It was, without doubt, the game of the nineteenth round of Super League 2024 as top of the table Wigan Warriors took on a Warrington Wolves side sat in second place and knowing that a win by twenty points or more could send them to the top of the table, depending on the size of Hull KR’s win over London Broncos.

Wigan needed to get back on the bike after last weeks shock loss against Hull FC, the most incredible result of the season so far, while Warrington came into the game flying high after last weeks victory over St Helens, despite being reduced to twelve men for sixty minutes.

Wigan were favourites with the bookies, home advantage meaning that they were handicapped on the coupon by four points, the Wolves looking to end a seven-game losing streak against the Warriors.

A mouthwatering, top of the table, original derby saw reigning Champions Wigan Warriors take on the pretenders to their throne and arch rivals St Helens in front of a near sell-out crowd at the Brick with a season crucial two points up for grabs.

A win for Wigan would lift them four points clear of their rivals and with a game in hand and barring any disaster it would make them almost uncatchable as they look to repeat last season’s success.

The bookies and the pundits all thought that it would be the Warriors who would exploit home advantage and take the spoils as they were handicapped by twelve points on the coupon.

When Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards met at the Leigh Sports Village earlier in the season it was a comprehensive victory for the Warriors by a scoreline of 40-10 but both sides knew that the recent resurgence of the Leopards meant that this was a far different prospect.

Wigan are flying high at the top of the table and tow points clear of their nearest rivals while Leigh are in ninth spot after their recent resurgence and on the fringe of the play-off places as the season heads into its second half.

The home side had been handicapped by twelve points with the bookies making them firm favourites, but Adrian Lam’s side love an upset, especially over their nearest neighbours.

Rugby league paid its respect to Rob Burrow and his family and friends by delaying the kick-off of today’s Challenge Cup Final to seven minutes past three in recognition of the ‘pocket rockets’ Leeds shirt number after his passing last Sunday which caused immense sadness throughout the community.

Wigan Warriors went into the game as favourites to beat a Warrington Wolves side who some fancied as strong underdogs thanks to the coaching of Sam Burgess who has teased some great performances out of his side in his first year in charge.

Warrington had a six-point start on the handicap coupon but Wigan coach Rob Peet had spent the week telling his side not to underestimate their opposition although they would have needed little instruction after recording just a single point win in the Cup Final rehearsal last weekend.

The round thirteen Saturday afternoon fixture saw a top of the table clash between a second placed Wigan Warriors side needing an eighteen-point win to go top of the table, against the third placed Warrington Wolves who knew they could join St Helens on twenty league points with a victory.

Despite their closeness on the league table the bookies believed that this would be a comfortable victory for the away side as they gave the Wolves a fourteen-point start on the handicap coupon.

It was a packed Halliwell-Jones which welcomed the two sides to the field for a mouthwatering clash as the they met for the first time in 2024, a dress rehearsal for next weekend’s Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

A win by a margin of twenty-six points or more would move Wigan Warriors to the top of the table with a game in hand, all that stood in their way was the unpredictable Salford Red Devils who have the chutzpah to beat anyone on their day.

Salford needed the win to maintain their push for the top of the table and to ensure that they spend more time in the top six, defying critics and pundits alike as they continue to make the most out of a small budget and ever smaller playing staff.

Wigan were the favourites for the win with a ten point handicap on the coupon, Salford the clear underdogs, a position that they thrive on.

Last years defeated finalists, Hull Kingston Rovers, were looking for a return to Wembley as they faced cup kings and twenty times winners, Wigan Warriors, in the first semi-final in Doncaster.

Hull KR won the 2024 meeting between the two sides at the end of April by a convincing 26-10 scoreline and the Robins came into the game determined to repeat last year’s feat of making it to the final and hopefully going one better than last season.

Wigan were the favourites with the bookies, KR being given an eight-point start on the handicap coupon, the odds perhaps being set based on last week’s Super League results.

 

A win by thirty-eight points or more would move the Wigan Warriors into top spot in the table with a game in hand, all that stood in their way at the John Smith’s Stadium was a Huddersfield Giants side who had still not managed to fire on all cylinders and were bubbling just outside the play-off places.

Wigan were the favourites with the bookies to repeat their victory from early March when they beat the Giants by 30-16 at the DW Stadium, but there was little to choose between the sides with just a four-point start for the home side on the coupon.

It was a cracking afternoon for a fast and open game in the early summer sunshine, twenty-minute water breaks agreed between the sides.

Arguably the game of the round was first up on the Thursday night of round ten of SuperLeague 2024 as the Catalans Dragons visited the Wigan Warriors with the top of the table in the sights of both teams as the competition enters it’s middle third of the season.

It was a repeat of the 2023 Grand Final with the Dragons looking to do better than the 10-2 defeat which they suffered at Old Trafford last October, but the bookies had the home side down as favourites by handicapping them twelve points on the coupon before kick-off.

A win of any description would send the Dragons to the top, a win by more than twenty-four points would put the Warriors at the peak of the table.

When the draw was made for the quarter final of the 2024 Challenge Cup, most supporters would have been willing for their side to be drawn out against a struggling Castleford Tigers side who have only picked up one league win so far this season, in the end that lucky side was the Wigan Warriors.

Many pundits, and the bookies, believed that this was as good as a bye for the Warriors and with them being handicapped by thirty points on the coupon, they were a ‘shoe in’ for the semi-finals and probably the side that the others would look to avoid one game out from Wembley.

The concept of a Tigers win was unthinkable for all except the Castleford coach Craig Lingard and his trusted seventeen players playing for the pride in their jersey.

Facing Wigan Warriors on the back of their first defeat in fifteen games is never ideal, but when you are Adrian Lam’s Leigh Leopards who are looking desperately for a win then it is doubly difficult as the two sides met for the first ‘Battle of the Borough’ in 2024.

