Stobart Super League XVII - Round 6 Review

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Once again Round 6 of the Stobart Super League did not disappoint with two great fightbacks, and now every team is in the winning column. We have a look below of how things panned out:


Leeds Rhinos 26
Tries: McGuire, Hardaker, Watkins, Hood
Goals: Sinfield 5

Warrington Wolves 18
Tries: Blyth, Hill, Westwood
Goals: Briers 3

Att: 17,120

Leeds Rhinos got the better of Warrington Wolves in a gripping clash at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

These teams last played each in the semi-final of the play-offs last October. Leeds edged that classic and league leaders Warrington were despite to put the record straight, but they had some injury and suspension blows.

Brett Hodgson, Michael Monaghan and Chris Bridge were all missing as the Wolves put their unbeaten record on the line.

Early on Warrington had to soak up a lot of Leeds pressure, mainly due their poor handling, but the visitors showed why they've got one of the best defences in the competition by repelling everything that the Rhinos could throw at them.

But, a clever dummy and step by Danny McGuire, on 21-minutes finally broke the deadlock as the hosts took a 6-0 lead, Kevin Sinfield added the extras.

Three minutes later some good play saw Ryan Hall off-load for centre Zak Hardaker to race in and double the host's advantage.

After being given some penalties Warrington gained some territory in the Leeds twenty and good work by Lee Briers led to Matty Blyth opening the Wolves Account.

Just before the interval, the visitors made it all square as young prop Chris Hill powered his way over the line after Warrington took a quick tap penalty.

Within four minutes of the re-start the Rhinos once again moved into the lead. Rob Burrow was busy from dummy half and his darting run's led to Kallum Watkins finishing off a flowing move in the corner. The ever reliable Sinfield tagged on the conversion from the touchline.

But, the League Leaders would not go away and they struck back with a close range effort from Ben Westwood. Sinfield punished Mickey Higham's high tackle on Burrow to edge the hosts in front 20-18.

Warrington again hit back and were denied a try by the video referee when Higham was adjudged to be inside the ten meters as Briers palmed the ball back for Richard Myler to touch down after his own high kick had eluded full-back Brent Webb.

However, a mistake by Myler led to youngster Liam Hood scoring the all important match wining try as Leeds ended Warrington's unbeaten start to 2012, their first defeat in the regular season Since last June.

St Helens 10
Tries: Gardner, Puletua
Goals: Foster
 
Hull FC 22
Tries: Turner, McKinnon 2
Goals: Tickle 5

Att: 14,875

Hull FC came from behind at Langtree Park to hand out a fourth successive defeat to St Helens.

The visitors were in the ascendancy from the kick off as Lee Gaskell let it bounce touch in goal. Hull continued to dominate but to their credit Saints withstood everything thrown at them.

The game remained scoreless until the 22nd minute when, after Danny Tickle had been penalised for a heavy challenge on Sia Soliola, St Helens moved the ball out quickly and centre Michael Shenton put Ade Gardner in at the corner for an unconverted try.

On the half hour, the Black and Whites hit back when ex Warriors full-back Wade McKinnon left the Saints defence clutching thin air as he dummied his way over the line. Danny Tickle missed the conversion as the teams went into the interval all square at 4-4.

Six minutes into the second period, the hosts re-took back the lead. Tony Puletua dummied and turned to stretch over the line. Jamie Foster kicked the extras to make it 10-4.

Saints seemed to have the game in control, but they were stunned as Josh Perry's attempted flick pass went to ground and was snapped up by Jordan Turner who raced 80 metres to touch down.

Tickle's kicked the touchline conversion and then 15 minutes from time he gave Hull the lead when he slotted over a 30-metre penalty to make it 12-10.

The Black and Whites were now in control and moved further ahead thanks to the ever reliable boot of Tickle, who landed two further penalty goals.

Mackinnon put the icing on the cake for Hull as he latched onto Richard Horne's kick in last minute to confirm the win for the visitors.

So Head Coach Royce Simmons was feeling the pressure as his side suffered a fourth successive Super League defeat this season.

Catalan Dragons 40
Tries: Millard, Bosc, Pryce, Blanch 2, Dupport 2, Dureau
Goals: Dureau 4

Salford City Reds 18
Tries: Veivers, Owen, Howarth
Goals: Holdsworth 3

Att: 8,158

Salford City Reds three match winning run came to an end in Perpignan as the Catalan Dragons turned on the style to claim the points.

The in-form Salford, were looking to continue their winning run against the Dragons who suffered a heavy defeat at Wigan last Sunday.

Led by influential playmaker Scott Dureau, Catalan dominated from the start. But against the run of play Luke Patten kick thorugh rebounded of the post pads into the hands of Stuart Howarth who opened the scoring.

Hovever, the Dragons responded in style and hit back with back-to-back tries, the first came from Damien Blanch after good work by Vincent Duport. The second saw Dureau finish a flowing effort involving Lopini Paea and Leon Pryce.

The French outfit did not let up and Blanch made it a double by touching down in the corner. Dureau kicked the conversion from the touchline.

It was one-way traffic now as the hosts continued to dominate. Thomas Bosc and Leon Pryce both crossed before the break to give their team a commanding 26-6 lead.

