ESL Round 16 -
Sunday game reports

Saints Run Riot, Wolves Sneak Home, Wakefield back to winning ways, and Craigie hat-trick gives Widnes win.

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Saints Run Riot

St Helens extended new coach Daniel Anderson?s engage Super League honeymoon to a second week with a superb win over 12-man Bradford at Odsal by 66-4.

After seeing his troops dismiss Leeds in his first game last week, Anderson will no doubt be doubly delighted with this performance, which made a mockery of the fierce rivalry between these two sides over recent years.

Saints registered 12 tries in total, with Vinnie Anderson bagging a hat-trick, whilst Bradford will point to the first-half dismissal of Leon Pryce as a turning point.

Bradford coach Brian Noble had to shuffle his pack following last week?s win at Hull, with Robbie Paul coming in at full-back due to the absence of Michael Withers through illness. Rob Parker also returned to the bench after missing the Hull game for family reasons.

St Helens were missing captain Paul Sculthorpe to a hamstring injury, whilst Jon Wilkin and Paul Wellens returned to the side.

Saints started the brighter of the two sides and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring after three minutes.

A penalty for offside allowed them to move downfield and after Keiron Cunningham fed Vinnie Anderson, the Kiwi was left with the simple task of sending Wilkin into a gaping hole to score at the right of the posts.

Sean Long converted but it was his kicking in open play which was causing the Bulls most concern.

Facing his Great Britain scrum-half rival Paul Deacon had obviously stirred Long and after two imperious kicks had forced goal-line dropouts, Saints went in for their second try.

Cunningham produced a perfect looped pass from dummy half and Vinnie Anderson was allowed to collect the ball high and cruise in to touch down. Long again added the goal.

Bradford hit back briefly after the Harris? - Iestyn and Ben - combined to send Stuart Reardon in at the corner.

But any serious hopes of a revival were crushed in the 28th minute when Pryce became only the third Super League player to be sent off this season.

His reckless swing at Jamie Lyon left referee Ronnie Laughton with no choice but to dismiss the centre for the third time in his career.

And although the numerical balance was redressed temporarily by Willie Talau?s sin binning for infringement, Saints made light of this by scoring a try either side of the incident.

First Maurie Fa?asavalu sent Lee Gilmour in for a score against his old club and then on the stroke of half-time Darren Albert?s pass sent Wilkin streaking clear for his second try.

Long added the extras on both occasions for a 20-point interval lead.

Saints, and Lyon in particular had no intention of taking their foot off the gas and highlighted this with four tries in the opening 15 minutes of the second period.

Lyon was involved in all four, scoring two and creating the others. First he handed Long a walk to the tryline and then his audacious dummy allowed him to break clear of the defence and score under the posts.

He then did well to collect Long?s pass and brush off Karl Pryce for his second try.

Neither Wellens nor Long fancied facing Pryce after Wellens had broke clear after a wayward Iestyn Harris pass, so it was left to Lyon to feed Vinnie Anderson for his second try of the game. Long?s failure to convert his own try was his first mistake of the game.

As the Bradford defence tired rapidly, Ade Gardner was then allowed to dive in at the corner as Saints began to run amok.

James Roby was the next in line to embarrass the home defence as he jogged 40 metres to the line. Long afforded Lyon the privilege of adding the conversion.

Coach Anderson used the last quarter to rotate his side and Wellens even spurned the opportunity of a further score when his pass hit Nick Fozzard in the face with the line beckoning.

Vinnie Anderson then secured his hat-trick when he sprinted the length of the field, out running the chasing Robbie Paul.

Gardner?s late sprint to the line underlined Saints comfort and part-time kicker Jason Hooper?s touchline goal added salt to Bradford?s wounds.

Bradford (4) 4. Tries: Reardon.

St Helens (24) 66. Tries: Wilkin 2, V. Anderson 3, Gilmour, Long, Lyon 2, Gardner 2, Roby. Goals: Long 7, Lyon, Hooper.

