It´s been one of those seasons for Hull FC where inconsistency has tarnished a good start and has seen them slip out of the play-off positions and into the bottom half of the table.

A win in Round 23 of Super League was now crucial to see them back within shooting distance of the top six, the bad news was that they were facing the Champions as St Helens came into town.

Hull FC had been given a ten point start on the handicap coupon as the bookies favoured St Helens to collect another win which would put them a step closer to sealing the minor premiership.

A win for FC wouldn´t alter their league position, but it would move them level with the Salford Red Devils and within a point of the Leeds Rhinos in sixth spot.

It would all come down to who was the hungriest for the win.

There were different agenda´s for the two sides brought together by Channel 4 for their Saturday lunchtime game as a Huddersfield Giants side, intent on a top two finish, went up against a Salford Red Devils outfit who needed the win to keep in touch with a top six finish.

The Giants were slight favourites with the bookies, but they were with the pundits in struggling to call the winners after a recent run of good performances from the Red Devils.

Ian Watson was up against his former employers, and this was a fixture which he loves to win.

But Red Devils coach Ian Rowley came into the game knowing the importance of the win, a loss making it very difficult for his side to make the six.

One thing was for sure, neither side could complain about the glorious playing conditions.

Danny McGuire spent the week plotting the downfall of his former employers as the stand-in Hull KR coach planned a return to the top six at the cost of a Leeds Rhinos side who were struggling to name a squad of seventeen thanks to their most recent tussle with the disciplinary committee.

The race for the six is really hotting up as the season heads for its conclusion in a few weeks’ time, the Rhinos the current occupiers of the all-important last play-off place but with Salford Red Devils, Hull KR and Hull FC all chasing hard.

The Rhinos were without the services of kicking virtuoso Rhyse Martin through suspension, and the pre-match suspicion was that that could be the difference between the sides, but the Rhinos could call on the services of Zak Hardaker.

The Betfred Challenge Cup Final will return to Wembley Stadium in 2023 – exactly a year to the day on Saturday 12 August.

And, for the first time, the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup Final will be part of Rugby League’s traditional showpiece occasion.

The 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup Final will be the 122nd in the competition’s history and the eightieth to be held at Wembley Stadium, while the women’s competition will be in its eleventh year.

The AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final and Year 7 Champion Schools will also be part of finals day.

There was plenty to play for as Warrington wolves took on Toulouse Olympique XIII in a relegation dogfight at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium with the French side still looking for their first non-Magic away win of the season but knowing that Warrington were in freefall and ripe for the taking.

A win for Toulouse would likely lift them back off the floor of the table and over Wakefield Trinity, but a win for the Wolves would edge them a step closer to safety as they would then open a six-point lead over the bottom side.

Toulouse were taking a drink in the last chance saloon.

The sixth play off place was up for grabs as the Leeds Rhinos took on the Salford Red Devils at Headingley Stadium.

Salford are the current incumbents but a win for the Rhinos would lift them from ninth into sixth and push their opponents back down to seventh.

Both sides had decent results last time out with the Red Devils beating St Helens and the Rhinos performing a miracle fightback to beat the Catalans Dragons with twelve men after being demolished in the first half.

It was an intriguing fixture with little to choose between the two sides on paper.

After suffering a big loss to the Salford Red Devils last time out, Champions and Champions elect St Helens were looking for a win which would move them within touching distance of the minor premiership as they took on the Castleford Tigers at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

The Tigers needed the win themselves to further stake their claim to a top six finish and a shot at the play-offs, a loss would leave them still battling against several other sides for the last couple of play-off places available.

The bookies were in no doubt as to who would be collecting the two points, the Tigers given a fourteen point start on the handicap coupon with Saints expected to win comfortably.

Second placed Wigan Warriors needed to pick up a win against third bottom Warrington Wolves to continue to delay fierce rivals St Helens being crowned as Super League minor premiers, while a victory for Warrington would halt their slide towards the relegation zone.

Warrington haven´t won on their last three outings whereas the Warriors have won two out of their last three and in doing so averaged over fifty points a game against the two Hull sides.

Wigan were strong favourites with the Wolves getting a fourteen-point start on the handicap coupon.

Warrington had to turn the corner of their 2022 season at some point, and where better than Wigan to do it, but it turned out that Wigan were in no mood for giving up the chase of top spot.

Toulouse made the trip to East Yorkshire to take on Danny McGuire´s Hull KR side knowing that a win by four points or more would lift them off the bottom of the table, and throw the challenge back to Wakefield Trinity as the battle to avoid relegation continues.

But Hull KR also had their own points agenda.

A thirty-point win would see them up to seventh in the table, putting pressure on their Black and White neighbours, but a loss would likely see them drift further from the play off places come the end of the weekend.

KR were given an eight-point handicap on the coupon, the bookies expecting them to condemn Toulouse Olympique XIII to their seventeenth loss of the season.

Two sides separated by just over twenty miles down the M62, but by a gulf in difference in recent achievement, met at the AJ Bell Stadium as Salford Red Devils took on St Helens in the final game of an incredible round twenty-one of Super League 2022.

St Helens were the bookies favourites, but comfortably in top position and playing the side in eighth, they perhaps might have expected more than a ten-point deficit on the handicap coupon.

