With Queensland one game up in the three-game series, round two headed for the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane as the excitement reached fever pitch for the second game of the 2023 State of Origin series.

The coaches each made four changes to their line-ups with Maroons Billy Slater adding AJ Brimson, Jeremiah Nanai, Moeaki Fotuaika and Xavier Coates to his side, Brad Fittler drafting in Damien Cook, Mitchell Moses, Reece Robson and Stefano Utoikamanu into his seventeen.

But it was the absentees this time which were of most note with Arrow, Cobbo and Dearden missing out for Queensland while Cleary, Hynes, Koroisau and Pangai Junior were all out for the Blues.

Queensland were narrow favourites with the bookies to get the series win, with a four-point handicap on the coupon, but most neutrals were hoping for a Blues win to take the series into an exciting third game.

Venues and broadcast details for the semi-finals of both the Men’s and Women’s Betfred Challenge Cups can now be confirmed, with double-headers at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday 22 July and Headingley Stadium, Leeds, on Sunday 23.

On Saturday 22 both Saints teams will be in action at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, following their respective semi-final victories at the weekend.

St Helens Women play York Valkyrie (KO 11-45am), while the Men face Leigh Leopards (KO 2-30pm).

And both Wigan Warriors sides are involved in the following day’s (Sunday 23 July) Betfred Challenge Cup double-header at Headingley Stadium, where Warriors Women take on Leeds Rhinos (KO 2-15pm) and the Men play Hull KR (KO 5pm).

Few people gave Championship side York RLFC Knights any chance of making progress in the Challenge Cup as they welcomed high flying Super League side Leigh Leopards to the LNER Community Stadium.

York coach Andrew Henderson had a long injury list which left him without the services of half a dozen first team choices, while Leigh’s Adrian Lam could pick an almost unchanged side, although he was without the injured Edwin Ipape and Ricky Leutele.

The last time these two sides met was in the Championship play-offs at the end of last season when York were massacred by Leigh, the suspicion was that it would be a similar outcome in the last quarter final with a game against St Helens the prize for the winners.

With Hull KR and St Helens already safely into the semi-finals of the 2023 Challenge Cup, arguably the tie of the round pitted Wigan Warriors against the Warrington Wolves with the third place up for grabs in a game which is too close to call.

Wigan had the home advantage and the bookies handicapped them by four points on the coupon, favouring a win for the side in sixth pace over the one currently second in the table.

Warrington arrived with an unchanged side from last week’s narrow win over the Huddersfield Giants and they knew that they would need to be at their best to beat a speedy Wigan side and the dual threat of Field and French.

The draw for the semi-finals of the Men’s and Women’s 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup took place at the DW Stadium at half time during the Wigan Warriors against Warrington Wolves quarter final game on Sunday afternoon.

At the time of the draw, only two sides were certain of their place, that was Hull KR and St Helens who both made it through their ties yesterday against Salford and Hull FC respectively.

The draws were made by Kevin Brown (Women's), Lois Forsell (Men's)

With one Hull side safely through to the semi-finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup the spotlight now fell on the black and white side of the city as they had the toughest of challenges in a game against a St Helens side who are on a great run of good form and heading to the top of the table.

The bookies had given the Airlie Birds a ten-point start on the coupon and were confident that it would be St Helens who would progress through to the semi-finals, but this is the Challenge Cup and anything could happen in a one-off game.

FC were without a concussed Jake Clifford, a big loss in the centre of the field and having a tremendous season, Jake Hoy drafted into the halves with young Davy Litten getting his first game of the season at full back.

It was a ten-point victory for the Salford Red Devils when the two sides met at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle a fortnight ago, but Hull KR would be hoping to put that defeat behind them and make progress into the semi-finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup as the two sides met at Craven Park in the opening game of an action packed weekend of quarter finals games.

For most people it was too close to call, the bookies giving the visitors a slight edge and awarding Hull KR a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Hull KR came into the game with enforced changes including the absence of injured Lachlan Coote who was replaced by debutant Tanguy Zenon, but Salford named the same eighteen that emerged victorious from the game in Newcastle.

The quarter finals of the 2023 Betfred Challenge Sup take place this weekend with all four games being broadcast with two on the BBC and two on ViaPlay Sports channel.

The BBC games are, of course, free to air.

There are two games on Saturday afternoon, the first kicking off at noon as Hull KR take on Salford, while the opening game on Sunday is Wigan versus Warrington at two-thirty.

We look forward at the fixtures and who we think will progress into the semi-finals.

I enjoy conspiracy theories.

That is not to say I often believe them but there is a pleasure to be taken in their complexities and contortions.

What they tell us about their proponents and how we all look for patterns in the chaos can be interesting too.

For example, I tend to believe that the works generally credited to William Shakespeare were written by him (with caveats around widely accepted collaborations).

However, that many people prefer, and sometimes make quite compelling cases for, other authorship candidates reflects the evolution of the concept of authorship, differing attitudes to class and formal education, the phenomenon of bardolatry, and the unevenness of our historical record.

Neither Wakefield Trinity nor Leeds Rhinos could improve their league position as a result of a win this afternoon at Belle Vue but for the home side it would be a first win of the season and reduce the arrears to the Tigers, for the visitors it would keep alive their hopes of a play-off spot and bring Hull KR’s seventh spot into focus.

Leeds were big favourites for the win with the bookies having given Trinity sixteen points start on the coupon but with a big partisan crowd expected, along with plenty making the short journey down the A650 to cheer on a Rhinos side who can´t decide whether they are brilliant or rubbish, and who display both traits in near equal measure.

