karlpejera: Super League Set of Six: Huddersfield blockbuster the one to watch

Huddersfield v Warrington has the makings of a cracker; can Leeds man up against Manly? Plus Rhinos the tweet toppers

1 All roads lead to ? Huddersfield

It must be a good sign when on the Monday morning after the weekend before, you can't wait for the next instalment. There are two televised blockbusters this weekend ? Friday's World Club Challenge between Leeds and Manly was always going to qualify for that description but Sky's Saturday teatime offering of Huddersfield versus Warrington is now shaping up as equally tasty.

That is largely because of the Giants' stunning, and widely unexpected, start. Victory at Wigan when they were missing virtually a full pack of experienced forwards was followed by a 66-6 demolition of Widnes, who are doing little to justify Super League's divisive licensing system. More of that later.

For now let's relish some of the individual contests that await at the Galpharm on Saturday. Leroy Cudjoe, the gifted centre who scored four of the Giants' tries against Widnes, taking on a potential rival both for an England place and at the top of the Super League scoring charts in Ryan Atkins. Jermaine McGillvary up against Rhys Evans outside them. Chris Bridge and Joel Monaghan squaring up to Joe Wardle and Luke George on the other flank. That's eight in-form three-quarters, seven of them British, and there will be another couple of bright talents behind them if Greg Eden and Stefan Ratchford retain their places at full-back.

Ratchford's try, after a combination with Evans that spanned the length of the field, was the most obvious highlight of Warrington's 50-10 drubbing of London Broncos on Sunday, although the most enduring memory for me will be of a vintage Lee Briers performance to make amends for the disciplinary slip that led to his omission from the Wolves' opening draw at Hull.

As Briers turns 34 in June, there won't be that many more chances to appreciate the combination of skill and invention that has made him arguably the most watchable player of the past decade. Right from the start on Sunday, it was obvious that he was on a mission, as he bundled into Craig Gower, the veteran Australian half-back who is now leading the Broncos, on the first set of the match. Couldn't those two loveable rogues share a yarn? But worryingly for London, Gower seemed to be struggling to last the pace in the second half, although not as badly as Antonio Kaufusi, the former Melbourne prop who pulled off a couple of spectacular hits but spent a fair proportion of the match bent double looking exhausted.

On Saturday, Briers will be up against Danny Brough, the man most likely to inherit his maverick mantle at some stage in the next couple of years. Huddersfield-Warrington may not sound like a blockbuster but it could be the match of the season so far.

2 Can Leeds man up?

The World Club Challenge comes so soon after the start of the Super League season, there is a danger of it sneaking up unnoticed. That is especially so when the game lacks the novelty of last year's showdown between the St George Illawarra Dragons and Wigan. This will be Leeds's fourth Challenge appearance in the past five years and a repeat of the 2009 decider in which they were beaten 28-20 by Des Hasler's Sea Eagles at Elland Road.

But the fact that this game will be played across the city at Headingley, a proper rugby league ground where a 21,500 full house should generate an electric atmosphere, provides one much-needed element of novelty. Then there is the opportunity for Leeds to end Australian domination of the Challenge, with Manly's victory in 2009 followed by another Elland Road defeat for Leeds against Melbourne, then the Dragons' triumph at Wigan.

There is huge interest in how Manly will perform in the first game in a new era for the club since Hasler defected to Canterbury in the bitter aftermath of their victory over the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL Grand Final last autumn.

Hasler has been succeeded by another Brookvale institution in Geoff Toovey, still fondly remembered by British spectators as a tiny, blond scrum-half, who looked like a choirboy and tackled like a terrier.

He has inherited pretty much the team who were crowned champions and they look formidable, from Brett Stewart at full-back to his brother Glenn at loose forward, via Jamie Lyon and Steve Matai in the centres, Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves, and Anthony Watmough and George Rose in the pack.

As ever, they will have the ready-made excuse of coming into the game cold from their pre-season training in the Sydney summer ? albeit a pretty wet and miserable one, by the sounds of things ? which makes this game a bit of a no-win for Leeds. But as ever, it should be well worth a watch.

