After the end of the domestic season last weekend, we can´t wait for the start of the World Cup, and we guess you´re the same.

But it is still a whole nine days until England run out at St James Park in Newcastle to face the terrifying prospect of a game against the tremendous side from Samoa.

Nerves will be jangling, and spines will be tingling.

But why wait a week, there are plenty of warm-up games coming up over the next few days to either get yourself to and experience, or to watch on the small screen.

As we await with anticipation what promises to be a sensational Rugby League World Cup, we thought we´d remind you about the great RLFANS.COM merchandise that you can purchase through our partners at the wonderful Skull Print.

Whether it’s a hoodie for the World Cup games, a T-Shirt to wear on the terraces next season, or a Christmas present for your nearest and dearest, then there are some great options available.

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A place in Super League 2023 was the prize as massive favourites Leigh Centurions took on massive underdogs Batley Bulldogs at the Leigh Sports Village in the final game of the domestic calendar.

Batley sprang an enormous surprise last weekend when they eliminated the Featherstone Rovers to take their place in the Million Pound Game, but if they were a long shot last week, this week the target was beyond the vision of mortal men.

In the regular season, Batley had scored just one try against Leigh in the league, while conceding a massive one hundred and sixteen points to them.

The bookies gave the Bulldogs a forty point start on the coupon and many pundits were predicting that it might could be considerably worse for them in what promised to be the most one-sided Championship Grand Final of all time.

A place in the Championship for 2023 was up for grabs as Doncaster travelled to Heywood Road insouth Manchester to take on a Swinton Lions side who were looking to bounce back at the first time of asking and join the Keighley Cougars in next season’s second tier.

Swinton won comfortably in the play off semi-finals a fortnight ago when they ran out as 32-12 winners with both sides having won a game each in the regular season games, Doncaster by 26-12 at Swinton and Swinton by 64-22 in a high scoring round three encounter at the Eco-Power Stadium.

The Lions were big favourites for the win and promotion, but Doncaster came into the game on the back of a big win against the Rochdale Hornets last weekend and full of hope that they would be the ones celebrating at the end of eighty minutes.

The Accor Stadium in Sydney was the venue for an NRL Grand Final between runaway Minor Premiers and defending champions Penrith Panthers and the side which finished four places and eight points behind then at the end of the regular season, the Paramatta Eels.

The twenty-fifth NRL Grand Final was the third consecutive for the Panthers with the Eels making their first appearance in the showpiece event since their loss to Melbourne Storm in 2009, a victory later stripped from the Melbourne side for salary cap breaches.

The bookies were convinced that the Panthers would be lifting the trophy again in 2022 and had handicapped them by ten points on the coupon and making them odds on favourites on the win market.

A packed house held its breath.

Everyone except the Batley squad and coaches and perhaps the most diehard/deluded of supporters expected that Sunday’s game at the Millennium Stadium against Featherstone Rovers would be a game too far for the plucky part-timers from deep in heavy woollen country.

Their incredible win, leading from the first points of the game until the relieving final hooter, set up a trip to the Leigh Sports Village, to take on Leigh Centurions, in the Million Pound Game for the right to play their 2023 rugby in the Super League.

But the Bulldogs have no chance of winning, absolutely zero, not a prayer, a snow ball´s chance in hell.

We take a look at the probablility Leigh will be the ones celebrating on Sunday evening.

With Leigh Centurions comfortably into the Million Pound Game with a comprehensive win over the York City Knights, all that remained was to determine their opposition next Sunday night as Featherstone Rovers took on the Batley Bulldogs for the chance to take a tilt at Super League rugby in 2023.

The home side were massive favourites with the bookies and the pundits and been handicapped by sixteen points on the coupon before kick-off.

But coach Brian McDermott was cautious coming into the game as Batley were unbeaten in 2022 by Rovers having drawn 20-20 when the two sides met in March before recording a 28-20 victory away in June.

Both sides were unchanged from their last outing.

