engage Super League Rd 9 Review

Crusaders 18
Tries: Thomas, Martin, White
Goals: Schifcofske, Witt 2

St Helens 34
Tries: Lomax, Gaskell, Wellens, Gardner 2, Roby
Goals: Foster 5

Att: 4,002

In-form St Helens made it four wins on the bounce as they eased past Crusaders at The Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

Saints set about their task from the start and took the lead after just four minutes, live-wire England Hooker James Roby put Jonny Lomax thorough the gap for the opening try.  Minutes later Roby was the playmaker again as his pass setup other halfback Dean Gaskell who stretched over the line to make it 12-0.

Crusaders gained some possession but they were kept out by some good defence from the visitors, who went to the other end to make it 18-0 as Paul Wellens touched down after good work by Gaskell.

On 22 minutes the Welsh side got back into the game as a cross field kick by Lloyd White led to Gareth Thomas scoring.

However, this was short lived as St Helens added two further tries from Ade Gardner and Roby just before the break to make it 30-4 and effectively put the game to bed.

Early into the second period Crusaders found their feet and scored their second try of the game through Tony Martin after good work from Michael Witt.

White added another one for the hosts but in the last minute Gardner had the last say as Saints wrapped up the points.

Huddersfield Giants 29
Tries: Grix, Robinson, Patrick, McGillvary
Goals: Brough 6
Drop Goal: Brough

Warrington Wolves 10
Tries: Hodgson 2
Goals: Hodgson

Att: 7,224

Huddersfield Giants kept up their good form as they ran in four tries to see off Warrington Wolves at Galpharm Stadium.

After defeating Warrington at Cardiff in Round 1, the Giants got off to the best possible start when Scott Grix got on the end of Jermaine McGillvary's kick through, Danny Brough adding the extras to make it 6-0.

Ex-Giants skipper Brett Hodgson replied as Warrington levelled, after fellow Aussie Joel Monaghan was twice involved in the move.

After a superb tackle by Brough forced Hodgson to ground the ball back behind his own line, Huddersfield kept up the pressure sufficiently for substitute Luke Robinson to send Larne Patrick in for their second of the game.

Robinson sneaked over from dummy-half to make it 18-6 but just on half time Hodgson went over for his second of the game as the visitors cut the deficit to 18-10.

After the break Brough added two penalty goals to give the hosts a commanding 22-10 lead going into the final quarter.

Brough added a one-pointer and McGillvary wrapped up an impressive win for Huddersfield by scoring on the fulltime hooter as Warrington suffered a second successive defeat.

Hull FC 34
Tries: Radford, Turner, Yeaman, T Briscoe 2, Tickle
Goals: Tickle 5

Bradford Bulls 24
Tries: Walker, Sykes, Royston 2
Goals: Ah Van 4

Att: 11,346

Hull FC left it late as they claimed a moral boosting win over Bradford Bulls at KC Stadium.

With the pressure on Hull coach Richard Agar - who this week was charged by RFL following last weekend's criticism of referee James Child after defeat by Castleford - Bradford started the better and led 12-0 inside the first ten minutes. Paul Sykes and Shad Royston were the try scores, Patrick Au Van adding the goals.

But the Black and Whites, without the suspended Sean Long, battled back to level as Kirk Yeaman crashed onto Willie Manu's offload to score, before Danny Tickle took three tacklers over the line with him after taking Sam Obst's pass.

Chev Walker had the Bulls in front again following Marc Herbert's flick-reverse pass, but Hull were level once more when ex-Bull Lee Radford dived over to make 18-18 at half time.

Jordan Turner went over for the hosts after the restart to give them the lead for the first time in the game.

Bradford fought back when, despite being reduced to 12 men when Ian Sibbit was sin-binned for a grapple tackle, Royston took advantage of Will Sharp's lapse of concentration to nip in and touchdown Brett Kearney's kick.

However, late on England winger Tom Briscoe had the final say as he scored a brace to gain a much needed win for Hull.

Wigan Warriors 28
Tries: Carmont, O'Loughlin, Marsh, S Tomkins, McIlorum
Goals: Richards 4

Catalan Dragons 47
Tries: Blanch, Casty, Menzies 2, Vaccari 2, Dureau 2
Goals: Dureau 7
Drop Goal: Dureau

Att: 13,134

Catalan produced their second successive shock of the season as they cruised to victory over Wigan Warriors at DW Stadium.

After gaining the shock win at Warrington last Sunday, the French side spent the week training in Manchester as they prepared to face the Champions.

It was Wigan who got the upper hand as Sam Tompkins glided through for the opening score of the game.

However, things started to go wrong for the Champions as Darrell Goulding made a mistake by dropping a high ball and allowing Frederic Vaccari to pounce. Veteran player Steve Menzies took Ben Farrar's pass and cut inside to score his first of the game.

