engage Super League XIV - Round 14 Review

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Crusaders came from behind with a strong second half performance to see off Wakefield Wildcats at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.
 
In the battle of the bottom two, who both suffered a four point deduction for going into administration pre-season, Wakefield made the better start and took the lead on nine minutes thanks to a try from winger Dale Morton.
 
A mistake by the ever reliable full-back Clinton Schifcofske led to Morton going over again as the Wildcats made it 10-0 at half time.
 
Just, four minutes into the second period, Crusaders got back into the game. Jordan Tansey dashed through the middle and put Michael Witt away tom score under the posts. Schifcofske added the extras.
 
The game was all square at 10-10 as Centre Vince Mellars scored in the corner. Wakefield nearly scored down the other end when Aaron Murphy had a try ruled out for a forward pass.
 
But Witt put the Welsh-side in front for the first time 12 minutes from time when he dropped a goal from 20 meters out. And they won the game in the last ten minutes with Ryan O'Hara and Rhys Hanbury both scoring touchdowns.

Schifcofske kicked both conversions as Crusades claimed their fourth win of the campaign.

Crusaders                                23
Tries:   O'Hara, Mellars, Witt, Hanbury
Goals:  Schifcofske 3
Drop Goal: Witt
 
Wakefield Wildcats                10
Tries:   Morton 2
Goals:  Griffin
 
Att:      3,241
Leeds Rhinos made it five wins on the bounce as they got past Catalans Dragons at a damp Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
 
Injury-hit Catalans, came into this game on a seven match unbeaten run including famous wins at Wigan and Warrington. But they were without Ben Farrar, Remi Casty and influential stand-off Scott Dureau.
 
The first half was battle as despite the Rhinos having most of the possession, the Dragons line defence was immense, but they could not reproduce it in an attack and the only score of the half came on twenty minutes as Ryan Hall went over the whitewash. Kevin Sinfield added the extras as the Rhinos led 6-0 at the break.
 
Played in damp conditions the defences remained largely on top in the second half but Leeds doubled their lead after 52 minutes when England Captain Jamie Peacock combined with Sinfield to get prop Kylie Leuluai charging through a rare gap to score his second try of the season.
 
Hall thrilling 60-metre run in which he swatted off defenders like flies until being eventually being bundled into touch 20 metres short of the Catalans line led to the visitors striking back as  lively hooker Ian Henderson forced his way over from dummy half on 62 minutes..
 
Bosc added the conversion to cut the gap to six points but Sinfield eased any anxiety in the home camp with a penalty goal 10 minutes from the end and Leeds made sure of the victory with two tries from Zak Hardaker.
 
The youngster got on the end of a sweeping move involving Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Carl Ablett and Brett Delaney for his first, and then, after a break out of defence by Danny Buderus, he collected Sinfield's pinpoint kick into space for his second.
 
Rob Burrow then put the seal on another impressive victory by scoring a fine sole try on the full time hooter as the Rhinos move up to fifth.

Leeds Rhinos                          30
Tries:   Hall, Leuluai, Hardaker 2, Burrow
Goals:  Sinfield 5
 
Catalans Dragons                     6
Tries:   Henderson
Goals:  Bosc

Att:      13,273
Hull FC continued their good, recent form by running out victors at the Willows over Salford City Reds.
 
In form Hull made a brilliant start to the game as they raced into an 18-0 lead inside 11 minutes. A mistake by Ray Cashmere from the kick off led to Kirk Yeaman going over for the opening try. Five minutes later Martin Gleeson crossed to make it 12-0.
 
Tom Briscoe scored his side's third try after a mistake by Stefan Ratchford. The hosts finally got on the scoreboard in the 16th minute as Adam Clay latched onto Daniel Holdsworth's kick for his fifth try in only three games since making his debut.
 
Luke Patten's dropped ball enabled Lee Radford to charge over near the posts for the Black and whites fourth try of the first half, but a minute before the break Salford were given some hope as Holdsworth set-up Ashley Gibson to close the gap to 24-10.
 
Six minutes into the second period, Patten made up for his mistake as he sent Ratchford over for a fantastic solo effort, Holdsworth added the goal to bring the deficit to eight as the City Reds were back in the game.
 
However, the visitors eased their nerves with Will Sharp scoring out wide. Gleeson made it a double as the Black and Whites clinched the win to cement eighth place on the ladder.

Salford City Reds                   16
Tries:   Gibson, Ratchford, Clay
Goals:  Holdsworth 2
 
Hull FC                                   32
Tries:   Radford, Sharp, Gleeson 2, T Briscoe, Yeaman
Goals:  Tickle 4
 
Att:      3,983
Warrington Wolves stayed top of Super League by handing out a hammering to Castleford Tigers at H.J. Stadium.
 
The Wolves showed their dominance from the start and on three minutes, Gareth O'Brien dummied his way over the line to get the hosts on their way.
 
Four minutes later, Tigers prop Nick Fozzard failed to keep hold of the ball and Lee Briers was on hand to make it 10-0 after seven minutes.
 
Warrington grabbed their third try after 16 minutes when the lively O'Brien and Brett Hodgson combined to give Matt King a simple walk-in try in the corner.
The evening got even better for the home side when O'Brien's kick was collected by King, who then passed back inside to the teenager who kicked ahead again and Hodgson raced through the Tigers defence to touch down, adding his own conversion
 
Briers grabbed his second try three minutes before half-time when his neat grubber kick rebounded back off the posts into his hands as the game was all over as a contest with the Wolves holding a commanding 28-0 lead.
 
