2023 season

First topic message reminder :

The championship starts this weekwnd, Super League in 2 weeks. The Nrl &League 1 at some point.
Plus there's an old,new trophey as the world club champions is back (St Helens v Penrith in Australia).

Other questions, can St Helens make it 4 in a row? Who will challenge, will Salford continue there fantastic last few years, will either of the Hull teams actually wake up (this applies to Warrington).After there excellent season last year, is Huddersfield signing so many players going to help.


In the championship.
Can Keighley do a Barrow and challenge after Promotion? Can Barrow continue from last year, will this be the year that Bradford or Widnes wake up and make a play off charge. Will Batley continue on from last Season, and if not them who will be the unexpected package.

League 1, gueinuely looks a very open league.

Nrl - Can Penrith do 3 in a row.

But as always with Rugby League, the biggest question? Just what format will the league be next year?

Barrow win at Bradford 14-10 to move out of the championship relegation places.

RD 21 in SL.

Catalans get a great win at a poor Warrington 30-10. Castleford went bottom for 24 hours after a 28-0 home loss to Huddersfield (which saw Cas fire coach Andy Last). But Hull FC did them a favour in beating Wakefield 42-4 sending Wakefield back bottom. St Helens got an away win at Salford 18-15. The 2 challenge Cup finalist had contrasting results. Leigh continue there excellent season with a gritty 13-6 win at Leeds. Hull KR put out a mainly reserve/loan/academy side at Wigan and got thumped 64-6.

RD 21 championship.

Bradford got an excellent win at Wembley bound Batley 42 - 6. The other 1895 Cup finalists Halifax pull off a massive surprise as they beat Featherstone 25-22. Toulouse win an excellent game at York 18-14. At the bottom, Keighley drop into the bottom 2 after losing at Swinton 18-10. Meanwhile Newcastle get thumped at home to Widnes 50-6. Barrow lose at home to London Broncos 26-6. And Whitehaven beat Sheffield 32-20.

Rd20 in League 1.

Hunslet continue there excellent recent run by winning at Rochdale 35-22. Dewsbury win 38-8 v Workington. Oldham win in Cornwall 56-4, and North Wales beat Doncaster 28-22. London Skolars still remain winless after Midlands beat them at home 38-18.
Rd23.

Penrith best Melbourne 26-6 continue to lead the way with Brisbane who win the latest Queensland Derby at North Queensland 30-14. Sydney Roosters beat Manly 26-16. New Zealand Warriors continue there great season winning at Gold Coast 28-18. Newcastle win at Dolphins 30-28. Cronulla win at South Sydney 26-16. Canberra beat West's 22-18, and Parramatta beat St George 26-20.
NRL

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Congratulations to Dewsbury,
Who have won the League 1 title, and will be in the championship next year, after a year out.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE.

Congratulations to West Bowling.
Who have won the ncl league 1 title,
And will be in the ncl premier league next year.

This weekend.

In SL the game that was rearranged from the world club championship game finally took place. And saw St Helens beat Huddersfield.

In League 1
Doncaster went to London Skolars on the usual pre Wembley Friday night game, and absolutely stuffed them 60-0.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Congratulations to St Helens Women.
On winning the 2023 women's challenge Cup.

Beating Leeds Women 22-14.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE.

Congratulations to Leigh.
On winning the 2023 challenge Cup.

Beating Hull KR 17-16 in golden point.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Congratulations to Halidfax.
On winning the 2023 1895 Cup.

Beating Batley 12-10.

The last 2 minutes you really must see.

SL RD22

The big game was the meeting of the bottom 2 at Wakefield, where there rivals Castleford come away with a big win 28-12. Catalans get a very improving at Leigh 30-14. Wigan get a good win in a tight game v Hull FC 13-12. St Helens beat Hull KR 28-6. Leeds keep there season slightly alive by beating Warrington 24-22, and Salford continue there hold over Huddersfield by winning 32-8 at Huddersfield.

CHAMPIONSHIP RD22

Again the big result is at the bottom, as Keighley beat Batley 26-20 (meaning tonight's via play game between Whitehaven and Barrow has even more on it). London Broncos beat Halifax 26-12 to seek in the last play off place, also quietly putting a good run together is Bradford who beat Newcastle 36-8 to move up to third. Partly thanks to Featherstone who win at Sheffield 38-10. Toulouse beat Swinton 26,6, and York win a high scoring affair at Widnes 40-30.

LEAGUE 1 RD 21.

Hunslet continue there excellent form beating London Skolars 56-14. Doncaster continue there chase beating Cornwall 60 -0 (Cornwall despite some massive scores against have had a good season for them). Oldham win at Rochdale 24-20.

