This weekend in Newcastle saw what was, potentially, the last Magic Weekend, should the IMG proposals be implemented in full.

IMG would like to replace the weekend with ‘something else’ as yet unspecified, and it appears that the British rugby league public voted with their feet as they supported the event and by all accounts had a fabulous weekend.

There was a combined attendance of 36,943 on the Saturday and 26,426 on the Sunday for a total of 63,369 for the event as a whole, bolstering the local economy as they basked in decent weather and enjoyed more than the odd shock result.

The Magic Weekend starts here with a Championship curtain raiser in the form of Newcastle Thunder against the Bradford Bulls, the latter having played a memorable part in many previous Magic Weekends.

Thunder were taking full advantage of this weekend being staged in their city at St James Park and hoping for a bumper crowd for what had been dubbed as Magic Friday at Kingston Park as they looked to reduce the six point deficit that they currently have to their West Yorkshire opponents.

A victory for the Bulls wouldn´t improve their league position but it would edge them closer on points to the current top six.

The Bulls were clear favourites for the win but this was Newcastle´s special night.

Well established club Widnes - founded in 1875 - were the visitors at Kingston Park, still a relatively new venue rugby league as the home of Newcastle Thunder, on the Monday night championship game televised by Premier Sports The teams drew on their previous meeting and always looked likely too produce a tight game again.

Widnes were the team with the early pressure on the back of a penalty and set restart conceded by the Thunder.

The sides currently residing in sixth and seventh in the Championship table, with two wins each out of their opening four games, came together for a fourth round Challenge Cup encounter as the York City Knights hosted Newcastle Thunder for a place in the fifth round.

It was an eagerly anticipated encounter between two sides who appeared evenly matched on paper.

  

A place in the Betfred Championship would be decided over eighty minutes of frenetic action at the Vestacare Stadium.

Oldham and Newcastle went into battle with the home side the favourites by virtue of their higher league place in the regular season.

Oldham were unchanged from the side which defeated Doncaster a fortnight ago.

Thunder made just one change from the side which beat Doncaster last weekend to set up todays clash with Carne Doyle-Magna named on the bench in place of Alex Rowe, who broke his arm in that semi-final.

It’s been honours shared in 2019, and there was just one point between them on the league ladder, with close encounters giving little indication of who may emerge victorious ahead of the clash.

With Whitehaven already promoted to the Betfred Championship for 2020 it was time to find out who would be joining them to replace the relegated Rochdale and Barrow.

Fourth placed Doncaster were up against third placed Newcastle for the chance to travel to Oldham next weekend to secure a place in the League One play off final.

Both encounters between these two sides during the regular league season were close affairs with honours shared with one win apiece.

The margins were just six points and a single drop goal so there was plenty of promise of a close game.

The culmination of the opening day of the Magic Weekend saw Castleford Tigers take on the Leeds Rhinos in a repeat of last seasons Old Trafford Grand Final.

There were a number of changes for both sides since their last outings as fifth took on sixth for the honour of overnighting in fourth place ahead of Hull FC playing tomorrow afternoon.

The Rhinos lost out by a solitary point when the two sides met at the end of March but the Rhinos were the victors when it counted, in last season’s Grand Final.

Both sides had something to redress in front of a pretty full St James’ Park in Newcastle.

St James Park may be hosting the Super League Dacia Magic Weekend, but proceedings got under way with a Betfred Championship round 14 tie between Toronto Wolfpack and Toulouse Olympique.

And it was the Canadian outfit who took the spoils, ending the game on the right side of a 43-30 scoreline to  open up a five-point lead over second placed TO in the league.

Man of the Match Liam Kay gave an early indication of the Wolfpack’s determination to make up for last week’s ill-tempered exit from the Challenge Cup at the hands of Warrington.

Game Two of the Dacia Magic Weekend saw an intriguing match up between high-flying Hull FC who were eying up a chance to leapfrog Castleford into top spot while Saints were out to impress new coach Justin Holbrook who was in the stadium but not running the side.



Hull made a number of changes, but Saints just one, from the sides who had very mixed fortunes in last weekends Challenge Cup.

Hull were devastating in their 62-0 win over the Catalans Dragons and were clear favourites for a win today over a Saints side who were thrashed 53-10 by Castleford Tigers.



The atmosphere was building as more supporters left the bars and took to the stands.