On top now the Dragons maintained the tempo and scored a third when captain Gregory Mounis found a big hole in the Wigan line and raced clear to set up Remi Casty. Playmaker Scott Dureau was the next try scorer and Menzies made it 30-4 with his second moments later.

Just on half-time Michael McIlorum went over from 10 metres and Pat Richards, making his first appearance since last year's Grand Final, kicked the conversion.

After fighting back from 22-4 down at Leeds last week lighting was not going to strike twice for the Warriors. Joel Tomkins lost possession and Darryl Millard broke away to create Vaccari's second.

Dureau missed a conversion for the first time but landed a penalty soon after and then added to Wigan's woes by intercepting a Brett Finch pass on his own 20-metre line and sprinting clear for a try.

Blanch added another before Wigan scored three consolation tries from George Carmont, Sean O'Loughlin and Stefan Marsh. But Dureau had the last say by kicking a drop goal to clinch an empathic win for the Dragons.

Hull KR 38
Tries: Galea, Murrell, Cook, Latus, Welham, Colbon, Vella
Goals: Murrell 5

Leeds Rhinos 28
Tries: Watkins 2, Smith, McShane, Hall
Goals: Sinfield 4

Att: 8,673

Hull KR came from behind to defeat Leeds Rhinos at Craven Park.

Both teams came into this game on different form and it was Leeds who started the better. Centre Lee Smith, back from a hamstring injury, took a return pass from his winger, Kalum Watkins, to score and then Watkins gathered Sinfield's kick to the corner for his seventh try of the campaign as the Rhinos led 10-0 after 15 minutes.

However, minutes later the returning Rovers skipper Michael Vella sparked them into action as he crashed over the line. Moments later Blake Green set the play up for Kris Welham to go in and with Scott Murrell adding the extras the host's took the lead 12-10.

Green was on hand again as he setup Matt Cook and Scott Murrell crowned off the half as Hull KR when into the break with a 24-10 advantage.

Two minutes into the second half Sam Latus made a 70-metre break to set up winger Liam Colbon in the corner and give the Robins clear daylight.

Ryan Hall pulled one back for Leeds but the game was up when Latus scored out wide. Brett Webb sent in Paul McShane as the visitors added another.

But Ben Galea made sure of the win with a late score despite Watkins kick-chase for his second but by then Rovers' victory was beyond any doubt.

Castleford Tigers 52
Tries: Youngquest 2, Dixon, Mathers, Arundel 2, Widders, Clark, Owen
Goals: Dixon 8

Salford City Reds 20
Tries: Broughton, Anderson, Holdsworth, Sidlow
Goals: Holdsworth 2

Att: 6,741

Castleford Tigers moved to the summit of Super League with a commanding win over Salford City Reds at Probiz Coliseum.

Cas were in the ascendency from the start and took the lead on 5 minutes after Daniel Holdsworth lost the ball for Nick Youngquest to race away to score underneath the posts.

Jodie Broughton got Salford back on terms and then he sent Vinnie Anderson away as the City Reds moved into a 10-6 lead.

But the hosts hit back as Rangi Chase sent Kirk Dixon in. Three tries came in a devastating six minute spell leading up to half time as the Tigers took complete control. Richard Mathers found a gap to start the scoring with Joe Arundel and another for Youngquest as the lead went out to 30-10.

Holdsworth immediately cut the gap as he touchdown at the start of the second half.

Dean Widders charged in for Castleford and then they made the most of Steven Wild's yellow card as Daryl Clark and Richard Owen both went over.

Arundel added another before Adam Sidlow scored a late consolation for a well beaten Salford.

Wakefield Wildcats 52
Tries: Lee, Morrison, Howarth, Griffin, George, Jeffries 2, Dean, Johnson
Goals: Griffin 8

Harlequins RL 32
Tries: Bailey, O'Callaghan, Purdham, Melling, Pryce, Dorn
Goals: Gale 4

Att: 5,412

Wakefield Wildcats claimed their third win of the campaign by beating Harlequins RL in a high scoring encounter at Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

The hosts took control early on as both Tommy Lee and skipper Glen Morrison went over the whitewash.

A 10 minute spell put Wakefield into a commanding position. Stuart Howarth started the scoring off with other tries coming from Josh Griffin and Luke George. Quins cut the gap to 26-6 just before the interval with a Chris Bailey touchdown.

Straight after the restart Ben Jeffries added a further score for the Wildcats and the game looked to be up for the Londoners.

However, three unanswered tries in seven minutes got Quins right back in the game. Jamie O'Callaghan, skipper Rob Purdham and Chris Melling all crossed, as the visitors got it back to 32-22.

But Harlequins saw second row Tony Clubb spending time in the bin and Wakefield used the extra man to re-establish their grip on the game. Chris Dean went in and Jeffries added his second made sue of the win.

Although Karl Pryce and Luke Dorn ran in two more tries for the Londoners in the space of two minutes, Wakefield prop Paul Johnson had the final word to move his team off the bottom of the table.