NRL RD25

Newcastle get a big win v South Sydney 29-0. Cronulla win at North Queensland 32-12. New Zealand Warriors continue there excellent season beating Manly 29-22. Sydney Roosters win at Parramatta 34-12, West Tigers beat Dolphins 24-23, Penrith March on Stuffing Gold Coast away 40-14, Melbourne continue there run winning at St George 38-28, and Canberra beat Canterbury 36-24.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Congratulations to Catalans.
Who win the 2023 wheelchair challenge Cup.

Beating Leeds 66-20

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Congratulations to Oldham St Anne's.
Who are the NCL division 3 champions.

Sadly a raft of clubs have been relegated from there relevant ncl divisions.

These are.

PREMIER-Wigan St Patricks, Hull Dockers & Leigh Min3ers Rangers.
DIVISION 1 - Pilkington Recs & Ince Rose Bridge join already relegated Thornhill.
DIVISION 2 - East Leeds & Milford.

A number of interesting and key results over the weekend.

SL As mentioned in the KR thread they hammer Leigh 52 - 10
Wakefield lose at Salford and Castleford at home to Saints. With points difference against them Wakey may need to win 2 of their last four games to avoid relegation and despite 3 being at home v Saints, Catalans & Hull KR & a trip to Leigh this looks not impossible but very tough.

On Saturday Warrington win at Hull whilst Wigan record a fantastic win AT Catalans.

Yesterday Huddersfield edge under strength Leeds 21 - 12. Some talk about a drop goal being incorrectly ruled but on the face of it they did win by 9 points.

It looking like a 3 way race for the last two playoff spots, Warrington, Salford & Hull KR

In the Championship Fev and Toulouse continue to pull away from the rest of the division with comfortable wins over Barrow and Keighley respectively.

Sheffield hammer Batley who for some reason are for the moment in free fall, York continue their good run with a win at seemingly doomed Newcastle.

Great win for Widnes at Fax yesterday, wins for Bradford who go 3rd at Swinton and London v Whitehaven.

Race for the Top 6 will go down to the last day, Bradford in 3rd but have a tough run in. Batley will I think need to turn around their form to prevent Fax, Widnes or even York taking their place that looked nailed on a month ago.

In League One,

great result for Doncaster over Dewsbury who take only their 2nd loss of the season.

Cornwall record their 5th win of the season v Rochdale
North Wales hammer winless Skolars
Oldham now coached by Mike Ford surprisingly lose at home to the Hurricanes
Workington cement their playoff spot by beating Hunslet

Yesterday was the end of the League 1 season.

With Dewsbury already champions. And London Skolars getting the wooden spoon with no wins. The only thing to decide was the play off places.

Hunslet finished 2nd, then Doncaster,Oldham, Workington and North Wales.
Next week sees the start of the play offs, with the qualifying play off (lovers get another chance), between Doncaster & Oldham. The elimination play off sees Workington v North Wales.

SL RD24

Hull KR put in a great performance ro beat Catalans 26-18 and knock them off top spot. Wigan go top after beating Salford 26-8. At the bottom, Wakefield lose again this time to St Helens 32-16 at home. But Castleford get hammered at Warrington 66-12. Hull FC lose at home to Leeds 12-28.
The strangest game was at Leigh, where the game was abandoned on Fri, then the last 32 mins played on Saturday. Leigh win 34-16.


CHAMPIONSHIP RD 24.

The big result was at Keighley, who beat Barrow 26-20 in a relegation 2 pointer. Though both sides are still out the bottom2 thanks to Newcastle losing at home to Toulouse 36-16, and Swinton losing at York 26-22. Whitehaven are still in the relegation mix after losing at home to Halifax 30-8. Featherstone win a tight game at Bradford 16-8. London Broncos continue there excellent 2nd half of the season winning at Sheffield 26-18. And Widnes beat Batley 12-4.

LEAGUE 1 PLAY OFFS.

In the Qualifying play offs, Doncaster put out a statement with a 36-0 win v Oldham. Meanwhile North Wales get an excellent win at Workington 26-10 to dump Workington out.

Next week it's Hunslet/Doncaster in Qualifying sf, Oldham/North Wales in elimination sf.

This weekend was the final RD in the NRL.

The big result was in Brisbane, who lost at home to Melbourne 32-22, so Penrith who beat North Queensland 44-12 are minor premiers again (4years in a row I think) on points difference. Manly run up a big win v West Tigers 54-12 Sydney Roosters win at South Sydney 26-12, to complete South's end of season collapse. Dolphins end there 1st season beating New Zealand Warriors 34-10, Newcastle win at St George 22-12, Gold Coast beat Canterbury 34-30 and Cronulla beat Canberra 24-6.

So in the play offs (in table order), Penrith, Brisbane, Melbourne, New Zealand Warriors, Newcastle, Cronulla, Sydney Roosters and Canberra.
West's were the bottom team.

