engage Super League Rd 25 Review

Castleford Tigers 6
Tries: Snitch
Goal: Westerman

Leeds Rhinos 38
Tries: Clarkson, McGuire, Burrow, Lauitiiti, Hall 2, Donald
Goals: Smith 5

Att: 7,901

Leeds Rhinos kept alive their top four hopes with a resounding victory over rivals Castleford Tigers at The Jungle.

After booking their place at Wembley last week, the Champions continued their good form and avenged their shock defeat to Castleford in Round 1 of this season's competition.

Chris Clarkson opened the scoring on 15 minutes after a good run from Danny McGuire. McGuire then took a reverse pass from Matt Diskin and dummied over as the visitors doubled their lead. Rob Burrow ducked under two defenders as Leeds went into the break with a convincing 18-0 advantage.

The Tigers came at the Rhinos immediately after the re-start, they laid siege to the visitor's line but Leeds showed their resilience and some brilliant scrambling defence kept Castleford out for five concessive sets.

Two tries in five minutes killed the game off firstly Paul McShane wriggled his way through to set up Ali Lauiti'iti before Ryan Hall ran 70 metres for an interception try. Scott Donald finished a flowing move as the Rhinos moved into a 34-0 lead.

Steve Snitch scored a consolation for the Tigers before Hall scored his second of the game to wrap up an easy win. The only downside for Leeds was that they had England skipper Jamie Peacock carried off with a leg injury and fellow prop Luke Burgess suffered a broken jaw which will rule him out of the Challenge Cup Final.

Hull FC 18
Tries: Lyne
Goals: Tickle 7

Crusaders 16
Tries: Dyer, Lupton
Goals: Schifcofske 4

Att: 11,762

Hull FC claimed a dramatic and controversial last minute win at KC Stadium to dent Crusaders top eight hopes.

The game was hampered by the arrival of a torrential downpour just before the kick off and Hull lost centre Jordan Turner due to an arm injury after 5 minutes which meant a reshuffle. Crusaders opened the scoring after a Jarrod Sammut kick to the corner was pounced on by Luke Dyer.

Clinton Schifcofske kicked two goals as the visitors led 8-0. Reece Lyne raced on to Kirk Yeaman's pass as Hull got back into the game. Danny Tickle landed four goals in the final ten minutes of the half as his team went into the break leading 12-8.

Schifcofske's boot narrowed the gap at the start of the second half, only for two more kicks by Tickle to stretch the Black and Whites clear at 16-10.

However, there was to be late drama on 75 minutes Hull were reduced to twelve men when fullback Jordan Tansey was red carded for a spear tackle on Schifcofske.

Peter Lupton took advantage of the extra man to burst onto Sammut's pass, Schifcofske converting to level at 16-16.

But there was still time for Lyne to be blocked off as he chased a kick, and Crusaders coach Brian Noble confronted referee James Child on the touchline and then on the field at the end after the official awarded a penalty for the foul. Tickle kicked the match winning goal from the touchline to keep Hull one point clear of fifth place Leeds Rhinos with two games left.

St Helens 60
Tries: Gardner, Moore, Wilkin 2, Foster 2, Roby, Eastmond, Lomax, Ashurst, Puletua
Goals: Foster 8

Bradford Bulls 12
Tries: Worrincy, Sheriffe
Goals: Sykes 2

Att: 9,032

St Helens got back to winning ways by handing out an eleven try thrashing to the Bradford Bulls at GPW Recruitment Stadium Knowsley Road.

After last week's late defeat to Leeds in the Challenge Cup Semi Final, St Helens got back on track as they ran the poor Bradford Bulls ragged.

The game as a contest was pretty much all over after 11 minutes as St Helens ran in three tries. Gardner and Lomax combined well for the first try in the fourth minute.

James Graham then sent Moore on the way for a second before Eastmond's wonderful pass sent Wilkin through for his first of the night.

Jamie Foster, James Roby and Kyle Eastmond were other try scores as Saints went into the interval with a commanding 32-0 lead.

After the restart Lomax increased the lead further before Ashurst's burst along the right gave Saints more joy. Puletua punished some sloppy defending for his try to bring up 50 points and Wilkin powered over for his second.

Michael Worrincy and Rikki Sheriffe managed consolations for the Bulls but they went down to a club record twelfth consecutive defeat as St Helens kept alive their hopes of a top two finish.

Catalans Dragons 12
Tries: Carlaw, Raguin
Goals: Bosc 2

Harlequins RL 16
Tries: Dorn, Clubb, Ellis
Goals: Purdham 2

Att: 6,152

Harlequins RL moved off the bottom of the Engage Super League by defeating second from bottom Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.