After a scrappy start to the second half in which both sides squander chances, Duport eventually broke the deadlock as he took an offload from Paea to score.

On the hour The City Reds rallied as Josh Veivers touched down in the right corner after good work by Gareth Owen, and then Owen himself raced over from 40 metres out to score under the posts as the visitors scored 12 points in three minutes.

However, the comeback was short lived as Duport scored his second after more superb work by Dureau and  Daryl Millard wrapped up a comfortable home win by stepping and twisting his way past Luke Patten to score in the left corner.

London Broncos 42
Tries: Golden, Gower, Cook, Howell 2, Sarginson, Bailey, Melling
Goals: Witt 5

Castleford Tigers 16
Tries: Dixon, Youngquest, McGoldrick
Goals: Dixon 2

Att: 2,381

For the sixth time of asking, London Broncos finally broke their duck as they ran in eight to run out convincing winners over Castleford Tigers at the Twickenham Stoop.

After a dismal start to 2012, the Broncos were desperate for the two points as Coach Rob Powell ringed the changes. For Castleford, they were also looking to end their run of five defeats as their only win came at Salford City Reds in Round 1.

The Londoners, made a great start and took the lead on six minutes, Chad Randall carved open a huge gap in the visitors defence and David Howell was on hand to stride through and touchdown.

Randall turned provider again moments later, charging down a Danny Orr kick before seizing on the loose ball and feeding Chris Bailey for a clear run to the line.

Castleford were given a lifeline as Antonio Kaufusi lost the ball near his own line, Nick Youngquest made him pay by darting over in the corner to get the Tigers on the scoreboard.

On 22 minutes it was all square as a short Rangi Chase pass sent Kirk Dixon crash through some weak tackling and cross underneath the posts.

In the last ten-minutes of the first half, the Broncos regained the lead thanks to ex-Penrith Panther Craig Gower who burst through a gap from close range score and it got even better for the hosts as Matt Cook stretching over the line to give his side a 22-12 lead.

The Tigers came out fired up after the restart and were soon back on the scoreboard as poor defence out wide allowed Ryan McGoldrick to cross with ease.

However the Londoners regrouped and took control on the hour-mark as Dan Sarginson showing great strength forced his way over after Michael Robertson had touched back Michael Witt's kick.

Gower charged through a gap before offloading for Jason Golden to stroll home for a decisive score as the Broncos effectively won the game.

Further late scores from Chris Melling and Howell added the gloss on much need London Broncos win as Rob Powell's team moved off the bottom of the table, but worryingly for Castleford their loosing run was stretched to five games.

Hull KR 24
Tries: Paea, Hall, Welham, J Hodgson
Goals: Dobson 5

Bradford Bulls 36
Tries: Kearney, Pryce, Diskin, Lulia, Crookes 3
Goals: Sammut 4

Att: 7,486

Bradford Bulls stunned Hull KR with a stunning second half performance to clam the points at Craven Park.

Jekyll and Hyde side Bradford Bulls- who cannot win at Odsal but have won every game away from home- were looking to keep up their away day record by getting the better of Hull KR.

But it was the hosts who started better and opened the scoring on three minutes when Kris Welham showed great hands to take Michael Dobson's perfectly-weighed kick to score.

It get even better for the Robins as minutes later Lincoln Withers' reverse pass sent ex Rooster Mickey Paea through  to make it 12-0.

The Bulls managed to halt the one-way traffic as Jason Crookes got over the line against the run of play to get his side on the board. Another try followed as Ben Jeffries' kick was not dealt with properly by Welham and this allowed Karl Pryce to score as the gap was cut to 12-8.

A moment of brilliance from Michael Dobson just before half-time helped eased Rovers concerns. Four sidesteps left Bradford's defence all at sea and they were unable to stop Dobson's offload to Josh Hodgson to score his sides' third try of the game. Dobson added the extras to make it 18-8 at the break.

Craig Hall extended the host's lead three minutes after the interval following a break down the left from Welham. Dobson kept up his 100% record by making it four from four.

Bradford had it all to do but they were given some sort of a lifeline as Crookes scored his second of the game on 55 minutes after good work by young second rower John Bateman.  Jarrod Sammut finally found his range and his conversion made it 24-14 with 25 minutes to play.

However, this would be the start of an amazing turn around as the Bulls stunned everyone at the ground by running in five unanswered tries. The second try came shortly after as Crookes' kick was grounded by Matt Diskin. Sammut converted to reduce the gap to four points.

Straight from the re-start, Elliott Whitehead broke down the right-hand side before sending Kearney away to level things up. Sammut's conversion gave Bradford the lead.

Rovers were now down-and-out as fittingly Crookes juggled the ball over the line for his hat-trick before Keith Lulia wrapped up the unbelievable comeback by finishing off Pryce's break to send the Bulls fans home buzzing after seeing their team continue their 100% winning record away from Odsal.

Wakefield Wildcats 14
Tries: Cockayne 3
Goals: John

Huddersfield Giants 32
Tries: McGilvary, Patrick, Brown, Wardle 2
Goals: Brough 4
 
Att: 8,794

Huddersfield Giants moved to the summit of the Super League by getting past West Yorkshire rivals Wakefield Wildcats at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

This local derby saw a number of players playing against their old clubs.

And one of them, ex Wildcat scrum-half Danny Brough
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