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.

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.

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.

Fourth took on seventh as two sides tied on six points in the fledgling table met at Craven Park in the televised Friday night game with the home side installed as slight favourites with the bookies and giving the Rhinos a two point start on the handicap coupon.

With St Helens taking on bottom side Wakefield the likelihood was that either of these two sides would need a big winning margin to end the night in fourth on points difference, but both would probably settle for the top half of the table after round seven.

KR welcomed back Jordan Abdull to their line up but were without Shaun Kenny-Dowall, while the Rhinos were without Richie Myler and Nene MacDonald while they gave a debut to Luke Hooley at full back and welcomed Mikael Oledzki back into the side.

One of the two remaining Super League one-hundred-percenters, the Catalans Dragons, took on a Round Six trip to Emerald Headingley to take on a Leeds Rhinos side who suffered defeat at the hands of Castleford Tigers last weekend as they continued their indifferent start to the new campaign.

A win by forty-seven points or more would lift the Dragons above Warrington on points difference and into top spot in the table, while a win by forty points or more would see the Rhinos above Hull KR and into fourth spot.

In reality, neither winning margin was likely.

The Dragons were slight favourites with the bookies, but they were struggling to find much difference between the two sides, the Rhinos only getting a measly two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Just when you thought that things couldn´t get any worse for winless second bottom side Castleford Tigers; they announce that they have lost mercurial utility-back Jake Mamo to a career ending back injury; and then they have to face a Leeds Rhinos side who arrived at the Jungle for the derby game on the back of two wins as they look to continue their good form after a disappointing start to their season.

A win for the Rhinos would lift them to third in the table ahead of the rest of the weekend games and a win by twenty-three or more points would push the Tigers into bottom spot on points difference.

The Tigers needed a ninety-six point victory to raise them up by a single place in the table.

The Rhinos were favourites with the bookies but only just, the home side having been given an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

As winter shook it´s angry fist at the north of England for the first time in 2023, the Rhinos had taken all necessary precautions to ensure that tonight´s match against bottom of the table Wakefield Trinity would be able to go ahead despite ample snow covering the side roads surrounding Headingley Stadium.

Wakefield came into the game still seeking their opening win of the new campaign while the Rhinos were looking to double up after their sensational last-gasp victory over World Club Champions St Helens in the last round at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

The bookies could see only one winner, giving Trinity a sixteen-point start on the coupon, but the Rhinos went into the game fully aware that they were massive underdogs last time out and still came away with the points.

Saints returned to the Totally Wicked Stadium for their first home game of 2023 after being crowned as the best side in the World as they faced the Leeds Rhinos in a repeat of the 2022 Grand Final.

Few could conceive of anything other than a Saints win, and most would predict that the margin of victory would be substantial after the Rhinos had started the season with back-to-back losses, Saints despatching the Castleford Tigers with some ease last Sunday.

The bookies favoured Saints and gave the Rhinos a fourteen-point start on the coupon, most observers thinking that this was a little over respectful to Rohan Smith´s side.

After suffering an opening round defeat at the hands of the Warrington Wolves, the Rhinos had a second-round home match with Hull FC as they looked to spoil the Airlie Birds winning start to the season and pick up two points of their own to boost the Headingly faithful.

Rohan Smith made two changes to his side from last week bringing Nene Macdonald in for his debut and starting with Cameron Smith in the thirteen.

Tony Smith made just one positional switch to his winning side, with Joe Lovodua coming into the starting line-up, and Chris Satae dropping to the bench.

Leeds were slight favourites with the bookies, FC being given a four-point start on the handicap coupon.

We´re back, Super League 2023 got underway at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington as the Wolves took on the Rhinos some one-hundred and forty-five days since St Helens lifted the Super League Grand Final Trophy at the culmination of the 2022 season.

Daryl Powell knew that he needed a good start to the season to get the fans onside but was rocked by the lengthy suspension of new signing Josh McGuire before the thirty-two year old had even played a single minute of competitive rugby.

Leeds coach Rohan Smith was also looking for a good start, but after performing miracles last season in lifting the Rhinos from relegation prospects to Grand Finalists, time would be on his side if things didn´t go to plan in the early rounds.

One of Superleague’s fiercest rivalries was reignited at the Emerald Headingley Stadium this afternoon as the Leeds Rhinos took on the Bradford Bulls in a pre-season friendly match, the inaugural Keith Howard Foundation Trophy.

Mark Dunning´s side had a tough task ahead as Leeds coach Rohan Smith named a side with a blend of youth and experienced as he continued to tinker with the fringes of his squad after last weekend´s defeat to the Leigh Leopards.

The Bulls outing last weekend against the Huddersfield Giants fell foul of the big freeze, so this was a final opportunity ahead of their start to the regular season against Whitehaven next Sunday.

The ground in front of the Western Terrace looked more like a sandpit than a rugby field as the two sides took to the field on a cold winter afternoon.