Leigh Centurions entertained York City Knights as the Betfred Championship play-off semifinals got under way at Leigh Sports Village as clear favourites - to win both the match and next week’s Grand Final for another crack at Super League.

They had led the table throughout the second half of the season and finished three points clear of second placed featherstone; and eight ahead of today’s opponents, who were sixth in the table after the regular season.

York may have arrived with ideas of their own, having won four on the trot - including beating third-placed Halifax with an outstanding performance in the first round of the play-offs last week.

But they did lose by 100 points to Leigh in the regular season just four weeks ago.

With the build up to the twenty-fifth Super League Grand Final being overshadowed by Saints inedible chicken wings, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos made their way to Old Trafford for another great showdown between the two most successful sides in Super League history.

Whoever lifted the trophy would create a fairy-tale ending.

A Saints victory would signal a record fourth consecutive year as Champions and ensure that their name is writ large in the pages of our great games record books.

A win for the Rhinos would be a sensational end to a season which had seem them staring down the barrel of relegation before the mid-season arrival of inspirational coach Rohan Smith.

Most of the neutrals were backing the underdogs in Blue and Amber, but the bookies fancied the Saints and handicapped them by six points on the coupon.

The Rhinos have never lost to Saints at Old Trafford, the last meeting being in 2011, but that wouldn´t have crossed Kristian Woolf´s mind as he plotted their downfall and sought to make sure that it would be one game too far for the Rhinos resurgence.

Rugby League Cares and the Rugby Football League are delighted to announce that four of the greatest players in the sport’s history will receive the highest honour the sport can bestow next month when they are inducted into the men’s Rugby League Hall of Fame.

Andy Farrell OBE, Adrian Morley, Clive Sullivan MBE and David Watkins MBE are the latest players to be identified as the best of the very best since the sport began in 1895.

The four will formally join the 28 current members in Rugby League’s most exclusive club at an induction ceremony in Wigan on Thursday October 27.

After taking the scalp of St Helens in last weeks semi-final, the Leeds Rhinos Women joined the York City Knights Women on a journey over the Pennines to the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens for the 2022 Women´s Super League Grand Final.

It was the fourth season in a row that Leeds had made it to the Grand Final, having won on one of the three previous occasions, losing out to St Helens in 2021 on their last attempt.

By contrast it was York´s first appearance in the showpiece event after topping the league table and being defeated just once in this year’s campaign.

The City Knights were slight favourites for the win with the bookies but there was little to choose between two great sides in the competition.

The omens didn´t look perfect for, the soon to be departed, Kristian Wolf as his Saints side sought their fourth consecutive Grand Final and a trip to Old Trafford to face their season finale nemesis, the Leeds Rhinos, next weekend.

The Salford Red Devils came into the game on a fantastic run of form, having clinically despatched the Huddersfield Giants last weekend after humiliating them on their own ground.

Paul Rowley´s side were looking for their second trip to a Grand Final, having lost out to today’s opposition in 2019, but would have to do it without the services of star man Brodie Croft.

Despite the loss of Alex Walmsley, the bookies still fancied Saints for the win and had given the Red Devils an eight point start on the handicap coupon, but most supporters and pundits were struggling to call the result for what had all the hallmarks of a classic battle.

Fifth-placed Leeds continued their march through the play-offs with a semi-final visit to second-placed Wigan on Friday night, with a berth in the Betfred Super Legue Grand Final itself at stake.

The Rhinos have made a tradition of sneaking into the play-offs from unpromising positions, and this year has been no different, winning their spot by beating fellow early season relegation contenders Castleford in the last regular round.

But could they do it again, or would the Warriors put an end to their hopes?

It was third against sixth as the Huddersfield Giants took on the Salford Red Devils for a place in the semi finals against either St Helens (should Salford win) or the Wigan Warriors (should the Giants end the game in the box seat).

With Salford´s current excellent form the bookies were struggling to choose between the two sides with the home side made slight favourites for the win.

