Super League XVIII Review - Round 15

Salford City Reds 7
Tries:   McGoldrick
Goals:  Sneyd
Drop Goal: McGoldrick

Bradford Bulls 28
Tries:   Gale, Blythe 2, Diskin, Purtell
Goals:  Sammut 4

Att: 5,106

Bradford Bulls got back to winning way by getting past Salford City Reds at the Salford City Stadium.

After two heavy defeats, new Coach Brian Noble was looking to get one over his former club in which he had won 3 Grand Finals with. For the Bulls they were looking to end their four match losing run.

Bradford made a good start and went into the lead with Jarrod Sammut setting up Luke Gale, who raced 60 metres to score, with Sammut adding the extras for a 6-0 advantage.

A Michael Platt mistake from Sneyd's kick allowed the City Reds the field position for Ryan McGoldrick to scoot over on the half hour with Sneyd converting to make it 6-6.

Then McGoldrick edged Salford ahead with a drop-goal but the 7-6 lead was short lived as the visitors hit the hosts with a two try burst just before the interval.

Matty Blythe helped himself to a brace , the first coming off a mistake by Sneyd who failed to deal with a Danny Addy high kick and the second coming off a good inside pass as the big second rower powered through to score

Sammut made no mistake with the boot as the Bulls led 18-7 at halftime.

The second half was a dull affair and the main incident was a serious neck injury to ex Bull Chris Nero who was carried off in brace as play was held up for over eight minutes.

On the sixty minute mark Matt Diskin ended any hopes for Salford as he burrowed over from dummy half and icing was put on the win when Adrian Purtell crossed two minutes from time as the Bulls ended their baron run as Salford remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the Super League ladder.

Warrington Wolves 16
Tries: Grix, J. Monaghan, Atkins
Goals: Briers 2

Hull FC 26
Tries: Briscoe 2, Lineham, Whiting 2
Goals: Holdsworth 3

Att: 9,387

Hull FC put down a marker with a stunning win over Warrington Wolves at the H.J. Stadium.

Both teams had Wembley and the Grand Final on their minds as they went to battle in a heavyweight contest.

The open quarter was a real war as both sides went at each other, the Wolves came close on several occasions but they were let down by some poor handling and some great defence by the visitors.

Eventually the deadlock was broken on 28 minutes when centre Simon Grix pounced on Lee Briers' pinpoint kick to the line as Warrington took the lead, Briers kicking the conversion.

Five minutes later the Wolves made it 10-0 with a well worked try. Briers took Garreth Carvell's short pass to go through a gap and the supporting Richie Myler lofted a kick to the corner for Joel Monaghan to go over in the right hand corner.

On 36-minutes The Black and Whites got themselves a lifeline as the visitors punished a dropped pass by Mike Cooper on his own 20-metre line and the quick-thinking Aaron Heremaia slid a kick through which was gratefully accepted by Tom Briscoe and the England winger scored near to the posts. Daniel Holdsworth added the goal to cut the deficit to 10-6 at half time.

The Wolves made a good start to the second period and they extended their lead on 46 minutes when Ryan Atkins out jumped Tom Lineham to collect Myler's high kick and score. Briers kicked his second goal make it 16-6.

However, this suddenly got Hull going and they struck back with two tries in a six minute spell. Richard Horne’s long pass got Lineham over in the corner and a good short pass from Ben Crooks put the supporting Richard Whiting under the posts as the game was all square at 16-16.

The men from East Yorkshire took the lead for the first time on 69 minutes when an Atkins knock-on gifted them possession in the Warrington twenty and Horne's short pass enabled Whiting to crash over for his second try Holdsworth kicked his second goal to make it 22-16.

Two minutes from the time Briscoe kicked ahead and won the race to grab his second try as the Black and Whites claimed a famous win.

Huddersfield Giants 36
Tries: Ferres 2, Brough, Patrick 2, Murphy
Goals: Brough 5, Grix

Widnes Vikings 22
Tries: Flynn, Marsh 2, White
Goals: Owens 3

Att: 5,173

Huddersfield Giants turned in a dominating first half performance to ease past Widnes Vikings at the Stobart Stadium.

Both teams were in good form coming into this one, no more so than the Giants who put out Super League Champions Leeds Rhinos in last week’s Tetley’s Challenge Cup and led by star half-back Danny Brough they tormented Widnes in the first half.

Brough was the provider for the first try as his mazy run ended with Brett Ferres scoring out wide.

The Vikings hit back immediately as a good solo run from Paddy Flynn levelled things up at 6-6 but this was as close as the hosts got in the first half as Huddersfield began to dominate.

That man Brough scored a final individual effort himself after shaping to throw a long ball out he then suddenly stepped off his left foot to go over easily. The Stand-off added the extras from in front of the posts and he was involved in the next touchdown by combining with fellow half-back partner Luke Robinson to get Larne Patrick over for the visitor’s third try of the game.

Try number four soon followed when Aaron Murphy touched down out wide and as Widnes were still in shock two minutes from the break Patrick grabbed his second and with Brough making it five from five, Huddersfield had the game won leading by 30-6.

In the second half the Giants gave Brough a rest and this gave the Vikings some confidence as they hit back with Stefan Marsh racing in at the corner. Then substitute hooker Lloyd White crossed to give the hosts some hope before Huddersfield finished things off with Ferres making it a double for the game.

Marsh had the final say with another well created try for himself out wide and Jack Owens landed the goal, but it was merely a consolation as the Giants cemented second spot.
 