Bradford: Paul, Reardon, B. Harris, L. Pryce, K. Pryce, I. Harris, Deacon, Lynch, Pratt, Fielden, Peacock, Meyers, Radford. Replacements: Cook, Parker, Vagana, Ferres.

St Helens: Wellens, Albert, Lyon, Talau, Gardner, Hooper, Long, P. Anderson, Cunningham, Fozzard, Wilkin, Gilmour, V. Anderson. Replacements: Roby, Graham, Edmondson, Fa?asavalu.

Referee: Ronnie Laughton (Barnsley) Att: 15,260

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Wolves Sneak Home

Scrum-half Chris Bridge weighed in with a match-winning try and four goals as play-off-chasing Warrington won for the eighth time in nine games beating Huddersfield by 24-22.

Ex-Bradford Bulls ace Bridge barged over for the crucial touchdown in this engage Super League contest on 67 minutes soon after Huddersfield prop Jim Gannon had been sin-binned.

The Wolves held a narrow 16-12 lead at that stage and took full advantage of the extra man to wrap up victory.

But in the closing stages Bridge was lucky not to get sent off when he appeared to punch Huddersfield?s Ryan Clayton in the face - but Wakefield-based referee Ben Thaler missed the incident.

Despite that, Warrington played the better rugby throughout and did well to cope without the influence of inspirational captain Lee Briers for 35 minutes of the contest.

Briers appeared to suffer concussion in a heavy tackle on 26 minutes and had to be substituted. But he returned to action on 61 minutes at a vital point in the game to steady Warrington?s nerves.

Huddersfield, 10-6 down at the break, levelled the scores when Marcus St Hilaire finished off a flowing move involving Paul Smith and Clayton on 54 minutes.

Australian Test international Michael De Vere then put the home side ahead with a penalty on the hour awarded for a high tackle.

But De Vere?s final tally of only three successful goal-kicks from six attempts denied the Giants a win which would have seen them reclaim their top six spot.

Earlier, Warrington went ahead with a Jon Clarke try that was allowed to stand despite a suspicion of a forward pass from Briers in the build-up play.

Brad Drew replied for Huddersfield soon after and De Vere was able to kick the conversion to tie the scores.

But before the break Henry Fa?afili notched his 14th try of the season from another flowing move to put the visitors back in front.

Huddersfield also had a try in each half disallowed in a repeat of the return fixture at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in March when referee Ronnie Laughton also chalked off two Huddersfield touchdowns.

Huddersfield (6) 22. Tries: Drew, St Hilaire 2, Reilly. Goals: De Vere 3.

Warrington (10) 24. Tries: Clarke, Fa?afili, Westwood, Bridge. Goals: Bridge 4.

Huddersfield: Reilly, St Hilaire, Clayton, De Vere, Donlan, Thorman, March, Crabtree, Drew, Gannon, Jones, Smith, Roarty. Replacements: Grayshon, Jackson, Hemingway, McDonald.

Warrington: Grose, Fa?afili, Martin Gleeson, Kohe-Love, Appo, Briers, Bridge, Leikvoll, Clarke, Hilton, Swann, Wainwright, Westwood. Replacements: Mark Gleeson, P. Wood, Lima, Noone.

Referee: Ben Thaler (Wakefield) Att: 6,162

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Wakefield back to winning ways

Two tries in three second-half minutes turned the tide Wakefield?s way and ended a four-match engage Super League losing run for the Wildcats when beating Salford 36-24.

The surprise fightback win also puts Wakefield level on points with defeated Salford as well as avenging a two point defeat at The Willows in April, and eases the Wildcats? relegation fears.

Sean Rutgerson and Luke Robinson touched down in the space of 10 minutes after the break, both goaled by Chris Charles, who seemingly put Salford in the driving seat.

But winger Colum Halpenny and hooker David March scored tries in reply, both goaled by Jamie Rooney to swing it Wakefield?s way.

