The most talked about game of the round, for all the wrong reasons, was the game selected by the BBC for free to air broadcast as St Helens played host to an Academy line-up from the Salford Red Devils who were seemingly trying to prove a point to the games administration.

The lowest shirt number in the Salford starting thirteen was twenty-seven with all thirteen selected starters unlikely to get another game in 2025 once their takeover paperwork is rubber stamped, much to the embarrassment of their fans.

Salford had a fifty-two-point start on the coupon and were expected to take a heavy beating as they selected their side under a restricted salary cap which included just three players on the substitutes bench, two of which were rumoured as unlikely to take the field in the eighty minutes.

The draw for the fourth round of the 2025 Challenge Cup took place at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens at half time in the game between Saints and an under-strength Salford Red Devils side.

The games will be played on the weekend of the 15^th and 16^th of March with a place on the quarter finals up for grabs.

The balls were drawn by Paul Sculthorpe and Robbie Hunter-Paul, two men with some Challenge Cup pedigree.

After a season in the Championship the much-heralded return of Daryl Powell’s Wakefield Trinity saw them travel to AMT Headingley for a round one opener against Brad Arthurs much fancied and revitalised Leeds Rhinos.

The visitors were given a respectful twelve-point start, but after an opening weekend of shocks and close games, who would bet against another close encounter and an extension of the eighty minutes with more golden point drama.

Both sides came into the game of the back of massive Challenge Cup third round victories, the Rhinos putting ninety-two unanswered points past Wests Warriors, while Trinity scored eighty-two against York Acorn with a big zero in the against column.

Two sides who are happy to forget poor 2024 seasons met in the opening round in the south of France as the Catalans Dragons sought a winning start to their campaign against the re-structured Hull FC who needed a much brighter 2025 to pacify their passionate supporters.

It was an almost unrecognisable Hull FC side, and the bookies had some belief that they may put on a good show in Perpignan as they only gave them a very respectful ten point start on the handicap coupon.

Both sides picked up wins last week in the Challenge Cup, the Dragons unconvincing in a 14-0 win over Halifax Panthers, FC getting a confidence boost in their 52-6 win over York Acorn.

The wait was over, on a chilly evening in Wigan and the battle of the Borough between the Warriors and the Leopards heralded the start of the 2025 Super League season as the Champions took on former boss Adrian Lam’s much fancied Leopards.

The bookies had plumped for a convincing Wigan win and had handicapped the home side by a big sixteen points on the coupon as a large crowd filed in through the turnstiles, eager for the season to get underway.

Nothing would be decided today but local bragging rites were up for grabs, the Leopards looking to spring a surprise and get their season off to the best start, the Warriors looking to take up where they left off at the end of 2024.

Another Super League versus Championship Challenge Cup tie pitted the Bradford Bulls against near neighbours Castleford Tigers in a third-round match-up which saw Danny McGuires visitors as favourites to overcome Brian Noble’s charges.

It was a heavily experienced Bulls side, and one which the BBC had selected to broadcast indicating that they believed that it was the most likely to be a giant-killing, the pitch at Odsal being a leveller for what promised to be a tremendous cup tie.

A place in the fourth round awaited, with both sides and coaches were eager to progress, the Bradford crowd swelled by a decent contingent from Castleford.

Another Challenge Cup third round game, which looked like a one-sided affair, saw amateurs York Acorn against Super League opposition in the form of the Black & Whites of Hull FC.

The bookies had given the Airlie Birds a sixty-eight-point handicap on the coupon, forecasting one-way traffic to keep the hoards of FC fans who had made the journey to Post Office Road in Featherstone to cheer on their side.

Hull FC gave seven debuts, but this was the easiest of first games that was possible for the FC new men as they edge towards the start of the Super League season.

It was a bumper payday for Acton based amateur side Wests Warriors as they switched their Challenge Cup game against the Rhinos to Headingley, with the Leeds faithful happy to get to see their side start their cup campaign on home soil, with the hope of a massive points win to give a confidence boost going into the start if Super League.

The bookies had given the Warriors a ninety-two point start on the coupon but with Brad Arthur fielding a very strong side, there was every chance that the statisticians would be reaching for the record books before the final hooter.

It was a Southern Conference League side making a two-hundred-mile trip north to face the Super League side, four tiers difference between the two, and there could only possibly be one winner.

The 2025 Challenge Cup welcomed the ‘big boys’ to the competition at round three, with a money-making day for a number of smaller clubs with an opportunity to play host to the top sides in the country, but few with more than ‘a snowball’s chance in hell’ of progression into the fourth-round draw.