Next week (play offs like league 1 qualifying/elimantion).
Qualifying games, Brisbane v Melbourne & Penrith v New Zealand Warriors. Elimination Cronulla/Sydney Roosters & Newcastle v Canberra.

Friday night, Saints beat Leigh, Hull KR I think may have booked their playoff place with a win at the Giants.

Perhaps the biggest results are at the other end, Castleford beat Hull FC whilst Wakefield lose to Catalans. Mathematically possible for Wakefield to survive but at this stage I just don't see it, a trip to Leigh on Friday may well seal their fate.

Championship, Sheffield go 3rd by beating Keighley, Fev who are already shield winners win at bottom placed Newcastle who are now relegated to League 1

Today.

Wigan hammer Leeds 0 - 50 at Headingley. Leeds barring a miracle won't make the top 6.

Fax v Toulouse is being played as I type. Big game for Fax.

Halifax won, big result.

Shame Newcastle got relegated, but really not sure what they have been trying to be this season.

Big worry is league 1, lots of rumours about London Skolars, and weather the league is viable.

Sunday.

SL

Salford keep the race for top 6 going, winning v Warrington 24-20 in golden point, they play at Hull KR next week.

CHAMPIONSHIP.

Barrow get a big win at home to Swinton 32-14, to stretch the gap between them. Batley finally win (last win july), beating Whitehaven 25-12, this was needed after Halifax, and York who won at Bradford 20-10. London Broncos get a massive win v Widnes 52-14. Featherstone also win at Newcastle 56-22.

LEAGUE 1 PLAY OFFS.

Doncaster win at Hunslet 26-14, to qualify for the promotion final. Hunslet will get another chance v North Wales who won at Oldham 13-12 next week.

NRL PLAY OFFS.

Brisbane gain revenge against Melbourne, winning 26-0, and will with Penrith who beat New Zealand Warriors 32-6 have next week off.
Newcastle beat Canberra 30-28, to advance as do Sydney Roosters who win at Cronulla 13-12.

Wakefield loss at Leigh confirms their relegation to the Championship for 2024. I must admit with Fifita retiring I thought they might have given up. Huge credit to them for putting up a tremendous fight these last few weeks and last night.

Cas, hammered at Wigan will I think be very relieved.

To be honest Wakefield have been down much of the season, a run through July revived hopes and Castleford being awful as well, so really no surprise they have gone down.

The other result from last night, St Helens win 18-6 at Warrington. 

Today

Hull KR beat Salford 12-0 to virtually guarantee a play off place. Especially as Hull FC got beat 20-52 at home to Huddersfield.  And Leeds got trounced 61-0 at Catalans. 

Next week is the last week of SL & and the championship. 

Speaking of which, Featherstone win at Toulouse 29-16 in a massive result for them. And Newcastle beat Barrow 36-24.to keep Barrow in the relegation hunt.

Sunday games.

CHAMPIONSHIP

The big result sees Swinton beat Whitehaven 21-20, which coupled with Keighley losing to Halifax 22-23 see's next week last games with Seinton in the bottom 2, but on the same points and point difference as Keighley, whitehaven aldo on the same points with Barrow a point better off.
(Which makes the championship last games being spread over 2 days stupid.
Other results, see Bradford get a great result at London Broncos winning 12-10. Sheffield also get a good result at Widnes 38-18.

LEAGUE 1 PLAY OFFS.

North Wales get an amazing result, winning at Hunslet 25-18, to get through to the promtion play off final next week at Doncaster.

NRL PLAY OFFS.

Both sides that lost last week win this week, as Melbourne beat Sydney Roosters18-13 in a great game. And New Zealand Warriors beat Newcastle 40-10.

Next week is Penrith v Melbourne & Brisbane v Nee Zealand Warriors.

I am very much looking forward to the weekends' rugby. Huge interest in SL who finishes top and makes the playoffs.

Championship deciders who takes the last playoff spot, Fax in pole position but York & Batley waiting if there are any slips ups.

Relegation is ridiculously tight, Swinton, Keighley & Whitehaven all on 16 points, the first two have the same points difference!! Whitehaven only 5 points better. Barrow on 17 look safe but..........

League 1 Promotion Final Doncaster v North Wales which is Live on You Tube.

Tonight saw the last league games in SL.
With the top 3 seperated by points difference,  and Leigh and Hull KR seeing who would be at home for there play off game next week.

Wigan get a Derby win at Leigh 10-6, to finish top. As both Catalans (at Salford 19-8), and St Helens (at home to Hull FC 30-12), also won. Wigan finished top on points difference. 
Leigh loss coupled with Hull KR winning at Wakefield 56-12, saw Rovers jump above Leigh on points difference. 
The other results, Warrington won at Huddersfield 20-8 to get the last play off spot. And Leeds ended a strange season by demolishing Castleford 46-0, Castleford have really been dire this year.

