First Utility Super League XIX - Round 11 Review

Round 11 of the First Utility Super League saw top of the table Leeds Rhinos continued thier good form with a solid win over Wigan in the match of the round.

Both Bradford and Wakefield claimed valuable unlikely wins over Hull FC and Warrington respectively.

Below we review how everything else went:

St Helens 48

Tries: Dawson, Walsh, Lomax, Makinson, Hohaia, Swift, Greenwood, Jones, Flanagan
Goals: Walsh 6

London Broncos 18

Tries: Solomona, Minns, Bishay
Goals: Drinkwater 3

Att: 9,408

St Helens got back on track as they eased past winless London Broncos at Langtree Park.

This was a must win for Saints, who in the space of nine days had lost thier unbeaten record and gone out of the Challenge Cup.

It took only five minutes for them to score their first try as centre Matty Dawson got on the end of Jon Wilkin's grubber kick.

Luke Walsh doubled the host's advantage as he dummied his way past some soft defence four minutes later. Prop Luke Thompson offloaded from a two-man tackle just short of the line to send over Jonnie Lomax and then a brilliant reverse pass from Walsh led to winger Tom Makinson making it 20-0 to Saints on the half hour.

On thier first attack in thier opponents 20, London pulled a try back with winger Denny Solomona taking Ben Farrar's superb cut-out pass to cross at the corner. Josh Drinkwater added the touchline conversion to make it 20-6 at the interval in favour of St Helens.

After the restart, Saints upped the tempo and added two quick fire scores. Walsh setup his half-back partner Lance Hohaia for the first and minutes later Dawson broke from his own half to get his winger Adam Swift over.

The Broncos would not go away and on loan Leeds centre Thomas Minns got on the end of one of Drinkwater ‘ high kick to race in from 30 metres out for his side's second try.

However, it did not take long for St Helens to put the game to bed with Joe Greenwood and Josh Jones getting on the scoresheet.

A superb offload from forward Atelea Vea created a third try for the Londoners through Mike Bishay but Saints had the final say when substitute Mark Flanagan forced his way over two minutes from the end to confirm a one-sided win.

Leeds Rhinos 28

Tries: McGuire, Hardaker, Briscoe, Hall, Sutcliffe
Goals: Sinfield 4

Wigan Warriors 12

Tries: Clubb, Taylor
Goals: Smith 2

Att: 18,139

League Leaders Leeds Rhinos were at their efficient best as they ended Wigan Warriors eighth match wining steak with another impressive win at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

This was a battle of the two inform sides in the Super League with The Rhinos on a five match winning run and Wigan on an eight match streak..

But, the Warriors would have to deal with the absence of influential skipper Sean O'Loughlin, whose injury jinx struck again.

The game began badly for the visitors with John Bateman losing possession in the first set of tackles and moments later Ryan Hall palmed the ball back from Kevin Sinfield's kick for Danny McGuire to score the games first try.

10 minutes later in-form Leeds full-back Zak Hardaker went through the Warriors defence to score in the corner to make it 10-0.

Wigan got worked themselves into the game but winger Joe Burgess was kept out by good scrambling by the hosts. Eventually the Warriors got over the line as loose forward Tony Clubb barged over from dummy half after hooker Michael McIlorum had been held short of the line.

Matty Smith's conversion cut the lead to four points and Wigan could have gone in front had Blake Green been able to ground the ball when he reached the line, but he was held onto his back.

Leeds extended their lead five minutes before the break when Ryan Hall turned defence into attack by storming down the field to set up the position for centre Kallum Watkins to superbly get his winger Tom Briscoe over at the corner. Sinfield's touchline conversion made it 16-6 at half time.

Early into the second period, the Rhinos went further ahead with a superbly worked try. On the last tackle Watkins launched a high kick on halfway and then he re-gathered possession as Leeds kept the ball alive, moving it to the left where Joel Moon kicked ahead for Hall to gather and touch down for a great try.

The next score came three minutes from time as Wigan chanced their arm with prop Scott Taylor forcing his way over from close range for his side's second try.

However, the game belonged to Leeds and they confirmed the impressive win as substitute Liam Sutcliffe jinked his way over the line in the final minute to keep his side top of the First Utility Super League.

