It was the game of the weekend as fourth placed Castleford Tigers travelled to sixth placed Hull FC with a place in the top four up for grabs.

A Tigers win would give them a three point cushion over fifth placed Leeds Rhinos but a victory for the Airlie Birds by more than two points would lift them ahead of their opponents.

 

FC needed a lift after last weekend’s loss in the south of France and they had re-signing Joe Westerman in their seventeen, and Marc Sneyd back on duty but were without the injured Albert Kelly.

The Tigers now know that they will be without the services of Luke Gale for a number on months and also were without Jake Webster  and Adam Milner.

Paul McShane switched the scrum half with Adam Milner named at hooker as Liam Watts returned to the KCOM for the first time since switching clubs.

For the second week running the Widnes Vikings were up against a side from Hull, this time it was FC and the venue was the Select Securities Stadium.

Only two places, but four points, separated the two sides and the bookies and pundits fancied the Black and Whites to pick up the two points on the road.

Widnes came into the game having lost three consecutive games while the visitors also lost last week to the league leaders having won both of their games over Easter.

The extensive injuries which forced the Vikings to sign Rhino Jimmy Keinhorst on a months loan earlier today, also saw Dennis Betts make half a dozen changes to the side which lost to the eastern side of Hull a week ago.

Hull FC also made a number of changes with Bureta Faraimo, Jake Connor and Josh Bowden in for  Logan, Lane, and Fash.

The Challenge Cup holders took on the incumbent Super League Champions as Hull FC travelled to a new look Headingley Stadium to take on Leeds, looking for their first Super League away victory over the Rhinos in over ten years.

Neither team had a fully fit squad to choose from with the Rhinos still nursing a long injury list, but with six players returning to the side who lost in Widnes a fortnight ago.

The Airlie Birds were without Faraimo (concussion), Watts (suspended), Kelly and Houghton (both injured) while giving a Super League debut to Jordan Lane.

It was a reduced capacity crowd at a sold out Headingley, the new South Stand taking shape but only partially open, and with a temporary stand on the north side of the stadium.

With nothing to play for, and big games on the horizon, coach Powell opted to rest a number of his stars as Hull FC visited the Mend-A-Hose Jungle to take on his all-conquering table-topping side.



Hull would have been delighted at the Tigers team sheet as they knew that a draw would be enough to secure them third spot and leave Wigan needing to do the impossible on Saturday afternoon and beat Wakefield by ninety-one clear points to get themselves above Saints.



A loss for FC would give tomorrows game a totally different complexion as a win of any description for the Warriors would be enough for them to steal fourth spot after entering the Super Eights in seventh.

Is this the best value tour to Wigan v Hull FC?

We certainly think so.

The first Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-final saw the cup holders Hull FC up against the trophy winners in 2014 and 2015, the Leeds Rhinos.

The Airlie Birds were slight favourites with the bookies for the game, in front of a sell out Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.



Rhinos coach Brian McDermott had rung the changes from the youthful side that lost heavily to Wigan Warriors last weekend in bringing back nine regular first teamers, but Hull were unchanged from the side that beat the Huddersfield Giants last time out.



Leeds won the meeting between the two sides at Headingley a fortnight ago by 10-7, and by 52-24 in mid-April in Hull.

But this was Cup, it was Super League's second against third, and all expectations were of a cracker.

With the start of the 2017 season looming on the horizon we got the chance to take a look at Rugby League's newest side, Toronto Wolfpack.

The side who will enter Championship One in a few weeks time were in Hull to take on the Challenge Cup holders as they continued their preparation for Superleague.



It was a chance for Paul Rowley to test his new charges against a Hull side tipped to be pushing for major honours again in 2017, with Lee Radford likely to try a few interchanges if things were going their way.

Hull FC travelled to Wakefield knowing that a loss would signal the end of their treble hopes, and be a third consecutive post-cup final defeat.

Any continuation of their shocking downturn in form could see them finish the season in fourth spot.



For Wakefield, the only prize on offer was that of denying their opponents the title as they are already confirmed as finishing eighth, thanks to an awful points difference against the only side that they could catch on league points.



It was a hot and humid night in Wakefield as the sides took to the field.

A semi-final place, joining Wakefield and Warrington in the draw, was on offer as league leaders Hull FC welcomed fourth placed Catalans Dragons.



Both sides made a number of changes, welcoming back players from injury and in the case of Ben Garcia for the Dragons, after a spell away from the club.



It looked like the tie of the round and neither side would take a backward step.

super League's third placed Hull FC travelled to the DW Stadium to take on fourth placed Wigan Warriors.

A win for either side would lift them level on points with top placed Warrington Wolves and serve as a massive boost in the fight for the top four.



All the pre-match talk was of the return of the prodigal son, Sam Tomkins, who would start the game from the bench for Shaun Wanes side.



Hull FC, the leagues form side, were out to spoil the Tomkins party,

The tie of the sixth round of the 2016 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup saw a high flying Hull FC travel to The home of the cup kings, St Helens as the BBC cameras descended on Langtree Park.



With just one defeat in the last eight Super League outings Hull have made it up to third place on the ladder, two points above fifth placed St Helens.



With Castleford, Catalans, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan already booked safely into this evenings quarter final draw, would it be Hull or Saints would be joining them? Saints were clear favourites with the bookies, but Hull were confident of maintaining their current run of wins.

After the east side of the city went into eighth spot last night, the Black and Whites of Hull needed a win to re-establish themselves in the super eights.

But they were up against a new look Wildcats with their ranks swelled by new signings in Kevin Locke, Jordan Tansey and Michael Sio but still missing several influential players including Smith, Lauitiiti and Kirmond.



FC chose to rest several first teamers (Whiting, Pryce and Minichiello) as they played their second game of three in nine days, a calculated gamble from Lee Radford against a team looking for their first win in seventeen games, and a chance to get a winning habit before the all-important middle eights competition.

In their last two home matches the Catalans Dragons have been the undoing of both St Helens and Wigan Warriors and tonight, in the early summer sunshine, they faced the challenge of Hull FC.



It was eighth against seventh with both sides currently on sixteen SuperLeague XX points.

But with both sides having massively inferior points differences to the two sides two points above them, neither were realistically looking to finish the weekend higher than seventh.



One of these sides could, however, lift themselves three point clear of the desperately unwanted ninth spot.

The two sides of Hull came together for the seventh time at a Magic weekend as FC and KR did battle in front of an ever growing crowd at the sun-soaked St James Park in Newcastle.



It was ninth against tenth with both sides desperate for a top eight spot.

FC just needed to win by two or more to take eight spot from Castleford but KR needed a twenty-seven point win to take up residency in a super eight spot.



Rovers had won five previous Magic weekend meetings over their old enemy with FC picking up just the single win.

As rugby league fans upon these shores slowly begin to move on from the highly successful and in some quarters heart breaking World Cup the focus now turns to how the respective Super League squads are shaping up ahead of the upcoming 2014 season.



Despite the competition still somehow unable to attract a major sponsor there is plenty to feel positive about as on the face of it at least one could argue this year is shaping up to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable campaigns yet.