Engage Super League XVI Round 20 Review

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Warrington Wolves remained top of the Super League table with an emphatic win over Castleford Tigers at Probiz Coliseum.
After destroying the Tigers 62-0 two months ago, the Wolves continued where they left off as on two minutes Brett Hodgson glided his way over the line for a fine individual effort. Ryan Atkins made the break as Richard Myler finished things off to double the visitors lead. Just on the half hour Matty Blythe cut inside and outpaced the cover to make it 18-0. Two minutes before the break, it got worse for Castleford as David Solomona and Atkins combined to work the ball to the left flank where Matt King was on hand to crash over. Hodgson added the extras to leave his side 24-0 up and in total control at Half Time. Shortly after the restart Solomona was provider again as his pass led to King going over for a double. It was game over as Hodgson was pivotal again to send Michael Monaghan over before King completed his hat-trick with another fine finish. Jacob Emmitt and Mike Cooper were then sin-binned for fighting; this led to bit of a Castleford fight back as they hit the Wolves with a flurry of tries. Ryan Hudson, Brett Ferres, Rangi Chase and Greg Eden all got on the scoresheet but the damage had long since been done. Hodgson scored his second of the night to go with his six goals and the Atkins had the final say in another commanding win for Warrington.

Castleford Tigers   18
Tries:    Ferres, Chase, Hudson, Eden
Goals:   Orr

Warrington Wolves    48
Tries:    King 3, Hodgson 2, Myler, Blythe, J Monaghan, Atkins
Goals:   Hodgson 6

Att:    5,947

Salford City Reds claimed another late win to get past Harlequins RL at The Willows.
Quins made four changes following last week's 34-0 home defeat by Hull KR, handing a Super League debut to 18-year-old Dan Sarginson at left centre. And young teenager took just eight minutes to make his mark, stepping inside off Kyle Briggs' pass to cut inside Dan Holdsworth and touch down next to the posts.  But Quins forward Lee Mitchell fumbled the restart into touch and Salford made them pay with Ashley Gibson crashing over the try line. Adam Sidlow sent Vinnie Anderson over as the Reds took an 8-6 lead into the break. The visitors retook the lead on 53 minutes with Sarginson making it a dream debut by touching down again after good work by Andy Ellis, Luke Gale adding the extras. Salford hit back when Stefan Ratchford released Jodie Broughton, who cut in from the left to score. But a mix-up between Broughton and Luke Patten gifted Tony Clubb a 63rd-minute try, Gale putting Quins 18-14 up. The hosts struck back when Mark Henry managed to squeeze in at the corner from Holdsworth's looping pass, Holdsworth making a touchline conversion to edge Salford in front. A sweeping move then resulted in Patten sending Gibson over to clinch victory as the City Reds moved within one point of the eight.

Salford City Reds 26
Tries:    Gibson 2, Anderson, Broughton, Henry
Goals:   Holdsworth 3

Harlequins     18
Tries:    Sarginson 2, ClubbGoals:   Gale 3

Att:    3,065

St Helens got back on track as they defeated Hull FC at Stobart Stadium Widnes, to cement fourth place.
After suffering defeats to local rivals in recent weeks, Saints needed a win to keep on the tails of teams above them. Both teams edged each other out early on until Chris Flannery weaved his way over to give St Helens the lead. A charge to the line from James Graham had the defence backpedalling, with Saints shifting it left where Meli forced his way over on 18 minutes to increase his side's lead. Two minutes later young halfbacks Jonny Lomax and Lee Gaskell combined and this led to Meli again scoring from close range. However, Hull gave the large travelling contingent something to cheer when, from a Saints handling error and penalty, Cameron Phelps and Kirk Yeaman combined to send Tom Briscoe flying in at the corner to cut the deficit to 14-4 at the break. The Black and Whites continued their resurgent after the resumption as Jordan Tuner crashed over to cut the gap to six points. Jamie Foster kicked a 35-metre penalty following a high tackle on Graham to nudge Saints into a two-score lead. But it was Saints who got the next crucial score with Sia Soliola sending Tommy Makinson away down the right to round off a great move. Foster's goal made it 22-8. Lomax put the icing on the cake when he dummied and went in from 20 metres, with Foster goaling. Briscoe finished off a long-range score on the hooter which was goaled by Joe Westerman to give Hull a consolation as they suffered their first loss in three games.

St Helens   28
Tries:    Flannery, Meli 2, Makinson, Lomax
Goals:   Foster 4

Hull FC 14
Tries:    Briscoe 2, Turner
Goals:   Westerman

Att:    7,053
Wigan Warriors remained in second place after being taken the distance by the Leeds Rhinos at DW Stadium.
After drawing 22-22 at Headingley early on in the season, both these teams severed up another thrilling game. Joel Tomkins shrugged off Danny McGuire and offloaded to Josh Charnley as Wigan took the lead. But the Rhinos stunned the locals as they hit back with two quickfire tries. Ben Jones-Bishop, scored the first one after following up Brent Webb's grubber kick, and Webb himself scored the other after taking advantage of a handling error near his own line by the normally reliable Pat Richards. Wigan struck back when second rower Ryan Hoffman pounced on Paul Deacon's high kick and Richards added his second conversion. Just before the break youngster Zak Hardaker scored in the corner to make it 18-12. The first ten minutes of the second half, the Warriors upped the tempo. From the restart Richards's high kickoff caused havoc and this led to the big Aussie winger scoring to level things up.  Leeds had barely recovered from that shock when Brett Finch got Hoffman running into a gap and centre George Carmont was in support to score. A penalty on the hour by Richards crucially put two scores between the sides. The Rhinos never gave in and got back into the game when Hardaker grabbed a second try from Danny McGuire's pinpoint kick to the corner and Sinfield's touchline goal cut the gap to just two points. McGuire then went over four minutes from the end but slow-motion replays appeared to indicate he lost possession before touching down and the try was disallowed by the video referee as Wigan saw out the game to stay just one point behind league leaders Warrington Wolves. For Leeds this defeat leaves them in sixth place and still looking for a first win of the season over the top four.

