Three of the biggest games in the rugby league season took place in the past week, as one side secured their place in Super League for next season and two others booked their places in the 2015 Super League grand final.

In Saturday’s million pound game at a sold out Belle Vue, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats saw off a spirited effort from the Bradford Bulls to retain their place in the top division for next season.

Wakefield were 12-0 up at the start of the second half but Bradford’s first try, which was a contender for try of the season thanks to Adrian Purtell’s flamboyant offload to Danny Williams, put the visitors on a roll as they crossed for three tries in 15 minutes.

In between these Bulls tries, Wakefield scored one of their own through Danny Washbrook to make the score 18-16, setting up a tense finish.

This tension was too much for Bradford kicker Danny Addy, who had the chance to make the scores level with a few minutes to go but sent his penalty wide of the uprights.

The miss deflated the Bulls and Scott Moore sealed the win for Wakefield when he broke the Bradford line from dummy-half to cross near the posts in the final minute. Jordan Tansey’s conversion made the final score 24-16.

Bradford coach James Lowes was despondent after the game and went as far as to suggest that he’d quit the sport completely if this format remained.

“If this is the future of rugby league I won’t be in it, I just don’t think it’s the way forward for the game,” he said.

“We’ve got 17 blokes down there who could potentially lose their jobs in one game after they’ve worked so hard to put themselves in a good position.

“It’s not guaranteed that we will remain full-time unfortunately.”

At the other end of the Super League spectrum, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos booked their places in next weekend’s grand final.

Wigan saw off Huddersfield Giants with a convincing 32-8 win which included two tries from John Bateman.

At Headingley, Ryan Hall scored another important try give Leeds a narrow victory over St Helens. Kallum Watkins finished the job in the dying minutes of the game, crossing to make the final score 20-13 once his try was converted by Kevin Sinfield.

Sinfield commented after the game: “That semi-final was one of the toughest games I’ve been involved in but I’m just delighted to be able to get to Old Trafford again.”

Wigan and Leeds will contest the grand final at Old Trafford on Saturday where the Rhinos will be hoping to secure a treble, having already won the Challenge Cup and the League Leaders’ Shield.