Hello and welcome along to today's live rugby league blog where we will be bringing you all the latest news and rumours all day long.

Round 17 is done and dusted with Catalans Dragons the big winners as they extended their winning run to 12 games at Craven Park.

St Helens consolidated second spot with a comfortable victory over Hull FC, while Warrington Wolves look a good bet for the top three after beating Leeds Rhinos in a thriller.

Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants enjoyed big wins over Leigh Centurions and Castleford Tigers respectively.

We'll bring you all the fallout from those games as well as the top stories from across the sport throughout the day, including breaking news from the NRL.

Leigh bound?

  • Share

This should be a good watch

Yorkshire and Lancashire have named 20-player squads ahead of tomorrow’s Origin Academy game at Weetwood Hall in Leeds.

The behind-closed-doors fixture will be streamed live on Our League from 11am and will feature many of the game’s future stars, several of whom already have first team experience.

Academy Origin is part of the talent pathway between club academy competition and full England Academy selection. In recent times Academy Origin players have made rapid strides in the senior game, such as St Helens’ Jack Welsby and Wigan Warriors’ Umyla Hanley who both scored eye-catching hat-tricks in their side’s latest Betfred Super League games.

The sides will be coached by Danny Wilson (Yorkshire) and Shane Eccles (Lancashire).

Yorkshire’s coach Danny Wilson says: “These players missed out on a season’s worth of development during the pandemic, so this game is an important step in making up for lost time. I’m really excited about their potential and how far some of them might progress in Rugby League.”

Lancashire coach Shane Eccles adds: “The players have prepared well and are raring to go. Like Danny I’m grateful to their clubs for working with us to get this game on. They’ll do their clubs proud and hopefully we’ll get the win.”

Yorkshire squad

Denive Balmforth (Warrington Wolves), Lewis Camden (Bradford Bulls), Alfie Edgell, Levi Edwards, Oliver Field, Will Gatus (all Leeds Rhinos), Alex Gibson (Hull FC), Joe Hird (Leeds Rhinos), Jacob Hookem, Davy Litten (both Hull FC), Connor Moore (Hull Kingston Rovers), Matty Nicholson (Wigan Warriors), Tom Nicholson-Watton (Leeds Rhinos), Pat O'Donovan (Wakefield Trinity), Euan Parke (London Broncos), Jason Qareqare (Castleford Tigers), Kieran Rush (Huddersfield Giants), Isaac Shaw (Wakefield Trinity), Max Simpson (Leeds Rhinos), Nick Staveley (Hull FC).

Lancashire squad

Jake Anderson (Newcastle Thunder), Cole Appleby (St Helens), Logan Astley (Wigan Warriors), Luke Broadbent, Jack Darbyshire (both Warrington Wolves), George Delaney (St Helens), Zach Eckersley, Tom Forber (both Wigan Warriors), Daniel Ganson (St Helens), Leon Hayes (Warrington Wolves), Sam Haynes (St Helens), Tom Horton-Burnett (Warrington Wolves), Ben Lane (St Helens), Harvey Makin, Junior Nsemba (both Wigan Warriors), Taylor Pemberton (St Helens), Fenton Rogers (Huddersfield Giants), Alex Sutton (Wigan Warriors), Luke Thomas (Warrington Wolves), Tom Whitehead (Warrington Wolves).

Weetwood Covid protocols mean that no spectators will be allowed to attend.

  • Share

Disciplinary sanctions

Following the latest round of Betfred Super League fixtures, the Match Review Panel have issued the following sanctions:

Jordan Johnstone (Hull FC) – Grade B Dangerous Contact – 1 Match Penalty Notice

Jack Hughes (Warrington) – Grade B Dangerous Contact – 1 Match Penalty Notice

Daryl Clark (Warrington) – Grade B Tripping – 1 Match Penalty Notice

Luke Gale (Leeds) – Grade B Contact with the Referee – 2 Match Penalty Notice

Sam Hall (Castleford) – Grade B Dangerous Throw – 1 Match Penalty Notice

Jack Ashworth (Leigh) – Grade C Punching – 2 Match Penalty Notice

Brad Singleton (Wigan) – Grade C Punching – 3 Match Penalty Notice

Oliver Partington (Wigan) – Grade C Punching – 2 Match Penalty Notice

Rob Butler (Leigh) – Grade C Punching – 2 Match Penalty Notice

  • Share

Huge news

What a sorry state of affairs.

