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.

Of course, nothing beats the thrill of watching live rugby league in the flesh, but over the coming season there may well be games that you’d like to watch which you can’t make it to and there are an increasing number of options to enable you to get your regular fix of the greatest game.

We take a look at the options for tuning in and finding what is available on the small screen over the coming weeks from the traditional broadcasters and those not quite so apparent.

Many congratulations to our RLFANS.COM January quiz winner, with a sensational 144 correct answers to our 155 tricky questions, RichardPLan.

  We set you what we thought was a difficult quiz which was made up of 20% rugby league questions and 80% general knowledge.

There were some really obscure questions in there but hopefully everyone found it enjoyable, educational, and a bit of a challenge.

Honourable mentions also go to; trent, Boss Hog, Wanderer and Shinedown who all score 460 or more out of a possible 620.

One again, many congratulations to RichardPLan, great quizzing.

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.

Eight pre-season friendly matches involving Superleague and Championship clubs survived the weather over the weekend as coaches started their countdown to the season and trailed a mix af experience, new players and fringe players looking for a place in their thoughts for the start of hostilities in a few short weeks’ time.

We take a look at those that went ahead with the results and a few highlights from the games which beat the big freeze.

We join the rest of the Rugby League community in offering our condolences to the family and friends of David Oxley CBE who has passed away at the age of 85.

Those of us who have been around for a few years will remember that David was the face of rugby league for many years as he served as secretary, CEO and honorary president in 2013-14.

He ended his eighteen year term as Chief Executive Officer (then known as Secretary) of the RFL in 1992, three years before the advent of Super League.

David was an avid expansionist and was honoured to be president when the World Cup was held in England in 2013.

He was also a big advocate of disabled sport in general.

  Always wearing a broad smile, our game was better for David´s involvement.

With the start of the season under a month away the bookies are sharpening their pencils as they fine tune their odds in an attempt to get us to part with our hard-earned cash in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

If you´ve got a spare fifty pence which you can afford to lose, and you´re in for the long haul, then we take a look at the best places to put it to get your money back with a little profit.

Who do the bookmakers think will finish top of the pile, get relegated, win the Grand Final and be the season´s leading try scorer.

The draw for the opening rounds of the men´s and women´s 2023 Challenge Cups was made on Thursday night at Wembley Stadium, the venue for the final of both competitions in a double header in seven months’ time.

The balls were drawn by Kai Pearce-Paul from holders, Wigan Warriors and Eboni Partington from the Women´s cup holders, St Helens.

The draws were made as follows.