3 Rhinos take revenge on Wigan, a dish served in 140 characters

The Rhinos come into the game on the back of a comprehensive defeat at Wigan, although there was no disgrace in that. After their opening setback to Huddersfield, the Warriors got back to business and to basics, with a no-frills pack performance adorned by three thrilling tries from the wing Josh Charnley ? two of them laid on brilliantly by Sam Tomkins, and the third by a slick combination between Darrell Goulding and Sean O'Loughlin.

So, like the Leeds coach Brian McDermott, I left the DW Stadium on Saturday pondering a few questions. Why does the stadium wifi never work? Is Charnley's new boy-band hairstyle more reminiscent of early-80s Andrew Ridgeley, or late-80s Matt Goss? And how does Michael McIlorum, the Wigan hooker whose individual performance was superb, manage to generate such a healthy tan in a Lancashire winter? He must be the antithesis of Andy Currier, the Widnes centre who was nicknamed "the Milk Bottle" during an off-season Sydney stint with Balmain because of his long, pasty legs.

Leeds did claim one victory over Wigan this week when the club's Twitter feed reached 12,000 followers, only the third rugby league club to do so after the Brisbane Broncos and the New Zealand Warriors. According to the list that Leeds published on their website, Wigan are in a respectable fifth place fewer than 1,000 followers behind. Warrington and St Helens are the third- and fourth-placed British clubs (12th and 13th on the overall list), but the most striking discovery is that Hull KR are next and have around 800 followers more than Hull FC.

4 From balmy Wigan to perishing Perpignan

There were nonetheless some understandably passionate tweets emanating from the black and white half of Hull over the weekend, after FC's game against the Catalan Dragons was cancelled because a patch of the Perpignan pitch was frozen. Shaun McRae, Hull's director of rugby, has complained angrily on behalf of the supporters who had travelled, although it is hard to see what else could have been done. According to the Catalans' coach Trent Robinson, the pitch would have been playable 24 hours earlier and the game would have had to be called off on Thursday or even earlier to prevent Hull fans from travelling. It is one of the risks that are taken by starting a season in February, even if that will have come as cold comfort to the Hull supporters. I suspect they'll have had a pretty good trip anyway.

5 Licence to struggle

Now, as threatened, back to Widnes. There were plenty of extenuating circumstances for the humiliation they suffered at Huddersfield. They have already lost three of their key players ? Shaun Briscoe, Jon Clarke and Anthony Watts ? to injury. Two more ? Cameron Phelps and Sione Kite ? have still to be granted visas. The Giants are formidable opponents.

But the excuses can only run so far. Widnes have had the best part of a year to plan. When they had to earn promotion in the good old days, they hit the ground running under Neil Kelly ? just as Hull KR did under Justin Morgan more recently, after he had made a few shrewd signings to add to a squad who had already been steadily growing in strength.

In contrast Widnes knew that results last season were irrelevant once they had been awarded their licence, so it did not matter that they failed to reach the Northern Rail Cup final, and lost their last five matches in the Co-operative Championship. In many ways they are victims of the system.

This Sunday's home game against Salford is either a clever, or fortuitous, piece of fixture scheduling for both clubs. It is a game that Widnes desperately need to win if they are to build some credibility with their own supporters. But Salford were really impressive last Friday in forcing St Helens to come from behind on their opening night at Langtree Park. Even without Joel Moon, whose promising start in the Super League has been cut short by a broken wrist, they could be dangerous opponents on the iPitch.

6 Pranks with Wolves

Finally this week, back to Lee Briers, at least tangentially. He has written the foreword to a new book called the Warrington Wolves Miscellany, a collection of facts of varying relevance relating to the Cheshire club, who offered further evidence at the weekend of the admirable progress they have made in recent seasons by opening stand extensions. The capacity of the Halliwell Jones Stadium is now 15,000.

But with apologies to Lee, the best story unearthed by the Miscellany author Gary Slater concerns two of his former team-mates from overseas, Allan Langer and Tawera Nikau. Nikau, the skilful and tough Maori forward, who also gave distinguished service to Castleford, lost a leg in a motorcycle accident in 2003. Langer, the cheeky Australian scrum-half, sent him a present in sympathy ? a pair of socks.

As ever, your comments on all the above or anything else are welcome below. Many thanks for last week's contributions, which got us off to a flier.

Andy Wilson