With the Championship set to start this coming week the pre-season fixtures that remain before the season starts are where iron sharpens iron and the elite face off with each other.
The reigning Champions St Helens are the only Super League side who won’t be in action as they have journeyed down under in preparation of their World Club Challenge contest against NRL champions’ Penrith Panthers.
That leaves all 11 other sides with games to play however the odd team out are Catalans Dragons who defeated a France side put together from talent from the Elite One Championship meanwhile last night Warrington Wolves defeated Leigh Leopards leaving four all-Super League clashes today.
So, here’s every fixture today:
Wakefield Trinity vs Hull FC: 2pm at Belle Vue Hull KR vs Leeds Rhinos: 3pm at Craven Park Wigan Warriors vs Salford Red Devils: 3pm at the DW Stadium Castleford Tigers vs Huddersfield Giants: 3:30pm at the Jungle
Sunday is where we see the chunk of the action and we get to see Huddersfield for the first time given that their fixture against Bradford fell through due to the weather.
Ian Watson’s men travel to the Jungle for Nathan Massey’s testimonial and it’ll be a chance for Giants’ fans to see lots of youth as well as new signings Sam Halsall and Jake Bibby, with Watson taking a 25-man squad.
🟠 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦@j_mcgillvary is included in this weekend's squad after injury, alongside Sam Halsall and @jakebibby who joined us in the off-season!
As for Castleford they’re fresh off the back of a trip to Cumbria and a big win in good fashion over Whitehaven and they’ll be keen to give the veteran Massey a day to remember.
A second testimonial takes place that day with Wigan’s hooker Sam Powell set to lead his side out against Salford, both teams having featured last weekend against Championship opposition although with differing results.
Salford will look for more of a test than against Swinton when they ran out 16-0 leaders after 10 minutes before Paul Rowley blooded some youth and oversaw a 26-22 win.
Paul Rowley has named what’s almost a full strength side, the exceptions being wingers Joe Burgess and Ken Sio, to undertake that task of spoiling the party and defeating Wigan during Powell’s testimonial.
🚨 Paul Rowley has named a 21-man squad to face @WiganWarriorsRL, in Sam Powell's testimonial!
Hull KR are looking to bounce back from their thrashing against Featherstone, to do that Willie Peters has given a strong indication of what his first choice 17 will be.
They host Leeds Rhinos who will feature for a fourth time this pre-season and have named their strongest squad of the pre-season so far with almost all of their stars on show.
Leeds Rhinos Head Coach Rohan Smith has named the strongest squad of the pre-season campaign so far for this Sunday’s trip to Hull KR, kick off 3pm. ➡ More here https://t.co/j2KFujLRrCpic.twitter.com/vQfFES1EXO
Another team set to feature for a fourth time and looking for a fourth win are Wakefield Trinity with Mark Applegarth’s men hosting Hull FC having been arguably the most impressive side all pre-season thus far.
They have confirmed their line-up though and the stars get given a rest with halves Mason Lino and Lee Gaskell not in the squad whilst full-back and winger Max Jowitt and Lewis Murphy also miss out. That leaves an experimental side with Corey Hall at full-back and Samisoni Langi at the six spot seemingly.
Mark Applegarth has named his team for our final pre-season hit out against @hullfcofficial on Sunday afternoon, KO 2pm. ✔️