  • Share

KR talking points

It was the one that got away for Rovers but make no mistake, they were beaten by the better team.

  • Share

Latest power rankings

Rugby League Live Power Rankings as new club takes top spot

  • Share

Former team-mates react to Dunn death

  • Share

Fans pay tribute to Dunn

  • Share

A bad few days for Featherstone

Featherstone have been deducted two points and fined £10,000 for a breach of coronavirus protocols.

The RFL said the Betfred Championship club were found to have held an indoor gathering on Saturday, March 27, in a “direct breach of the national lockdown restrictions in place at the time”.

Rovers subsequently included 12 players who should have been forced to stand down under RFL Covid protocols in their team for the following Friday’s fixture against Batley.

The RFL also accused Featherstone of “failing to fully cooperate with the early stages of the investigation”.

In response, a club statement read: “Featherstone Rovers are deeply disappointed with the RFL’s outcome from its investigation into an alleged social gathering at the club in March of this year.

“The outcome is particularly disappointing given that the club had satisfied both West Yorkshire Police’s investigation and a local authority hearing, both of whom conceded that the club had not knowingly been uncooperative.”

  • Share

Coaches react to Huddersfield's win over Castleford

Ian Watson

I thought we were very good in the first half. We controlled the field position really well and, once we got opportunities, we executed really well. I thought Will Pryce opened them up a few times.

In the second half it went error for error and became really scrappy. The first half won us the game.

Daryl Powell

It’s so hard at the moment. We had 15 players missing with Covid and another one injured. It’s madness.

I thought we battled hard but losing Shenny was a massive blow. We couldn’t quite score when we needed to in the second half.

But I can’t question our effort. We just can’t get a team together at the moment. This is as hard as I’ve seen it in the job.

We find ourselves with six-and-a-half weeks left and we’ve got to find our spirit and our determination and keep going.

  • Share

Coaches react to St Helens' win at Hull FC

Kristian Woolf

I’m really happy with our blokes. We had 13 days from the Challenge Cup where we couldn’t do anything.

We are short-staffed at the minute. We still have seven or eight players and two or three staff that aren’t allowed to be in just yet or are just coming back into the group.

I’m really happy with the way we approached that game. We started with a great attitude, we backed ourselves with our shape and opportunities with the ball.

Brett Hodgson

I thought there was much more to like in tonight’s performance than there was on Thursday (in the defeat against Leeds).

We are still working to be more clinically offensively but we were in the contest and had Bureta (Faraimo) scored in the corner, it would have been a different result. Not necessarily a win but a lot closer than it was.

So yeah, disappointed but at the same time, plenty to like in that performance.

  • Share

Coaches react to Catalans' victory over Hull KR

Steve McNamara

I think it’s as good a win as we’ve had this season. There was every reason for us to come here and not win tonight.

We were out on our feet at the end. They’ve been great. We lost our captain two weeks back, Ben Garcia, with a badly broken arm. These boys have come in and they’ve done us proud.

Tony Smith

We are competing with the top of the league there. A couple of years ago when I came to this place if we had lost to the best team in the comp we would have thought we had had a good crack at it. Now we go into each match thinking we have a chance (of winning).

I can’t knock my boys for effort. Tonight we had more grit about our goal-line defence. We held them out for long periods of time.

  • Share

Sad news this morning

Former Hull KR and England winger Ged Dunn has died at the age of 74.

Dunn, who joined the Robins from Redcar RUFC in 1971, scored 160 tries in 296 appearances, putting him in fifth place in the club’s all-time list, and in 1974-75 wrote his name in history with a club-record 42 tries in 45 matches.

Dunn played for England in the 1975 World Cup against Australia, France and New Zealand.

After hanging up his boots, Dunn served as Rovers A team coach in the early 1980s before becoming assistant to Roger Millward in 1986 and continued to work with Millward until both men left the club at the end of the 1990-91 season.

For 33 years until his retirement in 2005, Dunn was a PE teacher at Bransholme High School.

Hull KR chief executive Paul Lakin said: “We have lost not only a great rugby league player but a fine man too.

“He remained a popular figure around the club and we were always pleased to see him supporting us at home and on the road.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and his friends. Rest in peace Ged.”

  • Share