And it took just six minutes into the second half for normal service to be resumed when Hodgson's break allowed Simon Grix to touch down.
 
He soon then made it a quickfire double before the procession of tries continued with King claiming his second, Mickey Higham, David Solomona and the prolific Joel Monaghan also crossing the whitewash.
 
It was the third time in five matches that Warrington has shut out their opponents and the sixth time they have topped 50 points this season
 
But Cas are now without a Super League win in over a month after suffering a fourth straight defeat.

Warrington Wolves                 62
Tries:   Solomona, King 2, O'Brien, Briers 2, Hodgson, J Monaghan, Grix 2, Higham
 
Goals:  Briers 2, Hodgson 7
 
Castleford Tigers                    0
 
Att:      9,958 
Wigan Warriors ran in nine tries as they demolished Harlequins RL at DW Stadium.
 
After suffering a shock defeat to Quins in this same fixture last season, the Warriors made sure this would not happen again as they put the Londoners to the sword in the first half by racking up an unassailable 42-0 lead at the break.
 
Before the visitors had touch the ball prolific points machine Pat Richards opened the scoring inside three minutes. Ryan Hoffman added another one shortly later. George Carmon then ran in a third try after he intercepted Luke Gale's pass just inside the Quins half in the 11th minute and Sam Tomkins quickly added a fourth under the posts.
 
The Londoners were regularly making errors and Thomas Leuluai punished another, jinking through to reach over before the Warriors scrum-half then spotted another gap to charge over from 15 metres soon after.
Hoffman made a break on halfway to set up Captain Sean O'Loughlin for the hosts' seventh try of the half.
 
Harlequins saw more of the ball after the break but they posed little threat and it was no surprise when Tomkins touched down for his second try of the night.
 
Quins finally found a way on to the scoreboard when Luke Gale recovered Karl Pryce's wayward pass to send ex Warrior Mark Calderwood over for a consolation.
 
But there was still time for Richards to have the last word as he charged over in the closing moments, and then he made it a perfect night with his ninth successful conversion out of nine.

Wigan Warriors                       54
Tries:   Richards 2, Hoffman, O'Loughlin, Leuluai 2, S Tomkins 2, Carmont
Goals:  Richards 9
 
Harlequins RL                         6
Tries:   Calderwood
Goals:  Gale
 
Att:      12,813
Huddersfield Giants remained in second place as they ran in seven tries to ease past St Helens at Galpharm Stadium.
 
Saints, who were without 10 first-teamers because of injury, gave a debut to 19-year-old back-row forward Scott Hale, but little went right for them from the moment loose forward Chris Flannery limped out of the warm-up.
Huddersfield also lost Australian forward Luke O'Donnell in the warm-up but took the lead after only eight minutes when Luke Robinson put Eorl Crabtree in for his first try for over 12 months.
The hosts dominated the play but they failed to add to their score until seven minutes before the break Danny Brough's 70-metre solo effort made it 12-0.
Saints were on the scoreboard soon after the interval when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook reacted quickest to touch down James Roby's deflected grubber kick.
Yet, rather than signal the beginning of a St Helens fightback, it instead sparked a decisive try-scoring burst by the Giants to effectively win the game.
Kevin Brown dummied his way over to restore their 12-point advantage, before Michael Lawrence took a flick pass from Leroy Cudjoe to touch down.
Robinson again set up Crabtree for his second and centre Joe Wardle held off Francis Meli to score his first Super League try.
Matty Ashurst and Ade Gardner stemmed the tide but they proved nothing but consolations as Brown sent full-back Scott Grix over for try number seven, with Brough adding his sixth goal to finish with a personal tally of 16 points.
This win for the Giants ends their five match loosing hoodoo against St Helens.

Huddersfield Giants               40
Tries:   Lawrence, Brown, Brough, Grix, Wardle, Crabtree 2
Goals:  Brough 6
 
St Helens                                 18
Tries:   McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Gardner, Ashurst
Goals:  Foster 3
 
Att       7,843
Hull KR moved above opponents Bradford Bulls with an emphatic win at Craven Park.
 
After struggling to get past Championship club Halifax last week, the Bulls gave a second debut to ex Wildcat Ben Jeffries who they signed early this week. His inch perfect kick was patted back for Kyle Briggs to score on three minutes.
 
But a mistake by James Donaldson led to Kris Welham getting Rovers on terms. Mick Dobson combined with Welham who went over for a double as the hosts took the lead 10-6.
 
Blake Green found a big hole in the visitors defence to further increase Hull KR's advantage.  Gareth Raynor reduced the gap, but two quickfire scores from Jake Webster and Dobson made it 28-12 at the interval.
 
Immediately, from the restart Liam Watts finished off some good work by Webster and Peter Fox as Rovers effectively put the match to bed.
 
Andy Lynch barged his way over for a consolation, but it was going to be Welham's day has he completed his hat-trick in the final ten minutes of the game.
 
Fox finished things off as the Robins claimed only their fifth win of the season as the Bulls have now gone six games without a Super League win.

Hull KR                                  46
Tries:   Welham 3, Green, Webster, Dobson, Watts, Fox
Goals:  Dobson 7

Bradford Bulls                                    18
Tries:   Briggs, Raynor, Lynch
Goals:  Ah Van 3

Att:      7,923
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