2024 after a disappointing start to the season and were up against Championship side Featherstone Rovers who have also had a mixed start to the season including last weekend’s loss against the Batley Bulldogs.

Leigh were without Gareth O’Brien but relieved that Lachlan Lam was back on the subs bench after suffering a gashed leg against the Rhinos a fortnight ago and they were up against a side who have been dogged by off field problems in the opening weeks of the new season.

Leigh were massive favourites for a big win, Featherstone given a thirty-two-point start n the handicap coupon, the visitors were on a hiding to nothing.

St Helens were strong 18-8 winners over the Leeds Rhinos when tonight’s Challenge Cup hopefuls met in a regular round Super League encounter last weekend, and the bookies made the visitors slight favourites again by giving the Rhinos a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

The Rhinos had Paul Momirovski back in the centres alongside Rhyse Martin while Saints had Waqa Blake in the centres and Moses Mbye at scrum half for Lewis Dodd, and Curtis Sironen back in the starting line-up with Batchelor on the bench.

A place in the quarter finals was up for grabs and on paper there was little to choose between the two sides.

The top of the table awaited Warrington Wolves as they travelled south to take on the London Broncos in the knowledge that a victory by more than forty-four points would lift them to the top of the pile at the end of round five of Super League XXIX.

After their promotion at the end of last season the Broncos are still seeking their first win of 2024 as they look to clamber from the foot of the table, a loss by less more than ten points would see them drop back below the Castleford Tigers and into bottom spot.

The bookies and pundits couldn’t see past a win for the visitors with London being given a twenty-four-point start on the coupon.

The expectation was for a cricket score as second bottom side in the 2024 Super League, Castleford Tigers, travelled to the notoriously hostile Stade Gilbert Brutus to take on the Catalans Dragons.

A win by forty-five points or more would leapfrog the Dragons over Wigan and Saints and into the top spot on the five-week-old table, while a win for the Tigers would move them above a Hull FC side who were thrashed earlier in the afternoon, and into tenth place in the table, more importantly getting their 2024 season off the mark.

The Dragons were handicapped by twenty-two points on the handicap coupon, the bookies in no doubt that it would be a big win for the home side.

The sides could change their league position as a result of their round five Super League XXIX clash as ninth placed Hull FC hosted a Leigh Leopards side who began the game in a disappointing tenth spot and without a win in their opening three fixtures of the season.

Tony Smith welcomed back several stars returning from injury and suspension while the Leigh side continues to look strong, despite the loss of Lachlan Lam and Tom Amone, and confound the pundits as to why they have not recorded any victories so far in this campaign.

The Black & Whites were slight favourites with the bookies but with Leigh commanding just a two-point start on the handicap coupon there was very little to choose between them for a Saturday afternoon encounter.

Despite home advantage, the Leeds Rhinos were given a four-point start on the handicap coupon as they took on the reigning Champions St Helens at Headingley Stadium in the sole Friday evening game in Super League XXIX.

Saints already had second place and knew that a win in excess of twenty-two points would see them above arch-rivals Wigan Warriors into top spot, the Rhinos knew that a win would lift them to second spot in the table overnight.

Saints were without the suspended Mark Percival after last week’s sending off and lost Tommy Makinson in the warm-up while Leeds had ex-Saint James Bentley back in their side after his suspension.

This was the first of two encounters between the two sides in two weeks.

With the sides level on points at the top of the table but separated by a massive seventy-one points difference and five league positions, the winner of tonight’s clash between the Salford Red Devils and Wigan Warriors would be two points clear at the top of the table.

Wigan are unbeaten so far in 2024, having played a game less than their opponents, while Salford have won three from their four games, including the shock scalp of St Helens in an away fixture for the first time in decades.

But Wigan were the strong favourites, to take the win and maintain an all competition fourteen game, winning streak running all the way back to 23rd of July 2023 when the Warriors lost to Hull KR in the Challenge Cup Semi Final.