Women’s Super League had a lunchtime kick off at the Totally Wicked Stadium where fourth placed Group One side St Helens had a repeat of Friday night´s men’s fixture as they took on a Wigan Warriors side in second place and chasing down an unbeaten York Valkyrie at the top of the table.

Saints lost their opening round match to the league leaders but then beat the Leeds Rhinos in the second-round while Wigan drew with Warrington in their opening match, beating the Huddersfield Giants by ten points in round two.

There was little to choose between the two sides for this local derby match and it looked like an even encounter on paper.

Warrington Wolves were eyeing a return to the top of Super League, for an hour at least, as they took on a struggling Huddersfield Giants side who themselves needed a win to go ahead of Hull FC in the 2023 league table.

The bookies had the Wolves as strong favourites for the win and had handicapped them by ten points the coupon despite them having lost on their last two outings.

The sides met way back in round two when the Wolves won by ten points in a close game, todays encounter promised to be a little more one-sided.

It was a warm afternoon as the two sides took to the field.

Show me a true rugby league supporter who says that they don’t love a Saints versus Wigan derby, and I’ll show you a liar.

Whether you’re a Warrior or a Saint and hoping that your side will win the most important bragging rights, or a neutral who just likes to see two of the best sides in the game batter one another for the two points.

Wigan won when the two sides met back on Good Friday, but Saints have shown a marked improvement since then and a win today would lift the home side above their arch enemy and into third place in the table, two points behind the league leaders Catalans and Warrington.

Saints have won four on the bounce, while Wigan got thumped last time out against the Catalans Dragons at the Magic Weekend, and as a result the bookies were giving the Red Vee an eight-point handicap on the coupon.

This weekend in Newcastle saw what was, potentially, the last Magic Weekend, should the IMG proposals be implemented in full.

IMG would like to replace the weekend with ‘something else’ as yet unspecified, and it appears that the British rugby league public voted with their feet as they supported the event and by all accounts had a fabulous weekend.

There was a combined attendance of 36,943 on the Saturday and 26,426 on the Sunday for a total of 63,369 for the event as a whole, bolstering the local economy as they basked in decent weather and enjoyed more than the odd shock result.

A one place improvement as possible for either side in the final game of the Magic Weekend as a Warrington Wolves side who were looking for a return to the top of the table took on a Hull FC side who had an eye on going ahead of Huddersfield Giants and into ninth place in the table.

The bookies favoured a Warrington win, handicapping them by eight points on the coupon, but Daryl Powell’s side came into the game with more than a little concern about the resurgence in form from the Airlie Birds after a poor fist half of the season.

After yesterday’s day of the underdog, today was the day of the favourite, and most thought that Warrington would continue the trend.

Day two, game two of Magic Weekend in Newcastle: St Helens versus Huddersfield with the Saints hoping for a victory to get the second half of a stuttering season on track.

Huddersfield Giants had an even worse record from the last six rounds: just two wins, against Castleford and Catalans.

Saints kicked off in their 1890s retro kit of chocolate and blue, keeping the Giants within their own half and and forcing them to kick from half-way, allowing St Helens to start their first attacking kick from 20m out.

 

After the closest of finishes to the Saturday of Magic Weekend, Sunday began with a fixture which promised to be more one sides as a Leigh Leopards side on fine form, and having beaten the league leaders last time out, took on the bottom side in Super League, the winless Wakefield Trinity.

Wakefield had been given an eighteen-point start on the handicap coupon and only the most one-eyed of Wakefield supporters would suggest any other outcome than a big Leopards win which would see Leigh up to fourth place in the table, and if the win was by more than twenty-nine points then they would be into third, above near neighbours Wigan.

The expectation was of one-way traffic, Wakefield needed a miracle.

It was anyone’s guess what would happen in the final game of Magic Weekend’s Saturday as two unpredictable sides took to the field with eighth placed Leeds Rhinos taking on a Castleford Tigers in eleventh place with only two wins so far this season, one against the Rhinos back in round five.

The Rhinos needed a massive win to lift them above St Helens into seventh on points difference, Castleford are three wins away from improving their league position, but the two points would give them some extra breathing space above the drop zone and Wakefield Trinity.

The Tigers were given an eight-point start on the coupon but anyone thinking of placing a bet was simply rolling the dice on the most unpredictable of fixtures, but with low expectations there was the chance that the game would serve up a classic.

Game two of Saturday at the Magic Weekend started with high expectations of a classic in the Newcastle sun as second placed Wigan Warriors faced a Catalans Dragons in third spot with both sides looking for the win to go to the top of the table, providing it was by enough points.

Wigan needed to win by more than eight points, while the Dragons needed a winning margin of more than fourteen, whoever won would then hope that Hull FC could do them a favour and record a second consecutive loss for the league leaders, the Warrington Wolves.

The Warriors were favourites for the win, the Dragons given a six-point start on the coupon, and those backing the Warriors would have been delighted to see the return of Jai Field to their ranks, but the Dragons had players returning too, including former Warriors favourite Sam Tomkins.

One of the games of the weekend was first up on the Saturday of Newcastle Magic Weekends as sixth placed Salford Red Devils faced a Hull KR side confounding the critics and residing in fourth spot with no indication that they intend to give up on a play-off place or even chasing the title.

The sides went into the game on level league points, KR with a far superior points difference but while a win by more than sixteen points would lift the Robins up into second place, at least temporarily, a victory for the Red Devils would see them go above their opponents and into fourth spot in the table.

The bookies were struggling to pick a favourite, giving Salford a small start on the coupon.