Wigan Warriors     26
Tries:    Charnley, Hoffman, Richards, Carmont
Goals:   Richards 5

Leeds Rhinos     24
Tries:    Hardaker 2, Jones-Bishop, Webb
Goals:   Sinfield 4

Att:    16,426
Twelve-man Catalan Dragons ran in the tries to claim a victory over Bradford Bulls at Odsal to stay in fifth place.
After beating great rivals Leeds last week, the Bulls came into this game full of confidence. But it was their ex player, veteran Steve Menzies who would be the difference   between the sides, playing in the unaccustomed roil of Stand-Off. Both teams made a host of errors before Frenchman and ex Dragon Oliver Elima went through a gap to give Bradford the lead. Menzies superb pass set up Clint Greenshields as the visitors got back on terms. Scott Dureau was unable to add the conversion but his 40-20 kick enabled the visitors to keep the pressure applied and they went ahead on 23 minutes when Menzies and Jean-Phillipe Baile worked an overlap for winger Damien Blanch to touch down in the corner. Two penalties before the break from Patrick Au Van gave Bradford a slender 10-8 lead. Catalan  were back in front within two minutes of the re-start when second rower Sebastien Raguin forced his way over from dummy half after Dureau had been held short, but the half-back  who was having an off day with the boot . The turning point looked to have come on 46 minutes with David Ferriol's dismissal for a high tackle on James Donaldson.  Tom Burgess crashed through from close range, Ah Van's fifth goal from as many attempts made it 18-12 but it was all square on 55 minutes when former Bradford hooker Ian Henderson caught the Bulls defenders napping with a run from dummy half. Dureau found the target at the fourth attempt and the visitors hit the front for the third time on 62 minutes when that man Menzies put Lopini Paea into a gap with a superbly-timed pass and Greenshields was in support to get Dureau over for the try of the match. Bulls full-back Brett Kearney had a try disallowed for a double movement but there was no way back once Remy Casty charged down a Bradford pass to send Blanch racing away for his second try. Greenshields grabbed his second try, courtesy of a long-range break by Daryl Millard, But Bradford and the final say as in the last minute of the game winger Gareth Raynor scored a final individual try.

Bradford Bulls   28
Tries:    Raynor, Burgess, Elima, Jeffries
Goals:   Ah Van 6

Catalan Dragons    34
Tries:    Raguin, Henderson, Blanch 2, Dureau, Greenshields 2
Goals:   Dureau 3

Att:    12,670
Huddersfield Giants ran out convincing winners over basement team Crusaders at the Shay in Halifax.
After suffering a heavy defeat at Wigan last Saturday night, the Giants led by their influential stand off Kevin Brown made a great start as his defence splitting pass sent in David Fa'alogo near the posts after two minutes. Moments later Joe Wardle touched down after good work by Scott Grix to make it 12-0. On 23 minutes Brown scored a superb individual effort as he twisted and turned to make it 18-0 at the break in favour of Huddersfield. The start of the second half Crusaders showed some spirit and thanks to Tony Martin, who helped himself to a quickfire brace, both goaled by Michael Witt, they were back in the game only trailing by six. Huddersfield got back into the swing of things as Grix's kick was latched on to by David Hodgson. The game was all over when Crusaders had Richard Moore sin-binned for laying on in the tackle. Hodgson made the extra man count as he scored two more to complete a hat-trick to move the hosts into a 34-12 lead. In the last ten minutes Michael Lawrence took The Giants past the forty point barrier, however just on full time Crusaders' forward Jason Chan was shown a yellow for a poor late challenge on Giants skipper Kevin Brown, who was left in a heap on the pitch and needed treatment for 10 minutes before the game could end.

Huddersfield Giants   40
Tries:    Hodgson 3, Wardle, Fa'alogo, Brown, Lawrence
Goals:   McNally 6

Crusaders 12
Tries:    Martin 2
Goals:   Witt 2

Att:    4,892

Hull KR racked up the points as they demolished Wakefield Wildcats at Craven Park to record their biggest ever win in the Super League.
The game started off with end-to-end stuff as in the first fifteen minutes both teams traded two tries a piece. Liam Colbon scored the first one for Hull KR but his mistake gifted Kevin Henderson a simple score as the Wildcats got on terms. Ex Wakefield flier Peter Fox responded for Rovers but the Wildcats would not go away and took the lead 10-8 after good work by Kyle Armour led to Tommy Lee going over.  However, after this Wakefield were taken to the cleaners as the hosts moved into a commanding 34-10 lead at half time. Kris Welham scored the first one with Jake Webster and Mick Dobson added further scores. Colbon soon grabbed his second of the half after being sent clear down the right by Webster's pass, while Welham's superb break set up Fox for his second score. Rovers did not let up in the second half as they dispatched Wakefield with ease. Clint Newton started things off, before Jake Webster raced 90-meters to score. Fox, Welham and Colbon all went on to score hat-tricks as the Robins took their score past 70 points for the first time since they got promoted to the Super League. Luke George's try in the 75th minute was scant consolation for Wakefield who was embarrassed in a heavy defeat.

Hull KR     70
Tries:    Fox 3, Colbon 3, Welham 3, Newton 2, Webster 2, Dobson
Goals:   Dobson 6
Wakefield Wildcats   14
Tries:    Henderson, Lee, George
Goals:   Griffin

Att:    8,025

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