England´s women had set a high bar for the men’s side as they took the pitch to take on a youthful French side who had been hit hard by withdrawals from their initial squad.

England hadn´t been immune to the same issue and were missing several first-choice players.

It was the forty-ninth meeting between the two sides, England having only lost on seven occasions, and the last time that the two sides encountered one another was during the last World Cup when England won by 42-18.

Shaun Wane had a much-changed squad including a new captain, following the international retirement of Sam Tomkins, as George Williams who took the armband on his home ground for the first time.

The first match of an England versus France double header at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium in Warrington saw the Women´s game as the two sides returned to the international game for their first outing since the World Cup last November.

It was the twentieth meeting between the two sides, England having win eighteen of the previous encounter while the nineteenth, in June 2015, was drawn.

The sides last met in a test match at the same stadium in June last year when England won comfortably by thirty-six points to ten.

Despite a number of changes from their World Cup line-up, the England side were firm favourites for the win.

As we prepare for tomorrow´s game against the French there was great news for the international game as a three game test series was announced for the Autumn when England will take on the Tongans.

The three games are scheduled for St Helens, Huddersfield and Leeds on the 22^nd October, 28^th October and 4^th November respectively as the organisers seek three sell-out crowds by sticking with the M62 corridor.

The two sides last met at the semi-final stage of the 2017 World Cup in Australia and it will be eighteen years since the last encounter between the two sides on British soil.

The draw for the sixth round of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup took place at the BBC in Salford this evening, as the surviving four clubs from the first five round were joined by the twelve Super League sides in the final sixteen.

After making progress in this weekend´s fifth round ties; York RLFC Knights, Halifax Panthers, Batley Bulldogs and London Broncos were all hoping to pull out one of the top clubs to test themselves against with the hope of a giant killing and progress into the quarter finals.

The draw was made live on the BBC News channel with the balls being drawn by Jodie Cunningham, England Women´s Captain.

A win for the Wigan Warriors, over Wakefield Trinity at the DW Stadium, would see them go ahead of Warrington and to the top of the table on points difference, ahead of the international break which would see England in action against France next Saturday.

The question on the lips of the travelling Wakefield supporters was not whether their side would get their first win of the season but how many they would lose by and if they would even manage to register a point after suffering five nulls so far in a catastrophic start to their 2023 season.

Wigan were handicapped by thirty points on the coupon, not surprising as Wakefield have averaged just five points a game while leaking thirty through their paper-thin defences.

There was zero chance of a shock.

Fourth placed Hull KR travelled to Castleford confident that they could continue one of their best starts to a season with every hope of a victory over the 10th placed Tigers, who still with just two wins and four points all season.

But the hosts at least started their search for the elusive third win under the direction of a permanent coach: Andy Last, the man who'd be in temporary charge of the team since the club and previous coach Lee Radford had parted ways by mutual consent.

But could the appointment change the team's fortunes against a team fresh off an impressive win over St Helens.

  Rovers kicked off to a Tigers team playing in their third strip - a copy of the 1986 strip they beat KR in at at the '86 Wembley Cup Final – because the primarily black home strip was too close to the Robins' blue away strip.

 

Seventh placed Leeds Rhinos had a tenth-round date over the Pennines with ninth placed Leigh Leopards with the home side knowing that a win by thirteen points or more would see them take the Rhinos ladder place while a win for the visitors would see them into the top five and depending on points difference and other results, as high as third.

Both sides won last time out and came into tonight’s game evenly matched on paper, so much so that the bookies could hardly separate them and giving the home side just a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Both coaches named an unchanged starting thirteen from last weekend, the Rhinos bringing Bentley onto the bench in place of Johnson while the Leopards fielded an identical seventeen.

Thursday night saw top placed Warrington Wolves take on a St Helens side currently languishing in eighth spot after a disappointing start to their 2023 campaign.

Both sides came into the game on the back of losses, Warrington having fallen to the Wigan Warriors last time out while St Helens were well beaten by Hull KR.

The bookies struggled to split the two sides but leaned towards a home win, giving the Wolves a two-point start on the coupon.

Daryl Powell didn´t want to make it consecutive losses for his Wolves side, and Paul Wellens was even keener to avoid a third consecutive loss for Saints for the first time since August 2017.

The stage was set for a belter.

The two sides tipped pre-season by many as the two relegation prospects have had contrasting starts to the season and while both Wakefield Trinity and the Leigh Leopards will have identified this afternoon´s encounter as a key one for their season the Bookies strongly favoured that it would be the Leopards who would inflict further misery on the home side.

Wakefield are winless after the first eight rounds of Super League, and have failed to score a single point in half of their games so far in 2023.

The Leopards have beaten both Hull sides and claimed the famous scalp of Champions St Helens in their opening games and will count themselves as unlucky to have lost narrowly in three other outings, especially last week´s two-point loss to Salford.

First and second in the Super League engaged in a tussle at Wigan as Darryl Powell’s Warrington came to town in a bid to go another round unbeaten, secure their position ahead of the chasing pack and put the 2022 rebuilding season behind them - along with the commentator’s annual joke about ‘this year’ being the Wolves’ year.

Wigan, straight off a powerful win over champions St Helens in the Easter rivals round, had their eyes on replacing Warrington at the top of the table and setting themselves up for an assault on Saints’ title.

The hosts kicked off in front of a record crowd and both teams were balanced in the opening sets, until the Warriors forced a goal-line drop-out in the fourth minute and scored in the subsequent set.

The last time that tonight’s visitors to Headingley won a game was on their last visit on the 24th February when Hull FC recorded a 22-18 victory over the Leeds Rhinos before they went on a six game losing streak.

The Rhinos rode their luck last time out and secured a narrow win over the Huddersfield Giants thanks to a second half fightback which saw them pick up their fourth win of the campaign and elevate themselves to seventh spot in the table.

The bookies had the Rhinos as strong favourites for the win giving the visitors a sixteen-point start on the handicap coupon.

Sixth entertained tenth when Castleford travelled to Salford, hoping to get their season properly under way ad build on last week's close - and tough - fought win over neighbours Wakefield.

Their hosts, too, were hoping to get their season on a consistent track, having recorded just four wins in the eight rounds so far, compared to the Tigers' two.

One-club veteran Adam Milner started at loose forward for Cas replacing the suspended Joe Western.

The final game of a packed weekend of Easter entertainment was the Monday night ViaplaySports offering between the Halifax Panthers and Bradford Bulls as the two great West Yorkshire Rivals met as fifth took on sixth for the honour of joining fourth place Widnes Vikings on ten league points after recording five wins in their opening eight fixtures.

The Panthers were favourites for the win but both sides picked up victories last time out and both sides have won three out of their last four outings.

After some sensational games this weekend, there was an expectation that the Championship would serve up the perfect Easter Monday treat to round off the weekend in great style.

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.