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Stobart Super League XVII Round 26 Review
Stobart Super League XVII Round 26 Review by Simon Reuben
Leeds Rhinos 46
Tries: Jones-Bishop, Hall, Sinfield, Burrow, Watkins 2, Hauraki, Jones-Buchanan
Goals: Sinfield 7
Salford City Reds 12
Tries: Patten 2
Goals: Holdsworth 2
Att: 15,081
Leeds Rhinos put behind their disappointment at Wembley by crushing Salford City Reds at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
Coach Brian McDermott stuck with the majority of his side that lost out to Warrington in last week Challenge Cup Final.
The City Reds started quite brightly and should have taken the lead when winger Jodie Broughton broke clear down the flank only to see his final pass intercepted by Ben Jones-Bishop, who in turn opened the scoring at the other end.
He took a low pass from Kallum Watkins to slide over at the corner. The next Rhinos try came courtesy of co-winger Ryan Hall finished off a trademark scoot from scrum-half Rob Burrow shortly afterwards..
Jamie Peacock's clever offload to Carl Ablett, led to skipper Kevin Sinfield scoring the third try of the half and with his two goals, Leeds went into the break 16-0 to the good.
In the third quarter of the game Poor Salford were taken to the cleaners as the Rhinos ran in five unanswered tries. Three minutes after the resumption Burrow jinked his way over for a solo try -his 150 for Leeds- before setting up Zak Hardaker for the second score.
Centre Kallum Watkins took a short pass from teenager Stevie Ward to grab his first try and then took advantage of some great footwork from Hardaker to make it a double. Jamie Jones-Buchanan stretched out of Luke Patten's tackle to score Leeds' eighth try and Sinfield added his seventh goal of the night as the score ballooned out to 46-0.
After been run ragged all night Patten, playing his penultimate match of Rugby League, prevented a shut out by helping himself to a late brace. Daniel Holdsworth added both goals for a well beaten Reds.
So Leeds have guaranteed themselves at worst fifth spot, with one week of the regular season remaining, as they look to try and defend their Super League crown.
St Helens 30
Tries: Puletua, Flanagan 2, Wellens 2, Laffranchi
Goals: Lomax, Wheeler 2
London Broncos 0
Att: 13,262
St Helens shut out London Broncos at Langtree Park to all but guarantee a top three finish.
London were in confident mood after three wins in a row since Tony Rhea took over the reins as Head Coach. Chris Bailey, Chris Melling and Michael Witt were all missing from the side that thrashed Warrington in their last outing.
Saints welcomed back Jon Wilkin and Josh Jones to compensate for the loss of Michael Shenton and Chris Flannery and they took only three minutes to open the scoring as Tony Puletua burst on to a James Roby pass to score near the posts.
The game became a stop start affair and the next score did not arrive until 5 minute before the break. A storming burst by Sol Soliola set up the position for Jonny Lomax to send Mark Flanagan over as the hosts went into half time 10-0 ahead.
Five minutes after the restart St Helens punished Omari Caro who failed to collect a Lomax kick and Flannigan was on hand to score his second try.
Then enter Paul Wellens who added a brace to continue his try scoring run of five games as the lead was increased to 24-0.
Luke Dorn had try disallowed for the Londoners for a forward pass before late on ex Titan forward Anthony Laffranchi crashed over for the final try of the night as Saints cemented third place in the table.
Bradford Bulls 6
Tries: Crookes
Goal: Gale
Hull FC 70
Tries: Westerman, Foster 2, Manu 2, Houghton, Heremaia 2, Briscoe 3, Crookes, Lynch
Goals: Foster 9
Att: 10,616
Hull FC ran in 13 tries as they demolished Bradford Bulls at Odsal to dent their opponent