Leeds Rhinos will launch their defence of the Betfred Women’s Super League with a repeat of the 2022 Grand Final against the renamed York Valkyrie at Headingley on Easter Sunday, April 9.

The match will be the first part of a double header, followed by the Rhinos men taking on Huddersfield Giants at 6pm.

That is a stand-alone opening fixture for the BWSL season, with the other 10 clubs kicking off on Sunday April 16 – when York have another heavyweight clash against St Helens, the 2022 Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup winners, at the LNER Community Stadium.

Despite freezing temperatures overnight, the undersoil heating at Emerald Headingley ensured that the traditional Boxing Day game between the Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity was never in doubt and a crowd still stuffed with Christmas treats, and some nursing slightly sore heads, made their way into the ground.

Leeds’ squad included new signings Justin Sangare, Derrell Olpherts, and James McDonnell and whilst there is a welcome return from injury for Morgan Gannon and Tom Holroyd, who all missed the end of last season on the side-lines.

It was also a strong Wakefield side named by new coach Mike Applegarth with a good mix of senior players and those looking to break into the first team ahead of the 2023 season including two new signings, Renouf Atoni and Morgan Smith.

The Rhinos have won three quarters of the Boxing Day challenges against Wakefield, including last year when Leeds win by 34-6.

New Zealand warmed up for the World Cup with a Bartercard International Challenge against Super League Grand Finalists Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley.

The two sides last met in 2015 as a warmup before New Zealand played a three match test series against England.

On that occasion the Kiwis ran out as 34-16 winners after leading by 10-6 at the interval.

On the score board for Leeds were Joel Moon with two tries and Tom Briscoe with Jordan Lilley kicking two goals.

The bookies had given the Rhinos, and their returning guests, a twenty-four point start on the handicap coupon, even without a host of Grand Finalists who were rested ahead of the opening World Cup fixture.

With the build up to the twenty-fifth Super League Grand Final being overshadowed by Saints inedible chicken wings, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos made their way to Old Trafford for another great showdown between the two most successful sides in Super League history.

Whoever lifted the trophy would create a fairy-tale ending.

A Saints victory would signal a record fourth consecutive year as Champions and ensure that their name is writ large in the pages of our great games record books.

A win for the Rhinos would be a sensational end to a season which had seem them staring down the barrel of relegation before the mid-season arrival of inspirational coach Rohan Smith.

Most of the neutrals were backing the underdogs in Blue and Amber, but the bookies fancied the Saints and handicapped them by six points on the coupon.

The Rhinos have never lost to Saints at Old Trafford, the last meeting being in 2011, but that wouldn´t have crossed Kristian Woolf´s mind as he plotted their downfall and sought to make sure that it would be one game too far for the Rhinos resurgence.

After taking the scalp of St Helens in last weeks semi-final, the Leeds Rhinos Women joined the York City Knights Women on a journey over the Pennines to the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens for the 2022 Women´s Super League Grand Final.

It was the fourth season in a row that Leeds had made it to the Grand Final, having won on one of the three previous occasions, losing out to St Helens in 2021 on their last attempt.

By contrast it was York´s first appearance in the showpiece event after topping the league table and being defeated just once in this year’s campaign.

The City Knights were slight favourites for the win with the bookies but there was little to choose between two great sides in the competition.

The omens didn´t look perfect for, the soon to be departed, Kristian Wolf as his Saints side sought their fourth consecutive Grand Final and a trip to Old Trafford to face their season finale nemesis, the Leeds Rhinos, next weekend.

The Salford Red Devils came into the game on a fantastic run of form, having clinically despatched the Huddersfield Giants last weekend after humiliating them on their own ground.

Paul Rowley´s side were looking for their second trip to a Grand Final, having lost out to today’s opposition in 2019, but would have to do it without the services of star man Brodie Croft.

Despite the loss of Alex Walmsley, the bookies still fancied Saints for the win and had given the Red Devils an eight point start on the handicap coupon, but most supporters and pundits were struggling to call the result for what had all the hallmarks of a classic battle.

Fifth-placed Leeds continued their march through the play-offs with a semi-final visit to second-placed Wigan on Friday night, with a berth in the Betfred Super Legue Grand Final itself at stake.

The Rhinos have made a tradition of sneaking into the play-offs from unpromising positions, and this year has been no different, winning their spot by beating fellow early season relegation contenders Castleford in the last regular round.

But could they do it again, or would the Warriors put an end to their hopes?

As a nation mourned the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, the Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos donned their black armbands, observed a minute’s silence, and took to the field in a subdued south of France for the first of the 2022 Super League playoff series games as fourth played fifth.

The Dragons were back at full strength after resting their entire squad last weekend against Wigan, and notably had Sam Tomkins back in their side at full back, their talisman returning.

Leeds were without the suspended Rhyse Martin and Harry Newman wasn´t fit enough to make the seventeen, despite being named in the squad of twenty-one.

The Dragons were the clear favourites with the bookies but with the Rhinos only given an eight point start on the handicap coupon they thought it would be closer than many pundits as well as the more pessimistic Rhinos fans.