Catalan Dragons 37

Tries: Escare 3, Millard, Taia, Pryce
Goals: Barthau 6
Drop Goal: Pelissier

Salford Red Devils 24

Tries: Meli, Williams, Eden, Hock
Goals: Smith 4

Att: 7,862

Catalan Dragons withstood a Salford Red Devils fightback to clam the points at the Gilbert Brutus Stadium in Perpignan.

Both sides suffered despair last week by seeing thier Wembley hopes disappear as they were knocked out by Bradford and Widnes respectably.

As like last week Catalan made a fast start and led 16-0 after twenty minutes. Morgan Escare got things underway for the French outfit on two minutes as he danced his way over the line.

Six minutes later it got even better for the Dragons as good work by Julien Bousquet and Eloi Pelissier led to Daryl Millard scoring out wide.

Try number three soon arrived as Escare race over for a double 40 metres out. Barthau added his second goal.

Salford got back into the game with Gareth Hock offloading to Junior Sa'u, who showed quick hands to allow Francis Meli the space to touch down in the left corner. .

From the restart, Martin Gleeson found Danny Williams, who raced over under the posts as the gap was down to just four points.

The comeback was complete just on half time when from a scrum play Rangi Chase created the space for Greg Eden to score next to the posts. Tim Smith converted to give the Red Devils an 18-16 lead.

Five minutes after the break, Pryce found the supporting Zeb Taia, who raced over under the posts to score and reclaim the lead for the hosts.

It did not take long for Salford to go back down the other end and respond with a try for themselves. Chase's short pass to Gareth Hock sent the big second rower dummying his way over the line.

On the hour the game turned decisively in Catalans favour when Pryce outpaced the cover to touchdown. Barthau added the conversion and then the halfback kicked a penalty to make it 30-24.

From the restart, Pelissier bounced off three defenders and passed to Vincent Duport down the left, who then offloaded to Escare, who scored his hat-trick.

The scoring was completed with one minute to go when Pelissier added a one-pointer as Catalan handed out a fifth successive defeat to the Salford Red Devils.

Bradford Bulls 34

Tries: Foster, Kearney, Olbison, Purtell 2, Kear
Goals: Foster 5

Warrington Wolves 28

Tries: England, Bridge, Penny, J. Monaghan, Russell
Goals: Bridge 4

Att: 6,173

Bradford Bulls claimed thier first league win in eight games as they got the better of Warrington Wolves at the Provident Stadium Odsal.

This was a dress rehearsal for next month's Quarter Final clash in the Tetley's Challenge Cup as both sides looked to get the upper hand.

On 6 minutes Warrington took the lead when Michael Monaghan sent Anthony England over for his first try for the Wolves.

Jamie Foster scored out wide as Bradford responded quickly and then they hit the front when full-back Brett Kearney raced over 70 metres to score in the corner.

Bridge levelled things up for the visitors before Kevin Penny scored a fine try after superb handling.

Back came Bradford with a Tom Olbison effort, but Joel Monaghan went over to make it 22-16 for the Wolves at the interval.

We were all square again just into the second half as Adrian Purtell chased touched down a Lee Gaskell kick, but in this seesaw contest the visitors edged in front when Micky Higham sent Matty Russell on a mazy run across the whitewash on the hour mark.

However, in the final ten minutes of the game, the Bulls won the game with two efforts. Firstly Elliott Kear scored out wide then Danny Addy sent Purtell racing clear for his second try to give them the lead for the first time.

Foster added a late penalty to secure the victory as Bradford moved off the bottom of the Super League table.

Huddersfield Giants 29

Tries: Wardle, Cudjoe, McGillvary, Grix, Murphy
Goals: Brough 4
Drop Goal: Brough

Castleford Tigers 28

Tries: Shenton, Carney, Dixon, Webster, Clark
Goals: Sneyd 4

Att: 7,195

Huddersfield Giants claimed a narrow late win over inform Castleford Tigers at the John Smith's Stadium.

The Tigers made a good start as they touchdown twice in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Michael Shenton scored the first and Justin Carney showed his power for the second as he raced in from 60-metrs out. Marc Sneyd added both goals to make it 12-0.