A win for Saints would move them within a point of securing the minor premiership, but a victory for the home side would lift them up two places and into the play-offs.

The final game of the Summer Bash at Headingley faw first take on second in a game billed as 'the main event' – a match that had neutrals salivating with Leigh having come into their own after an early season which saw Featherstone dominate the league.

Rovers coach Brian McDermott had no doubts about the game he was facing, naming four forwards on his interchange bench.

The Catalans Dragons were intent on taking back their third spot, lost earlier in the afternoon to the Huddersfield Giants, as they welcomed the Leeds Rhinos to a hostile Stade Gilbert Brutus under the still hot, but waning, south of France summer sun.

A win for Leeds would lift them to seventh in the table, just a single point behind Hull FC inside the play-off places, but with the Rhinos getting a six-point start in the handicap coupon, the bookies were leaning towards a win for the home side.

It was a strong looking side named by Steve McNamara but Rohan Smith´s side were without Blake Austin and David Fusitu´a.

It was a famous old name from the glory days of Super League's start taking on an also-ran from those days who dropped out in disarray back in 2003.

But at the the Championship's Summer Bash in 2022, it was Bradford Bulls who are the club in disarray while Halifax Panthers entered the game as a top-four club in everyone's sights

Two sides looking to make amends after losses last weekend came together for a Saturday afternoon clash as fourth placed Huddersfield Giants took on a Warrington Wolves side who were defying the early season optimism and lying in in a most Warrington-unlike third from bottom.

A Giants win would lift them up to third spot, at least for a few hours, but while a win for the visitors would help alleviate their relegation worries it would not improve their league position.

The bookies were erring on the side of a Giants win, having given the Wolves a six-point start on the coupon, but they were far from convinced that this would be a bad afternoon for the Cheshire side and while it might not be their year in 2022, this might be their week.

There was simply no option for Willie Poching´s Wakefield Trinity, they had to beat the Castleford Tigers in tonight’s round twenty-one game.

But Lee Radford also needed the win for his side who were looking to consolidate their position in the top six and pull further clear of the chasing pack.

The Tigers were strong favourites with the bookies, Wakefield getting a fourteen-point start on the handicap coupon but sometimes surprises are borne out of desperation and the Trinity fans came into the game hoping that this might be one as they made the short journey to the Jungle looking for their first victory over the Tigers since 2015.

In a game of vital importance for both sides, a severely wounded Hull FC travelled to the south of France to take on a Toulouse Olympique XIII side who are showing signs that they might perform the Super League equivalent of a Houdini escape and avoid relegation to the Championship.

FC took a mauling at the hands of the Castleford Tigers last time out but last nights heavy defeat for arch-rivals Hull KR at the hands of the Wigan Warriors saw them move up to seventh spot in the table, and with a chance to make the top six with a win in the early evening kick off.

The bookies were struggling to split the two sides for what promised to be a classic, Toulouse slight favourites with FC getting a two-point start on the coupon.

Hull KR faced a daunting trip to Wigan to take on a Warriors side who are still in second place despite being taken apart by the Leeds Rhinos last Thursday.

KR picked up a win over a struggling Warrington Wolves side last time out which was a big confidence boost for the side under the temporary stewardship of Danny McGuire.

The bookies couldn´t see beyond a bounce back win for the Warriors and they game the Robins a twenty-four-point start in the handicap coupon, but as we push towards settling the end of season play-off places there have been some strange results across the Super League.

Would this be one of the strange ones, the usual hordes making the journey from Hull hoped so.

Round Twenty of the Betfred Championship saw a few shocks as the sides continued to jockey for play-off spots and to avoid relegation to League One.

The weekend started on Saturday evening as Newcastle Thunder faced Dewsbury Rams.

The remainder of the games were on Sunday afternoon, a delayed kick off at Sheffield after the Workington team were delayed on the journey down to South Yorkshire.

The remainder were three o´clock kick offs as Barrow hosted Bradford, Widnes travelled to Batley, London faced High flying Halifax, Leigh were at strugglers Whitehaven, and Featherstone at home to the York City Knights.

With Toulouse Olympique XIII going down in a close game with the Salford Red Devils on Saturday, Willie Poching´s Wakefield Trinity side had the ideal opportunity to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.

The only snag was that they had to get a win against the most dominant side in Super League, defending Champions and Champions elect St Helens.

It was top against bottom.

Optimism was in short supply amongst the Wakefield supporters, and the bookies agreed as they gave the home side a fourteen-point start on the coupon, all expectations were that Trinity´s position at the bottom would continue and they would see a worsening of their points difference.

The sides took the field in miserable conditions as the rain fell.

Two sides looking anxiously over their shoulders at the chasing pack met to see who would further their claim for a play-off spot, and who would be vulnerable to being caught, as Hull FC took on their former coach as Castleford Tigers made the trip east.

A victory by more than thirty-six points would lift the home side above the visitors and into fifth in the league table, but a loss for the Airlie Birds would see them potentially dropping out of the six, depending on results elsewhere.

The bookies could barely split the two sides, making the Tigers the slight favourites, but only with a two-point difference on the handicap coupon.

It promised to be an entertaining battle.