A place at Wembley on the 8th June, to take on cup holders St Helens, awaited the winners of a mouthwatering encounter between the Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors as the second Challenge Cup semi-final took place at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens.

It couldn’t be closer in the league with both sides currently unbeaten after three rounds of the Women’s 2024 Super League and sat in equal top place and just a small separation in achieved points difference.

Leeds have been the defeated finalists in the last two seasons after back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019, while the Cherry & Whites have never made it to a Challenge Cup Final, eighty minutes would lead to elation and heartbreak, but few would be brave enough to call the outcome before the kick-off.

Last years defeated finalists, Hull Kingston Rovers, were looking for a return to Wembley as they faced cup kings and twenty times winners, Wigan Warriors, in the first semi-final in Doncaster.

Hull KR won the 2024 meeting between the two sides at the end of April by a convincing 26-10 scoreline and the Robins came into the game determined to repeat last year’s feat of making it to the final and hopefully going one better than last season.

Wigan were the favourites with the bookies, KR being given an eight-point start on the handicap coupon, the odds perhaps being set based on last week’s Super League results.

 

The first of the weekend’s four Challenge Cup semi-finals got underway on Saturday lunchtime as York Valkyrie took on the holders, St Helens, at the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster in a game which the bookies couldn’t decide on a favourite.

The York side had illness in the camp with several of their star players missing as they cobbled together a side to match the side who have lifted the Women’s Challenge Cup for the last three seasons.

York were victorious in the league meeting between the two sides in round one when they recorded a 20-16 win in a close game, on paper it really was too close to call.

Katherine Jenkins OBE, the biggest selling classical artist of the 21st Century, will sing the National Anthem at Rugby League’s Finals Day at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 8 June.

The Welsh mezzo-soprano will perform before the finals of both the Men’s and Women’s Betfred Challenge Cup, and will also sing Rugby League’s traditional Wembley hymn, Abide With Me, ahead of the Men’s final which kicks off at 3pm.

Neath-born Katherine is cherished as one of Britain’s most acclaimed singers and is one of the world’s most prolific artists in UK Classical chart history.

She officially confirmed her position as the world’s most successful classical singer after she was crowned ‘The Biggest Selling Classical Artist of the Century’ by Classic FM.

It wasn’t a question of who would win the basement encounter between the London Broncos and Hull FC, it was more a question of how many Hull FC would win by as any notion of defeat for the Black and Whites was simply unthinkable.

The bookies were confident in a win for the away side, giving the Broncos a twelve-point start on the coupon, the Airlie Birds only win in 2024 was the last ditch 28-24 victory over todays opponents when the sides met back at the beginning of March.

FC were undefeated in their last twelve meetings with the London side, a stretch meaning that the Broncos moniker has never defeated a Hull FC side.

London simply didn't stand a chance.

 

The Rhinos filled their boots last week against the London Broncos but round eleven saw them with a daunting trip to the south of France to take on a Catalans Dragons side who were looking for the win to rejoin a cluster of clubs at the top of the table on sixteen league points.

A win for Leeds would lift them into the top six, but a big win could see them go ahead of the Dragons and as high as fourth in the table, but the bookies were favouring a home win, giving the visitors a fourteen-point start on the coupon.

Could the Rhinos make it three wins on the trot to find some sort of consistency or would it be the Dragons who would take their second win in their last five outings after a disappointing couple of rounds.

A win by thirty-eight points or more would move the Wigan Warriors into top spot in the table with a game in hand, all that stood in their way at the John Smith’s Stadium was a Huddersfield Giants side who had still not managed to fire on all cylinders and were bubbling just outside the play-off places.

Wigan were the favourites with the bookies to repeat their victory from early March when they beat the Giants by 30-16 at the DW Stadium, but there was little to choose between the sides with just a four-point start for the home side on the coupon.

It was a cracking afternoon for a fast and open game in the early summer sunshine, twenty-minute water breaks agreed between the sides.

It’s just eleven miles between the home stadia of the Leigh Leopards and Salford Red Devils but a massive nine points on the Super League 2024 table as the home side look to build on the single point which they picked up in last weekend’s draw with the Castleford Tigers while Salford knew that a win would keep them joint top of a congested table.

The bookies had made the home side slight favourites for the win and handicapped them by six points on the coupon but the recent news of the departures of Asiata and Hardaker to Hull FC must have caused some disquiet in the ranks.

Salford won the encounter between the two sides in March by 36-24 but despite the gulf in table points, this was likely to be a close encounter.

It was a tasty looking game to open round eleven of Super League 2024 as two of the six sides sharing the top of the table met at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as the second placed Warrington Wolves took on a buoyant Hull Kingston Rovers side who began the night in fourth spot.

One of these sides would be two points clear at the end of eighty minutes while depending on results elsewhere in the round, the other could conceivably drop outside the top six and the all-important play-off places.

Warrington were the slight favourites with the bookies, handicapped four points on the coupon, but there would be no underestimating a Hull KR side which has shocked pundits and delighted their home support with a fantastic start to the season and who ran them very close when the two sides met in March.

Third placed Widnes Vikings were hoping for a large points win over a mid-table Doncaster side as they met in a round seven encounter for which the bookies had made the home side clear favourites with a fourteen point handicap on the coupon.

Both sides came into the game on the back on wins last weekend, Widnes scraping past the Bradford Bulls by a single point but Doncaster with a much more confident win over the league bottom club Dewsbury.

A thirty-six-point victory would put Widnes second, depending on the afternoons other scores a big win could put Doncaster as high as fifth.