One of the hopefuls was York RLFC Knights whose reward for a comprehensive 72-12 win over the Keighley Cougars last weekend was a home tie against last years Grand Finalists, and on of the favourites for this seasons Super League crown, Hull Kingston Rovers.

There was a record home crowd in attendance, those from York with the hope of a cup upset, but with the fear of a cricket score in the away column.

The 30th Super League season was officially launched at Manchester’s Co Op Live today with season ticket sales across the 12 clubs already up by more than 10% on 2024, laying the foundations for another opening round aggregate attendance in excess of 70,000.

The 2024 Betfred Super League season began with a record-breaking Round One attendance of 76,752 and ended with a memorable Play-Off series – the most-watched ever, through live coverage on Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and with a Grand Final attendance of 68,173 at Old Trafford the best for seven years.

All the indications are that the competition will maintain that momentum when it kicks off on Valentine’s Weekend – starting on Thursday February 13 as Wigan Warriors launch their title defence against their local rivals Leigh Leopards.

The final place in the third round of the challenge cup, and a televised game at home against Hull Kingston Rovers, was the reward on offer as the Keighley Cougars hosted York RLFC Knights at Cougar Park.

A division apart in the league ladder, Championship side York were firm favourites for the win and progress, but Keighley came into the game determined to put on a show and hoping to spring a shock in a pre-season environment.

The cameras and commentators from The Sportsman were in attendance, along with a normally noisy and partisan home crowd.

Both coaches elected to field very strong starting line-ups for the Ash Handley Testimonial game at Headingley between the Leeds Rhinos and defending Champions, Wigan Warriors, in a pre-season friendly.

With the third round of the Challenge Cup just a fortnight away, the Rhinos preparing for a trip to London to face Wests Warriors and Wigan Warriors planning their game against the Sheffield Eagles, there were plenty of eager substitutes looking to secure their spot as the competitive season loomed.

Handley made his Leeds debut in 2014 away at London Broncos and his home debut in 2015 against the Wigan Warriors, and has 212 competitive appearances under his belt for his hometown side being a single club career man, having played eight games on loan at Featherstone Rovers in three spells.

With the British Army having been knocked out of the 2025 Challenge Cup yesterday afternoon by Wests Warriors, the only remaining armed forces side, the Royal Navy, sought progress towards a third-round home tie against the Leigh Leopards but faced a daunting task as they entertained Workington Town.

A win today would see the Navy into the third round for only the third time in their Challenge Cup history, but the bookies favourites were professional side Workington Town, who lifted the trophy in the 1951-52 season after beating Featherstone Rovers at Wembley.

London Broncos entered the 2025 Challenge Cup with a home encounter against the Hull Vikings, the rugby league’s newest admission to the Championship One for a game at Rosslyn Park with a third-round game against Super League side Wakefield Trinity.

London had struggled in the close season from an administrative perspective since their relegation from the topflight at the end of 2024 with reputedly only twelve registered players, as they took on a brand-new side who had spent the close season gearing up for a season in the semi-professional game with a smattering of players with Super league experience.

There was every chance that Goole could spring a giant killing surprise, but the expectation was that the home side would be making progress, and they were the bookies favourites.

Another St Helens versus Wigan rivalry rounded off the first round of the 2025 Challenge Cup as North West Premier League side Orrell St James made the ten-mile journey south to face National League Premier Division side Thatto Heath Crusaders with the prize on offer being a trip to Halifax Panthers in round two in a weeks’ time.

The two sides met in the 2024 final of the BARLA National Cup when Thatto Heath emerged as 24-4 victors in the game played at Featherstone Rovers Post Office Road back in August of last year.

It promised to be a feisty encounter, much like the game last August which saw the referee have a busy afternoon with the cards.

After a last minute postponement last week due to a frozen pitch, the 2025 Challenge Cup got underway at Queens Avenue in Aldershot for a round one game between the Royal Air Force and the Army.

The RAF left the competition at this stage in 2024 after losing out to the Royal Navy while the Army were also opening round victims as they fell to Fryston Warriors.

The Army were looking to make the second round for the first time in three years while the RAF were last in the second round in 2023, todays victors were rewarded with a round two away game at Wests Warriors and if they were to be victorious in round two then they would have the fantastic prospect of hosting the Leeds Rhinos in round three.

After being iced off last weekend, along with the majority of the round one Challenge Cup fixtures, the game between the Waterhead Warriors and Leigh Miners Rangers finally got underway at Waterhead Park in Oldham this afternoon in the early kick-off, streamed on the BBC Sport website.

Both sides National Conference League Premier Division after being promoted at the end of the 2024 season after finishing top and second in Division One after an almighty tussle last season.

It was an early chance for the two sides to get a run-out and look to progress into the second round and a game at home against Championship side Featherstone Rovers next weekend,