Salford won easily, by 33-16, the last time the two sides met just over a month ago, but the Giants won the encounter in July by 30-18, the game really was wide open.

It was again billed as Ian Watson against his former side, he would have spent the week telling his side that they were the focus, not him.

The scene was set for a classic.

As a nation mourned the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, the Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos donned their black armbands, observed a minute’s silence, and took to the field in a subdued south of France for the first of the 2022 Super League playoff series games as fourth played fifth.

The Dragons were back at full strength after resting their entire squad last weekend against Wigan, and notably had Sam Tomkins back in their side at full back, their talisman returning.

Leeds were without the suspended Rhyse Martin and Harry Newman wasn´t fit enough to make the seventeen, despite being named in the squad of twenty-one.

The Dragons were the clear favourites with the bookies but with the Rhinos only given an eight point start on the handicap coupon they thought it would be closer than many pundits as well as the more pessimistic Rhinos fans.

The two best sides in the women’s game over recent years were forced into a semi-final battle at Emerald Headingley as Leeds Rhinos took on St Helens for a place against York City Knights in the Grand Final in a fortnights time.

A place in the flagship event in the women’s game was up for grabs in a final which will be played at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens on the 18^th September.

The two sides have met three times this season, Saints taking the honours on two occasions and the Rhinos with one win.

The last meeting was at the start of last month when Saints ran out as 30/22 winners.

Saints finished two points ahead of Leeds in the final league table and were favourites to pick up the win and make progress.

A twenty-seven game 2022 Super League season came down to a single game for the Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers as they met in a play off for the play offs as sixth placed hosted seventh at the Emerald Headingley Stadium with a victory prolonging the season for the winners and most likely sending them to the south of France next weekend.

The bookies fancied the Rhinos to get the points against a Castleford side decimated by injuries and on a downward spiral of form after they were ´sitting pretty´ earlier on in the season.

The bookies gave the visitors a fourteen point start on the handicap coupon despite Castleford having won two out of the three previous meetings this season, including giving the Rhinos an early exit from the Challenge Cup.

Just one of Steve McNamara´s seventeen-man side which travelled to Wigan to take on the Warriors had a squad number under seventeen and ten players were given their debut, an indication that the Dragons were happy with their fourth-place finish in Super League 2022 and that their priority was to give their first team squad a week off to prepare for the play offs.

Wigan, already guaranteed a weekend off next week, named a strong side who were expected to record a massive victory, the bookies giving the visitors a massive forty-six point start on the handicap coupon.

The game was a dead rubber, treated as such by the French side, and all credit to those who could be bothered to both attend and tune in to watch on SKY.

 

With Salford Red Devils having taken the Castleford Tigers to the cleaners earlier in the afternoon, the Leeds Rhinos knew that a win in the south of France against the Catalans Dragons would ensure that they would be experiencing play off football in 2022.

A loss would make next Saturday´s final round clash with the Castleford Tigers a play off for the play offs, with a winner takes all scenario.

But Leeds coach Rohan Smith went into the game hoping to get the job done a week early and leave the last weekend as a tussle for places inside the six rather than in the six.

The Dragons have win just once in their last three outings while the Rhinos went into the game on the back of six successive wins, including a 36-32 win in Perpignan.

But Steve McNamara wasn´t going to make it easy for Leeds and named a strong side for the game, the bookies giving the Rhinos an eight point start on the handicap coupon.

 

Games don´t get any bigger than the round twenty-six match between the Castleford Tigers and Salford Red Devils with the winners becoming favourites to make the play-offs, the losers looking increasingly unlikely to make it into the top six.

The sides came into the game level on points and in sixth and seventh, Salford with a massive points advantage.

The winner would go up to fifth, before the Rhinos game against the Dragons in the evening kick-off.

Nerves were jangling, there was plenty at stake.

The bookies had a slight favouring for the away side, giving the Tigers a two point start in the handicap coupon, and with Salford´s recent stunning record in their charge for the top six, who could blame them.