So the play off places are (again 1st downwards).


Wigan, Catalans,  St Helens, Hull KR, Leigh, Warrington. 

Next week sees Hull KR v Leigh, and St Helens v Warrington in the play offs, with Wigan and Catalans having the week off.

At the bottom  Wakefield were already relegated.

The NRL grand final will be between the 2 sides that finished top at the end of the league season.

As Penrith won a 1 sided game against Melbourne 38-4, and Brisbane dispatched New Zealand Warriors 42-12.

Congratulations to Doncaster who win promotion to the Championship with a hard fought win over North Wales

Incredible end of the Championship regular season.

Swinton and Whitehaven save themselves meaning Keighley are relegated, their points difference 3 worse than Whitehaven.

Swinton beating Fax means the latter miss the playoffs, a shame particular for some of their fans who were complaining at the possibility of having to travel to Odsal. York, who have stormed up the table in the past few weeks making the top 6.

Bradford v Sheffield later will dictate where both sides will play next week. Bulls home to York or more likely an equally tough trip to London. Just grateful they are in.

Doncaster in the championship will be interesting when you look at there side.

Brilliant win for Swinton, Keighley gambled at start of the season, and lost. Interesting play offs, got to fancy Featherstone but in a 1 off game anything could happen.

Congratulations to Heworth (ncl league 1) & Millom (ncl league 3), on there wins  in there promotional play off finals and subsequent promotions.

And St Helens Academy on winning the Academy grand final.

Congratulations to Woolston on winning the NCL league 2 play off final.

So that's this week's SL play offs rd1 in the books.

As put in Hull KR thread, I was at Fridays entertaining  game between Hull KR and Leigh, which Hull KR won 20-6. Today saw St Helens beat Warrington 16 -8.

Next week's semi finals will see Wigan at home ro Hull KR. And St Helens travel to Catalans.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE. 

Congratulations to Penrith, who win the NRL grand final, to become Australia NRL champions for the 3rd time in a row. Coming from 20-8 behind to beat Brisbane 26-24 in a pulsating 2nd half.

One result that raised my eyebrows, London hammer Sheffield at Olympic Legacy Park. Were they exceptionally good or did the Eagles have "one of those days". We will see next week when they travel to Fev.

It was a surprising result.
Bradford also get a great win at home to York. Coming from 8 points down to win 22-8. 
Unfortunately still think it will be a Featherstone/Toulouse final, but in a 1 off game anything could happen.

The French league begun last weekend, Carcassonne,  St Gaudens, St Esteve-XIII , Limoux & Toulouse win there 1st games.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE. 

Congratulations to Newcastle women's team,  who won the Australian women's Grand Final v Gold Coast 24-18, to become champions.

Catalans are the first to the GF, eventually overcoming Saints in a very physical, in honesty error strewn game 12 - 6.

Where they will be facing Wigan, who with 20 odd minutes left are 42-6 up v Hull KR.
Rovers have been really poor, but in French & Field Wigan have 2 outstanding players.

Wigan v Catalans should be a great GF.

It finishes 42-12.

And the 1st team in the championship gf is Toulouse. 
Who see off a spirited Bradford effort to win 38-20.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE.

Congratulations to Hunslet arlfc who win the NCL premiership title by beating West Hull 20-6 in today's final.

And in the biggest shock since last year's play offs in the championship. 
Featherstone once again blow it, as London Broncos win at Featherstone 36-26, to book a place in the championship gf.

Last time London where here they won it, not sure this time.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE.

Congratulations to York Valkyrie who win the women's super league title by beating Leeds today 16-6.

And Barrow women.
Who won v Leigh 14-8, in the promotion final to go up to SL next year.

Luke wrote:And in the biggest shock since last year's play offs in the championship. 
Featherstone once again blow it, as London Broncos win at Featherstone 36-26, to book a place in the championship gf.

Last time London where here they won it, not sure this time.

Another disaster for Featherstone who have some off field issues to deal with which could affect the club.

2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE 

Congratulations to Wigan, who are SL champions after beating Catalans in tonight's grand final 10-2.

Luke wrote:2023 WINNERS ENCLOSURE 

Congratulations to Wigan, who are SL champions after beating Catalans in tonight's grand final 10-2.

I will second that and add that looking at their signings for 2024 they may well be hard to beat next year.

Congratulations to London who make a return to SL beating Toulouse in France 14 - 18.

Three away wins in the playoffs, WOW

Great achievement,  not only the fact of 3 away wins, but 2 of those where against Featherstone (who walked the league part of the season), and Toulouse.  Really well done to them.