Then Rooney touched down 10 minutes later to strengthen Wakefield?s position further, with Jamie Field stretching over the whitewash in the dying seconds to make absolutely certain.

Two penalties late in the first half from half-back Rooney had also given Wakefield a slender 14-12 half-time advantage over the Reds.

Wakefield started in devastating fashion with return from injury forward David Solomona scoring off his very first touch in only the third minute of the game.

Salford full-back David Hodgson took Robinson?s chip kick in his stride for the reply try, converted by Charles to nose the visitors ahead with less than 10 minutes played.

Chris Feather, the Wakefield starting prop, and Salford winger Tim Hartley exchanged try scores. But Charles? extra conversion kept the visitors ahead.

Salford gave away too many silly penalties towards the end of the half however and Wakefield capitalised.

But with Charles in the sin-bin from the 28th minute for holding down the damage could have been far worse than it was for the Reds.

Wakefield (14) 36. Tries: Solomona, Feather, Halpenny, March, Rooney, J. Field. Goals: Rooney 6.

Salford (12) 24. Tries: Hodgson, Hartley, Rutgerson, Robinson. Goals: Charles 4.

Wakefield: M. Field, Halpenny, Demetriou, Domic, Tadulala, Rooney, Jeffries, Griffin, March, Feather, Solomona, Snitch, Spicer. Replacements: Korkidas, J. Field, Obst, MacGillivray.

Salford: Hodgson, Stewart, Littler, McAvoy, Hartley, Beverley, Robinson, Rutgerson, Clough, Baldwin, Alker, Shipway, Charles. Replacements: Highton, Jonkers, Langi, Haggerty.

Referee: Ashley Klein (London) Att: 3,536

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Craigie hat-trick gives Widnes win

Owen Craigie scored a hat-trick as Widnes kept their engage Super League survival hopes alive with a crucial victory at bottom club Leigh by 34-14.

The Vikings looked to be cruising when they led 16-0 at half-time but Leigh scored two quick tries through Steve Maden and Matt Sturm after the restart to give them hope of a comeback.

But Shane Millard dived in from dummy half on the hour mark for a decisive try which Stephen Myler converted to open up a 12-point gap.

A John Wilshere try 10 minutes from the end raised Leigh?s hopes but Craigie completed his hat-trick by scoring two more in the dying minutes both converted by Myler.

There was little to chose between the sides in the opening stages but Widnes broke the deadlock after 12 minutes when Simon Finnigan touched down a Craigie grubber kick.

Myler added the conversion and also kicked a penalty soon after for an off-the-ball obstruction.

The influential Craigie was involved in his side?s second try in the 21st minute as he supported a break by John Stankevitch. Myler again landed the extras.

Leigh enjoyed more attacking possession as the half went on but they could not find a way through from determined Vikings defence.

The nearest the home side came was just before the break when the busy John Duffy just failed to ground the ball after a well-timed Craig Stapleton pass.

Leigh?s cause was not helped by the unfortunate loss of Neil Turley, who was stretchered off after suffering a head injury in a heavy tackle midway through the half.

Leigh (0) 14. Tries: Maden, Sturm, Wilshere. Goals: Wilshere.

Widnes (16) 34. Tries: Finnigan, Craigie 3, Millard. Goals: Myler 6, Connolly.

Leigh: Wilshere, Maden, Cooper, Jones, Smyth, Kent, J. Duffy, Fleary, Mears, Stapleton, McCurrie, King, Leafa. Replacements: Stevens, Sturm, Marshall, Turley.

Widnes: J. O?Neill, Manu, Connolly, Fa-alogo, Viane, Craigie, Myler, O?Connor, Millard, Stankevitch, Cassidy, Frame, Finnigan. Replacements: Smith, J. O?Neill, Mills, Holmes.

Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham) Att: 5,170

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Thanks to www.superleague.co.uk for more great articles.