The Championship clubs entered the mix as the third-round draw for the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup took place tonight at Featherstone.

The games will all be played over the weekend of the 10th to 12th March with the BBC selecting one game for live stream while The Sportsman will show a second game.

The pick of the ties saw the hosts of tonight’s draw Featherstone picked out against the Halifax Panthers in a mouth-watering tie which is likely to be picked up by one of the broadcasters.

Hull Dockers from the National Conference League were hopeful of claiming the scalp of League One side the Midlands Hurricanes when the two sides met for a second round Challenge Cup fixture at the home of Hull KR, Craven Park.

The Dockers hammered the Rhondda Outlaws in the first round a fortnight ago and were hoping that they could inflict the same misery on the Hurricanes that Rochdale Hornets had last year when they eliminated them from the Challenge Cup in the second round.

The Hurricanes were the favourites, but a decent Sunday afternoon turnout were hopeful of an upset.

Saint Helens - now officially the 'Best Team in the World' after last week's World Club Challenge win over Penrith Panthers Down Under – got down to Super League business in Castleford Tigers' Wheldon Road stadium the Jungle.

What effect the trip to Sydney and back, plus the match against the Australian Premiers, would have on the team was the big question.

One obvious effect was the absence of stand-out hooker James Roby, replaced by new signing Darcy Lussick.

The Tigers went into the tie with a new half-back pairing for the season in Gareth Widdop and former Wakefield scrum half Jacob Miller.

 

There was a real chance of a cup upset as Rochdale Mayfield from the Premier division of the National League made the six and a half hour journey to Cornwall to take on the Betfred League One side who managed just one win in their league competition last season.

It was Cornwall´s first time in the competition after they failed to enter last season, Rochdale Mayfield were looking to emulate their performances from last season when they eventually lost to Doncaster in the third round after beating Wigan St Pats and West Hull.

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.

Two sides with opening round wins came together for the Thursday night televised game on Sky as the Salford Red Devils welcomed Hull KR to the AJ Bell for their first home game of the season.

The Red Devils had Burgess back in the side after he missed last week´s game against Leigh, while the visitors were without first choice goal kicker Lachlan Coote and veteran winger Ryan Hall but could call on the services of Shaun Kenny-Dowall who scored a hat-trick last time out against Wigan.

Salford were odds on for the win with the bookies, KR being given a ten point start on the handicap coupon.

The winners would spend the evening at the top of the table.

It´s been a fantastic, almost unparalleled, weekend for Super League.

A Super League side was crowned best in the world after St Helens went down under and against all the odds and predictions beat the mighty Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge with a sensational drop goal in Golden Point extra time win.

Crowds were up for the opening weekend with tremendous turnouts at Warrington, Hull KR, Hull FC and Leigh Leopards with some great games for them to enjoy.

TV audiences were great too with Channel 4 peaking at almost half a million viewers during the Hull KR versus Wigan Warriors game.

Tony Smith´s coaching reign of his fifth Super League club got underway at Hull FC in the final game of round one as his new side took on a Castleford Tigers side coached by ex-FC boss Lee Radford.

Neither side were fancied pre-season by the bookies or pundits and came into the game anxious for a great start to calm nerves and get their supporters onside for the long season ahead.

For this game the bookies made FC the slight favourites but only gave the Tigers a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Once again it was a large opening round crowd which greeted the sides to the pitch.

With the whole nation still buzzing from the morning´s brilliant Saints victory over the Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors went into battle in round one of the Super League as they got their 2023 campaigns underway in Channel 4´s first televised Super League game of the year.

It was new coach Willie Peters first game in charge of the Robins, their supporters full of hope that this would be a new dawn as they took up the quest for silverware.

With one successful season under his belt, including the Challenge Cup win, Matt Peet knows that 2023 is the year he will be judged on how well he challenges the St Helens monopoly.

It was a big Craven Park turnout and a great atmosphere.

It was the battle of the hemispheres, the cream of the NRL against Super League´s top cat as Aussie Champions Penrith Panthers hosted the dominators of the British game St Helens for the World Club Challenge.