Quins started the better and took control inside the first ten minutes of the game. Rob Purdham's pass sent in Tony Clubb to open the scoring. A neat kick from Luke Gale led to Luke Dorn making it 10-0 to the Londoners. There were no further scores in the half.

The Dragons upped the tempo at the start of the second half and turned the game round to lead 12-10 thanks to tries from Dane Carlaw and Sebastien Raguin.

There was to be some late drama as a superb break by Dorn set up the position for Andy Ellis to sneak over under the posts on 74 minutes. Purdham added the conversion to give the visitors a four-point lead.

But there was more drama to come as Gale was sin-binned for an off-the-ball challenge, gifting the Catalans one last chance to attack. Bosc put in a kick to the in-goal area but it just evaded the chasing Walker as Quins won the game and swapped places with the Dragons.

Salford City Reds 18
Tries: Parker, Cashmere, Smith
Goals: Tyrer 3

Hull KR 44
Tries: Colbon, Newton 2, Charnley, Murrell, Dobson, Briscoe 2
Goals: Dobson 6

Att: 4,111

Hull KR produced a strong second half performance to ease past Salford City Reds at The Willows.

Rovers made a strong start and took the lead thanks to a Mick Dobson cross-field kick which found Liam Colbon who strolled over. On 28 minutes Dobson was at it again as he set up Clint Newton as the visitors doubled their lead. Against the run of play 4 minutes from the interval, Salford was given a lifeline as Rob Parker cut the gap to 12-6.

In the second half Hull KR upped the ante and took the game away from the City Reds. Josh Charnley took a Dobson's pass to go over and the flood gates opened as Scott Murrell, Newton, Dobson and Shaun Briscoe all got on the score-sheet.

Salford responded with two tries in as many minutes from Matty Smith and Ray Cashmere, but Rovers had the last laugh as Briscoe added his second late on by pouncing on a mistake by Karl Fitzpatrick.

Wakefield Wildcats 18
Tries: Blanch, Jeffries, Morrison, Leo-Latu
Goals: Jeffries

Warrington Wolves 36
Tries: Hicks, King 3, Riley, Blythe, Briers
Goals: Westwood 3, Briers

Att: 5,562

Warrington Wolves remained second as they all but ended Wakefield Wildcats Super League play-off hopes, by running out winners at Belle Vue.

Wakefield were chasing the game from the outset as the Wolves dominated the early stages. Chris Hicks caught Lee Briers high kick to score and Matt King added another moments later.

Ex Wildcat Ryan Atkins sent King in for his second as the game looked headed in one direction. However, the Wildcats showed some sprit and hit back to cut the deficit to 18-10 at the break. Damien Blanch and Ben Jeffries were the hosts try scorers.

But Warrington pulled away in the second half. Matty Blythe crossed immediately after the re-start and Matt King showed some strength and he completed his hat-trick.

Glenn Morrison pulled a score back for the hosts only for Briers to intercept Sam Obst's wayward pass and sprint clear. Tevita Leo-Latu scored a late consolation for the Wildcats in his last game at Belle Vue, before moving to Salford next year.

The win for Warrington keeps them in second place on points difference as they battle with St Helens for a home tie in the play-offs.

Wigan Warriors 16
Tries: Pryce, J Tomkins, S Tomkins
Goals: Richards 2

Huddersfield Giants 18
Tries: Cudjoe 2, Robinson
Goals: B Hodgson 3

Att: 13,619

Huddersfield Giants spoiled the party at DW Stadium as Wigan Warriors must wait to claim their league leader's shield.

In a fiery first half Wigan opened the scoring with try from Karl Pryce who leaped high to take Paul Deacon's bomb.

The Giants were down to 12 men when Wigan old boy Kevin Brown was sin-binned for tugging back Sam Tomkins, who remained in support after setting Richards away.

And a major first-half dust-up involving almost all 26 players eventually saw forwards from either side sin-binned, Giants' Keith Mason and Stuart Fielden, who was upset at having his ankle raked in a tackle. With the teams back to a full complement Joel Tomkins went over to give Wigan a 10-0 lead at the break.

Huddersfield was a different team in the second half and got back into the game with a try from Leroy Cudjoe. Luke Robinson scored in the corner as the Giants took the lead 12-10.

Sam Tomkins raced 70-metres to regain the lead for the Warriors but a brilliant chip kick by Danny Brough set up Cudjoe as Huddersfield scored the match winning try as Wigan must wait another week to lift the League Leaders Shield.