In final 10 minutes of the first half, Huddersfield turned things around. Danny Brough got centre Joe Wardle over the line and then good work by Jason Chan set up the position for Leroy Cudjoe to go over for the Giants' second try.

Brough converted both efforts to make it 12-12 at the interval

The Giants momentum continued after the restart as Kyle Wood got Jermaine McGillvary over for the host's third try of the afternoon.

Castleford levelled when right winger Kirk Dixon leapt above Aaron Murphy to collect Sneyd's kick to the corner, but this only galvanised Huddersfield as they hit back again with two scores themselves.

Grix forced his way over for the first score and after a Brough 40-20 kick Murphy fin shed off a flowing move for the Giants' fifth try. Brough kicked his fourth goal to making it 28-16 going into the final quarter.

However, Cas would not go away easily and roared back to level with substitute Jake Webster going in after a 60-metre run and Daryl Clarke following up his own grubber kick on the last tackle to touch down.

Six minute from time The Giants nicked it when Brough broke the deadlock with a one pointer to clinch a third successive win for the hosts as Castleford dropped down to third on the ladder.

Hull FC 16

Tries: Houghton, Rankin, Crooks
Goals: Crooks 2

Wakefield Wildcats 23

Tries: Mathers, Smith, Ryan, Sammut
Goals: Sammut 3
Drop Goal: Sykes

Att: 10,088

Wakefield Wildcats stunned Hull FC with a storming second half recovery to take the points at the KC Stadium.

Both sides had last weekend off after falling at the first hurdle in the Tetley's Challenge Cup and this showed as it took 18 minutes for the deadlock to be broken.

Josh Bowden laid on the opening try for Danny Houghton before Jordan Rankin supported a good break by Aaron Heremaia to score Hull's second try as they had a useful 12-0 lead at half time.

It soon beamed 16-0 on fifty minutes as Jamie Shaul squeezed the ball out of the tackle for Ben Crooks to juggle the ball before touching down.

Needing to score next, the Wildcats responded positively and gave themselves hope when Richard Mathers crossed out wide after good play by Danny Kirmond and Matt Ryan.

Jason Crookes and Chris Riley traded blows in an altercation and both players were sent to the sin-bin to cool down and this galvanised Wakefield who spring into action.

Daniel Smith powered overt the line before Lucas Walshaw added another .Jarrad Sammut landed the conversion from out wide to level the score at 16-16 and setup a grandstand finish.

Sammut finished off a sparkling move with eight minutes remaining before Paul Sykes kicked a drop goal to clinch the win only Wakefield third success this year which gives them some hope of avoiding relegation.

Hull KR 29

Tries: Weyman, Welham, Lovegrove, Cockayne, Gardner
Goals: Burns 4
Drop Goal: Burns

Widnes Vikings 34

Tries: Owens, Allen, Brown 3, Clarke
Goals: Tickle 5

Att: 7,007

Widnes Vikings scored two late tries to deny Hull KR at the KC Lightstream Stadium.

Widnes made a good positive start and deservedly opened the scoring in the 11th minute after MacGraff Leuluai setup the position for Jack Owens to score in the left hand corner.

Ex Dragon Michael Weyman got Rovers on terms by taking Neville Costigan's excellent offload to score from ten meters out.

Dave Allen and a dummy from Kevin Brown made it 18-6 to the Vikings but

With five minutes to the half-time hooter, Hull KR upped the ante and hit back with two quickfire scores to cut the deficit to two points.

Craig Hall got Kris Welham over the line for the first one then Kris Keating brilliantly collected Travis Burns' offload to break clear and in support was Rhys Lovegrove to finish things off.

At the start of the second half Ben Cockayne intercepted a pass from Brown and raced over from 90 metres out to give Rovers a 22-18 lead.

Brown made amends by adding his second try of the game but in this end-to-end contest the hosts regained the lead in the 61st minute when Graeme Horne sent Ade Gardner over for a simple touchdown.

Burns added a drop goal in the 67th minute to leave the Vikings needing to score twice.

But, in a frantic last seven minutes Jon Clarke took Cameron Phelps' pass to score from 30 metres, before Chris Dean gathered his own kick to send Brown over for his hat-trick with Danny Tickle converting as Widnes claimed thier second win in the City of Hull this year.

First Utility Super League after Round 11