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.

The two best sides in the women’s game over recent years were forced into a semi-final battle at Emerald Headingley as Leeds Rhinos took on St Helens for a place against York City Knights in the Grand Final in a fortnights time.

A place in the flagship event in the women’s game was up for grabs in a final which will be played at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens on the 18^th September.

The two sides have met three times this season, Saints taking the honours on two occasions and the Rhinos with one win.

The last meeting was at the start of last month when Saints ran out as 30/22 winners.

Saints finished two points ahead of Leeds in the final league table and were favourites to pick up the win and make progress.

A twenty-seven game 2022 Super League season came down to a single game for the Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers as they met in a play off for the play offs as sixth placed hosted seventh at the Emerald Headingley Stadium with a victory prolonging the season for the winners and most likely sending them to the south of France next weekend.

The bookies fancied the Rhinos to get the points against a Castleford side decimated by injuries and on a downward spiral of form after they were ´sitting pretty´ earlier on in the season.

The bookies gave the visitors a fourteen point start on the handicap coupon despite Castleford having won two out of the three previous meetings this season, including giving the Rhinos an early exit from the Challenge Cup.

With Salford Red Devils having taken the Castleford Tigers to the cleaners earlier in the afternoon, the Leeds Rhinos knew that a win in the south of France against the Catalans Dragons would ensure that they would be experiencing play off football in 2022.

A loss would make next Saturday´s final round clash with the Castleford Tigers a play off for the play offs, with a winner takes all scenario.

But Leeds coach Rohan Smith went into the game hoping to get the job done a week early and leave the last weekend as a tussle for places inside the six rather than in the six.

The Dragons have win just once in their last three outings while the Rhinos went into the game on the back of six successive wins, including a 36-32 win in Perpignan.

But Steve McNamara wasn´t going to make it easy for Leeds and named a strong side for the game, the bookies giving the Rhinos an eight point start on the handicap coupon.

 

A bumper six days of bank holiday rugby league started on Wednesday night with a game between the Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants with plenty at stake.

A win for the Rhinos would move them one step closer to ensuring a top six finish, while a Giants victory would move them back to within a point of second spot, the Wigan Warriors back in the crosshairs.

The Rhinos came into the game on the back of a five-game winning run while Huddersfield had a convincing win over the Tigers last week after a small hiccup the round before against the Castleford Tigers.

The bookies had gone with home advantage, but by the narrowest of margins, giving the Giants a two point start in the handicap coupon.

Few could choose between the sides and a cracking contest in front of the SKY TV cameras was promised.

It´s round twenty-four and in 2022 the crucial games just keep on coming.

Tonight’s game at Emerald Headingley had the Leeds Rhinos needing a win to move above the Castleford Tigers into fifth spot, while Warrington Wolves came into the game knowing that a victory would guarantee their survival in the topflight after an awful season, so long as Wigan beat Toulouse.

Leeds coach Rohan Smith was relieved that he had Sezer, Bentley, Martin and Prior all back in his line up, softening the blow that the inspirational Harry Newman was out for the rest of the season.

Daryl Powell was without talisman Stefan Ratchford due to concussion protocols and was forced into giving debuts to Luke Thomas and Adam Holroyd, both on the bench, as he battled his own injury crisis.

The bookies thought that the points were the Rhinos, on the back of a four-game winning run, as they gave the Wolves a ten point start on the coupon after they had only registered one win in their last five outings, and that against the bottom side Toulouse Olympique XIII.

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 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.

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.

Round twenty of Super League means that there are just eight more games to the play-offs, eight more games for new Rhinos coach Rohan Smith to pull his side out of the bottom half of the table in what is looking like an increasingly unlikely scenario.

It also means eight games for Wigan Warriors to try and chase down a St Helens side who are in danger of edging out of sight at the top of the pile.

There were two changes for Matt Peets Warriors as Joe Shorrocks and Mike Cooper replaced Mago and O´Neill, the Rhinos had Zak Hardaker, Liam Sutcliffe, Harry Newman, Muizz Mustapha and debutant Yusef Aydin in their seventeen after losing last time out in Toulouse.

The bookies couldn´t see past a Warriors win, and neither could the pundits, or for that matter most Rhinos fans.

After their Magical win over Wakefield Trinity last weekend the smell of Super League survival was strong in the nostrils of Toulouse Olympique XIII as they welcomed a Leeds Rhinos side missing a few of their stars and dreamed what extra pressure another two points would put on the sides above them.

Toulouse were unchanged from their victorious side of a week ago whereas the Rhinos were without the services of Zak Hardaker, Aidan Sezer, Matt Prior and late withdrawal through illness who all added to an increasing list of unavailable Leeds personnel.

The bookies had made the Rhinos slight favourites to take the points but only gave the home side a four-point start on the handicap coupon.

This was the fourth meeting between the two sides, but the first on French soil, the Rhinos having win the previous three.