A TERRIFIC round of Easter fixtures, with fierce intensity and thrilling uncertainty of outcome across competitions, hemispheres and even the Channel.
But there’s an exception to every rule.
To be fair, there were specific reasons suggesting that the Easter Saturday resumption of the Warrington-Leigh rivalry would be lukewarm, at best.
Not only have Adrian Lam’s Leopards been enduring a brutal injury toll, providing at least some explanation for a lean start to the 2026 season, which few had seen coming – but the Challenge Cup quarter-final draw, which scheduled a rematch at the same venue next weekend, always seemed likely to make this a phoney war.
An understandably downbeat Lam explained afterwards that Tesi Niu had been a late withdrawal on the morning of the match, leaving a makeshift centre pairing of Jacob Alick-Wienke and Will Brough, the latter offering a couple of promising touches on debut and a very different shape to his dad (with no sign of a mullet).
But other than accepting the invitation to grumble about six-agains – “Do we want touch rugby? It’s affected the way we’ve defended this year for sure” – there was no attempt from the 55-year-old to sugarcoat the Leopards’ plight.
“I don’t really look at the ladder, whether we’re top or bottom – but it certainly builds pressure, doesn’t it?” he said.
“The good thing is that everyone is beating each other, so the top two or top five aren’t too far ahead. I know when we get a full team back, we’ll be fine. We’ve got to pick up wins while we minimise the bleeding.”
A trip to York on Friday week looms as a huge fixture for both clubs.
But before then, “it’s a different competition next week” – and one in which Lam and Leigh have still-vivid memories of the 2023 Wembley win against Hull KR. Reverse this result this Saturday and they’ll be 80 minutes from a third Wembley appearance in five seasons. On that basis you’d expect the talismanic Edwin Ipape to return, as well as Niu and a couple of others.
But Sam Burgess confirmed that the Wolves will have some big names back as well – one of many impressive features of their start to the season has been how comfortably they have coped with a number of injury absentees.
Most excitingly, given the BBC platform for the sport and its stars, Burgess said that Cai Taylor-Wray “will play”, for the first time since hurting a hamstring in the Wolves’ freewheeling win at York last month – and presenting the coach with a surfeit of back-three riches, as one of Josh Thewlis, Matty Ashton and Josh Smith will presumably have to make way.
All three were impressive on Saturday, Smith strolling over for the opener inside two minutes, and Ashton scoring a try in each half – one of the interceptions in which he specialises, and a second laid on by a pinpoint Thewlis pass.
But Warrington didn’t have a bad player, albeit in the context of a limited Leopards challenge. Liam Byrne, Danny Walker and Luke Thomas – a 23-year-old Wales international from Crewe, which is a refreshingly unusual background – established early dominance, with influential support from Ben Currie, who might be playing as well as ever as a ball-playing loose forward, 14 years after making his debut as a wide-running second rower.
Marc Sneyd eased back to his playmaking role after a couple of weeks playing second fiddle to Ewan Irwin – which might have been tricky to handle, as Irwin had just turned two when Sneyd made his debut. And with the scent of Wembley growing stronger, it would be a big surprise if Burgess doesn’t stick with the three-time Lance Todd winner alongside George Williams for this Saturday’s quarter-final.
Burgess would seem entitled to have mixed feelings about the Challenge Cup, having received little credit for reaching the Final in each of his two seasons with the Wolves, and with their 2025 Super League campaign unravelling after the heartbreaking defeat against Hull KR. But there was no hint of that as he looked forward to the rematch.
As arguably the form team of the season so far – top of the table on points difference with a game in hand on all but the Robins – Warrington are well-placed to make it third time lucky.
And although this won’t be anywhere near the front of either’s calculations, a Wembley win could be well-timed in terms of advancing the credentials of Burgess’s Bradford-formed double-act with Steve McNamara to take their coaching partnership to the World Cup with England this autumn.
It’s an intriguing prospect, as is the thought of a possible joint interview with a panel including Kevin Sinfield – who knows them both so well.
For the moment, it’s obvious that the relationship is a strong one which is working wonderfully well for Warrington, with Burgess joking a couple of times in Saturday’s media conference that he’d rather discuss the Wolves’ defence than give all the credit to McNamara’s attack.
And who’d have thought two months ago that Warrington and Leigh would go into a Challenge Cup quarter-final as top and bottom of the Super League table? In that at least, the 2026 season cannot be criticised as predictable.