A win by four points or more would put Wigan back to the top of the pile with a game in hand, a win for the Leopard wouldn’t improve their league position but would edge them a little further away from potential danger.

The bookies weren’t expecting a runaway win as the Leopards edge closer to their first win of the season, and they only gave the home side a twelve-point start on the handicap coupon, expecting that it might be a closer affair than many commentators and tipsters.

The original derby pitted St Helens against the Wigan Warriors in the traditional Good Friday encounter which would see one of the two sides go clear at the top of the table while a big points loss for either side would see them slipping down a very tight league table.

It was a sell-out crowd at the Totally Wicked Stadium as arguably the best two sides in the competition went head-to-head, a mouthwatering prospect for the neutral as well as supporters of both sides.

The bookies were struggling to split the sides, making the home side slight favourites, and handicapping them by a couple of points, but it really was anyone’s as Saints looked to end a brilliant and lengthy Wigan winning streak.

With the sides level on points at the top of the table but separated by a massive seventy-one points difference and five league positions, the winner of tonight’s clash between the Salford Red Devils and Wigan Warriors would be two points clear at the top of the table.

Wigan are unbeaten so far in 2024, having played a game less than their opponents, while Salford have won three from their four games, including the shock scalp of St Helens in an away fixture for the first time in decades.

But Wigan were the strong favourites, to take the win and maintain an all competition fourteen game, winning streak running all the way back to 23rd of July 2023 when the Warriors lost to Hull KR in the Challenge Cup Semi Final.

The eagerly anticipated clash between the northern and southern hemispheres took place at a packed DW Stadium as the Wigan Warriors played hosts to the NRL Champions the Penrith Panthers who were keen to avenge last years loss to St Helens and set the record straight.

The bookies had given the Australians a six-point handicap on the coupon and most pundits were calling the game in favour of the Panthers, but Wigan were quietly confident that a partisan crowd and home advantage could bring them home with a historic win, their first since they beat Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in 2017 and their fifth World Club Challenge win.

The ‘Best Club Side in the World’ title was up for grabs, and both sides desperately wanted it.

One hundred and sixty-six games over 13,280 minutes had led us to Old Trafford and the 2023 Super League Grand Final between the top two sides in the competition as the Wigan Warriors took on the Catalans Dragons for the biggest prize in the domestic game.

Wigan were the slight favourites with the bookies to take the spoils despite the Dragons having been victorious on two out of the three meetings so far this season.

He stage was set for a fairytale final game of an illustrious career for Sam Tomkins should he be able to lead his Dragons side to victory over the side who he debuted for fifteen years ago and with whom he tasted so much success, including three Grand Final victories.

After a Titanic battle in the south of France, the Catalans Dragons eliminated the reigning Champions St Helens with a last-minute Sam Tomkins Try which saw the French side into their second Grand Final in three years while ending the four-year domination of the most successful side of the modern era.

The second play-off promised to be equally as dramatic as the Wigan Warriors, sought a return to Old Trafford for the first time since 2020 as they came up against a Hull KR side intent on reaching their first ever Grand Final.

This was the fifth meeting of the season between the two sides with honours shared at two wins each despite Wigan having a massive points aggregate advantage thanks to their 64-6 triumph in the most recent meeting in August and which made them strong favourites with the bookies for the win at the DW Stadium and progress to Old Trafford.

The first of two mouthwatering Women’s Super League play off games pitted recently crowned minor premiers York Valkyrie against a Wigan Warriors side who are acknowledged to be the weakest of the sides remaining in the competition after only winning three from their ten games iu 2023, but who would come into the game with a desperate point to prove.

York came into the game unbeaten after an excellent regular season and with a 40-6 win in July and a 36-4 win in August signalled that it would be the Valkyrie who would be progressing to the Grand Final on the 8th October.

It would take a monumental shock for Wigan to take the spoils.

The final day of the season mathematics were not simple, either at the top of the table, or for the play off places.

SKY chose to send their cameras to the Leigh Sports Village where the Leopards hoped to spoil the party for their near neighbours and seal them a loss which could see them end the night in third spot.

Wigans superior points difference meant that so long as they beat Leigh by a point, and Catalans won by less than sixty-eight, and Saints won by less than one hundred and forty-one, then it would be the Warriors getting crowned as minor premiers by ten o’clock.

A loss and wins for Catalans and the Saints would drop them down into the spots for next week’s play-off games and throw away the luxury of a week off.

Leigh were also looking over their shoulders and knew that a heavy loss could open the doors for Hull KR to take fourth and a home game next weekend.

The Wigan Warriors were looking for a return to the top of the table and knew that a win of any veriety would achieve that due to their superior points difference over the other two minor premiership hopefuls, the Catalans Dragons and arch-rivals St Helens.

The Rhinos came into the game in the full knowledge that a defeat, while not mathematically ending their hopes of a play-off place, would effectively do so, and snuff out the final light on a very disappointing season.

The bookies had the visitors as strong favourites for the win and gave the Rhinos an eight-point start on the handicap coupon; the scene was set for it to be a miserable Saturday afternoon for the Headingley Southstand faithful.

Depending on the Catalans Dragons result at Hull KR, a win for the Wigan Warriors over the Salford Red Devils in their round twenty-four clash at the DW Stadium could see them move to the top of the table and into the minor premiers’ spot with just three rounds of the regular season remaining.

The Red Devils started the game in the last play-off position, above Hull KR only on points percentage as the two sides have identical league points and points difference.

A win would lift them a spot closer to guaranteeing them a playoff spot, a loss would throw their end of season plans back into turmoil.

Wigan were the favourites with the bookies, the Red Devils given a ten-point start on the handicap coupon.