Two sides from the wrong end if the 2024 Super League table met in the final game of round ten as the Castleford Tigers went to Leigh Leopards with both sides looking for their third win of the season to cut adrift the pointless London Broncos in last place.

The bookies couldn’t see anything other than a win for the Leopards, giving the visitors a sixteen-point start in the coupon for the first meeting between the two strugglers, mostly in recognition of the way that Leigh demolished the Catalans Dragons last time out just eight days ago.

If Round Ten of Super League had a ‘home banker’ then it must be the home game for the Leeds Rhinos against a London Broncos side who have been unable to register a win all season and who are currently shipping in average in excess of thirty-eight points a game while scoring less than ten.

A big win for the Rhinos could see them into the top half of the table and would serve as some respite for their coach under fire, Rohan Smith, and the bookies were giving the visitors a twenty-eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

Should London grab a win, against all the odds, then the end of the evening could see them in eleventh place in the table should Hull FC sustain a heavy loss against the Warrington Wolves.

Arguably the game of the round was first up on the Thursday night of round ten of SuperLeague 2024 as the Catalans Dragons visited the Wigan Warriors with the top of the table in the sights of both teams as the competition enters it’s middle third of the season.

It was a repeat of the 2023 Grand Final with the Dragons looking to do better than the 10-2 defeat which they suffered at Old Trafford last October, but the bookies had the home side down as favourites by handicapping them twelve points on the coupon before kick-off.

A win of any description would send the Dragons to the top, a win by more than twenty-four points would put the Warriors at the peak of the table.

After a round nine packed with shock outcomes in favour of the underdogs, the confusion in the final fixture of the weekend was to understand whether a Hull FC side who had only won once in the 2024 season, or a Leeds Rhinos side who seem adept at engineering defeats when wins look the most likely outcome, were the real underdogs.

Hull FC gave debuts to new signing Ed Chamberlain and Yusuf Aydin while the Rhinos gave a debut to the nineteen your old Riley Lumb his debut on the wing in place of David Fusitu’a.

The bookies chose Hull FC as the underdogs, handicapping the Rhinos by fourteen points on the coupon and in the week of upsets suggested that it was a cast iron win for the Airlie Birds but a win for neither side would likely improve their current league positions.

Making the short trip to the Salford Community Stadium in Salford, the Warrington Wolves had one eye on the top of the table, but the other looking over their shoulder at Salford in the knowledge that a victory would see them move above St Helens while a reversal of great magnitude could see them drop below their opponents on points difference.

The Wolves were slight favourites for the win with the bookmakers, but the Red Devils were only given a four-point start on the handicap coupon, most commentators were unsure of the outcome with both clubs realistic prospects for a top six finish.

After yesterday’s shock reversals in round nine, anything could happen.

The top of the table beckoned for the Catalans Dragons as they travelled to Leigh to take on a Leopard side who are still looking for their second win of the season as they try to pull away from the sides at the bottom of the table.

Despite the chasm between the two sides on the league table the bookies were struggling to find a favourite but plumped for the visitors but only by handicapping them two points on the coupon, perhaps the premise being that Leigh must gain a win at some point after many close losses.

Leigh are still six points adrift of eighth place Leeds Rhinos but the Dragons knew that a win would lift them to the top of the pile entering round ten next weekend.

After their stunning comeback win against the Rhinos in round eight, the Huddersfield Giants set their sights on the champions St Helens as they travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium for a Thursday evening encounter which could see them move level with three other teams in second place in the league table.

The Giants were the underdogs as Ian Watson’s side took on Paul Wellens troops with the bookies giving the visitors a ten point start on the handicap coupon.

The Saints won big last time out against lowly Hull FC but that victory came on the back of two consecutive losses, but a win of any description would send the red vee back to the top of the pile, at least until the rest of the weekend games take place.

Top placed Wakefield Trinity made the short trip to Mount Pleasant to take on the Batley Bulldogs who started the round in tenth place with just a single win to their name after four games in the 2024 season.

A good win for the Bulldogs could see them into the top half of the table and kick start their season but the bookies were strongly leaning towards a win for Trinity and had given the home side a massive thirty-two points start on the coupon.

The home crowd were full of hope, but low on expectation as the league’s big boys rolled into town on a sunny afternoon with the aim of preserving their perfect start to the season.

Both the Catalans Dragons and Hull Kingston Rovers could finish round eight at the top of the league as they met in the south of France for arguably the tie of the round, the Dragons needing just a win to go two points clear at the top, KR needing to win by a forty-point margin to jump four places.

The bookies favoured a home win, handicapping the Dragons by six points on the coupon, but the Robins are it making up the numbers in 2024 and were looking to take the two points to lift themselves level on league points with the four sides ahead of them.

The atmosphere was electric as the two sides took to the field.

After putting the Rhinos to the sword in round seven, you could find few people who would back against a similar scoreline at the felidae versus canidea encounter between the Wolves and the Leopards which took place on a round eight Saturday afternoon at the Halliwell-Jones.

A Wolves win by twenty-three or more points would see them back above St Helens to the top of the table, at least for a couple of hours until the Dragons played Hull KR in the south of France, while a win for ninth placed Leigh would at least give them some breathing space to the bottom of the table, but it would still leave them four points adrift of eighth placed Leeds Rhinos.

The bookies were predicting a twelve-point win for the home side but in doing so were giving some credit to a Leopards side who are improving week on week but not getting the league points that their efforts deserve.