With a run of three games in little over a week for all the teams in Super League, this is the time of the year where the season comes alive, and where the table starts to take real shape. With so many games occurring in such a short space of time, there are bound to be fascinating subplots everywhere you look.
And while that is most certainly the case for the six games to be played on Easter Monday, there is perhaps no story quite as intriguing as that of the Hull Kingston Rovers hooker, Shaun Lunt. Lunt signed a loan deal to join Hull KR last month until the end of the season, joining the club from Huddersfield – the side KR face in a bid to make it four wins from five matches.
When he arrived last month, Hull KR were languishing at the wrong end of the table. However, three wins from their last four games have seen them rise to within a point of third place.
The game against Huddersfield, who Lunt has played for since 2009, is one that inevitably carries plenty of significance for the 27-year-old, but he says despite a well-documented exit from the club, he holds no grudges and is simply focusing on enjoying his rugby again.
“I don’t hold any grudges, and there’s certainly no bad blood,” Lunt said. “I just felt I needed a change and that the club needed a change from me as well. All round it’s been a great transition and it’s worked both ways – they’re doing great and so are we, but my loyalties lie here at Hull KR now. I’ve got my vigour back for the game, and I feel like a little kid all over again.”
Although the reunion of Lunt with his parent club is a standout story, there is plenty else to take note of in the second half of Super League’s Easter weekend. Third meets fourth at the AJ Bell Stadium, as a resurgent Salford Red Devils host Wigan, fresh off the back of that pulsating 12-4 victory against St Helens on Good Friday in front of a sellout crowd at the DW Stadium.
Wigan have remarkably won their last two matches on Easter Monday 84-6, but will surely find things tougher going here against a Salford side who have lost only once in their last six matches. There is a West Yorkshire derby between Leeds and Wakefield, in a game which pits top against bottom, while the defending champions St Helens will look to bounce back from that derby defeat to Wigan by toppling Hull FC, who themselves suffered derby heartbreak over the weekend, losing out to Hull KR.
The other two matches are televised; Warrington host Castleford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, before Widnes travel to Perpignan to face Catalans Dragons to round off another feast of rugby league action.
The man of steel Daryl Clark will be aiming to put one over his hometown club Castleford, the England hooker having left them at the end of last season.
“It was the only team I played for coming through as a youngster so it’ll feel a bit different being on the other side,” said Clark, who is expected to recover from a broken nose sustained in Thursday’s defeat at Widnes to maintain his ever-present record for Warrington.
“I still look out for their results to see how they’re going and I hope they do well. I’ve seen their games and highlights on TV and they’re probably a bit like us. They’ve put a few good performances together and got some good wins but they’ve been poor in other games. I’m not too sure what the reception for me will be, I’ll have to wait and see.”