Due to COVID this is the first time that the challenge has been played since 2020, when Saints lost out to the Sydney Roosters at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

Saints hadn´t won a WCC since 2007 when they beat the Brisbane Broncos by 18-14 while Penrith were still seeking their first victory after suffering defeats in 1991 and 2004 to Wigan and Bradford.

The home side were big favourites for the win with few pundits giving the Saints any chance of even getting near their opponents.

After spending 2022 in the Betfred Championship, Leigh are back in Super League with a brand new moniker after a rebranding exercise over the winter saw them renamed as the Leopards, owner Derek Beaumont´s favourite animal.

Leigh have spent big on players and have every intention on shrugging off their ´yo-yo´ club reputation and maintaining their position in the topflight for the foreseeable future and many pundits think that their current squad will be up to the task.

Tonight´s round one fixture at the Leigh Sports Village saw them taking on near neighbours the Salford Red Devils who are under the stewardship of Paul Rowley who continues to build and improve his understated outfit.

The rugby league community is saddened by the news of the passing of former first grade referee, and match commissioner John Holdsworth who passed away today at the age of seventy six.

Those of us who can remember the game prior to Super League will recall the immortal words over the tannoy, ´Referee John Holdsworth from Kippax´ as he took to the middle of the field and raised the ball aloft, often to good natured booing from all sides of the ground.

The nemesis of many a forward John refereed with authority and good humour which illustrated his great love for the game.

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.

York and Bradford met each other to conclude the second round of the rugby league Betfred Championship at the Yorkshire county town’s LNER Community Stadium last night.

Newly promoted York were looking to make their mark on the competition, having lost last week to Widnes, while fielding three teenagers.

The Bulls were seeking a two-from-two start to the new season.

After a terrific opening round of the Challenge Cup, the line-up for the second round, to be played over the weekend of the 25th and 26th February, is now set as some of the semi-professional sides from Betfred Championship One join the competition against the pick of the remaining community sides.

This is the round of potential giant-killing if any of those Championship One sides come into the competition undercooked, plenty of coaches looking to avoid potential banana skins.

It was a journey of six hours and a round trip of nearly seven hundred miles as the London Broncos headed to the northwest to take on Whitehaven RLFC in the second round of the 2023 Betfred Championship with both sides seeking their first two points of their 2023 campaign after opening week losses.

Alex Bishop withdrew from the home side´s line-up after the early warmup which forced coach Jonty Corley to make several small adjustments to his side, Mike Eccles was able to start the game with his chosen seventeen.

Two sides with home grounds separated by under a mile to the east of Wigan were thrown together in a first round of the Challenge Cup as Wigan St Patricks took on Ince Rose Bridge for the honour of travelling to Workington to take on the Championship One side in the second round.

Ince Rose Bridge were underdogs, travelling the short distance to play the game but also plying their trace in Division One of the National Conference rather than the Premier division currently occupied by St Patricks.

There was a big crowd in attendance to witness the action.

The game´s amateur clubs were forced into the limelight as the first round of the Challenge Cup took place over the second weekend in February.

The game which the BBC selected for transmission sent them north of the border as the Edinburgh Eagles went head-to-head with one of the games great stalwarts, Saddleworth Rangers.

A round trip of five hundred miles signalled an early start for the Lancastrians as they embarked for Royal High School in the western outskirts of the Scottish capital, the prize was a second-round tie at home to Thatto Heath Crusaders in the second round.

Three 2023 Betfred Super League competitions have been officially launched in Manchester today – with Sky Sports confirming exclusive live coverage of the Grand Finals of the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Super Leagues this autumn.

For the first time, the season launch at the Museum of Science and Industry incorporated the Women’s and Wheelchair Super Leagues – building on the success and inclusion of last autumn’s Rugby League World Cup, and staged a drop kick away from Manchester Central, the venue for England’s thrilling victory in the Wheelchair tournament.

Two hopefuls for play off places, and Betfred Championship rivals, got their 2023 competitive seasons underway with an encounter at the LNER Stadium in York as York RLFC Knights took on the Widnes Vikings for the first points of the season.

York acknowledged that they were a bit ‘underdone’ in pre-season and were selecting from a small squad as a recruitment drive continues but it was a Widnes outfit packed full of household names with experienced players and a sprinkling of new signings.