Catalan Dragons 30
Tries: Millard, Duport, Anderson, Menzies, Escare, Pelissier
Goals: Bosc 7
Drop Goal: Bosc

Castleford Tigers 30
Tries: Thompson 2, Carney 2, Clark
Goals: Ellis 5

Att: 7,083

Catalan Dragons held off a second half Castleford Tigers fightback to claim the points in Perpignan.

New Tigers Coach Daryl Powell had had nearly two weeks to prepare his new side, but it did not go to plan as the hosts scored in their first set of the game.

Steve Menzies set the play up and it ended with Daryl Millard going in to score. Castleford were level five minutes later after two back-to-back penalties gave the Tigers field position, and Jordan Thompson got the equalising try.

However, this was as close the team from West Yorkshire got as the French hosts blew them away to lead 30-6 at the break.

After a Thomas Bosc 40-20, Vincent Duport scored near the posts as Catalan re-took the lead. From the restart, the Dragons attacked from deep and Louis Anderson went over after more good work by Zeb Taia and Menzies.

Four minutes before the break two more scores quickly followed. The first saw Leon Pryce and Morgan Escare combine to send Menzies over and then Escare raced 90 metres for the second and with Bosc kicking five from five the game looked over as a contest.

But, after a good telling off by Powell the Tigers roared back with quick-fire tries immediately after the resumption. Rangi Chase’s kick caused havoc in the home defence and Thompson pounced for his second try of the game.

From the restart, Castleford shifted the ball to the left-hand side and sent Justin Carney clear on an 80-meter run to the line

Eloi Pelissier scored from close range and with Bosc’ sixth goal Catalan led 36-18.

Once again Castleford refused to give up and with 15 minutes to go the Tigers again went over twice. Daryl Clark got the first after great work from Jordan Tansey and Grant Millington.

Then it was game on when Chase sent Carney in for his second try of the night. Jamie Ellis converted both to take the scores to 36-30 with eleven minutes left in the game.

Bosc then settled the Dragons nerves by kicking a one-pointer and kicking a late penalty goal to seal the win.

London Broncos 6
Tries: Dorn
Goals: Witt

Wigan Warriors 64
Tries: Charnley 3, Richards 3, Tomkins 3, Williams, Flower, Powell
Goals: Richards 8

Att: 3,594

Wigan Warriors made it eight wins on the bounce with a twelve try destruction of the London Broncos at the Twickenham Stoop.

London were on a three match winning streak and fancied their chance against Wigan, who had teenagers  Sam Powell and George Williams filling in as a half-back pairing in the injury absence of both Blake Green and Matty Smith.

But, Wigan did not take long to get started as Josh Charnley crossed in the corner after five minutes. Another soon followed as Iain Thornley sent Pat Richards on a romp to the line.

It was getting too easy for the visitors as Richards made it a double on twelve minutes after taking Sam Tomkins pass.

The one-way traffic continued as Tomkins grabbed a loose Michael Witt pass to score from inside his own half. Richards then made it a hat-trick and on the half hour Tomkins followed with his second by finishing off a searing break from Charnley.

Youngster Williams made it a great day for himself and the Warriors by showing a dummy and racing home from half way to make it 38-0 at the break.

Ben Flower continued the onslaught by touching down tem minutes into the second half. The Broncos did manage to prevent the whitewash as Luke Dorn took Craig Gower's chip through to race over in the corner.

However, this was only consolation as Tomkins claimed his own hat-trick shortly and then Charnley scored two more to also score his hat-trick.

Powell was to have the final say for Wigan, romping over after Tomkins had once again opened up the Broncos defence, with Richards adding his eighth goal shortly afterwards for a personal haul of 28 points as the League Leaders remained clear at the summit of the Super League.

Hull KR 44
Tries: Horne 2, George 2, Hall, Lovegrove 2, Mika
Goals: Dobson 6

Wakefield Wildcats 18
Tries: Collis, Cockayne, L. Smith
Goals: L. Smith 3

Att: 6,933

Hull KR turned in a strong second half performance to deny Wakefield Wildcats at MS3 Craven Park.

The pressure was on KR Head Coach Craig Sandercock who arrive at this game on the back on three successive and thanks to a short pass from Travis Burns, his side got off to the perfect start with Graeme Horne going over after just seven minutes.

Rovers continued to dominate and they extended their lead further when Michael Dobson set the play up for, on-loan Huddersfield Giant, Luke George to score his first try for the club.

Dobson kicked both goals to make it 12-0 but Wakefield worked their way  back into the game as Dean Collis reduced the gap on 23 minutes and it got even better for the visitors as four minutes later Ben Cockayne scored against one of his former clubs as the gap was down to just two points.

Lee Smith then gave Wakefield the lead for the time as he finished strongly in the corner, but late on in the first half Dobson and Burns combined to get Horne over for his second try to level the scores.

In this end-to-end game there was still time for Lee  Smith to make it 18-16 in favour of the Wildcats by kicking a penalty as the hooter was about to sound.

Hovever, the second period would be a different story as Rovers took control and hit Wakefield with 26 unanswered points. Craig Hall got things going for the home side by scoring is side’s fourth try.

George took Kris Welham's pass to score his second try on 56 minutes and, as the Wildcats began to tire, Lovegrove helped himself to a quickfire brace either side of try from Con Mika as Hull KR claimed the points in great second half display.

Leeds Rhinos 22
Tries: Watkins, Moon, Burrow, Bailey
Goals: Sinfield 3

St Helens 30
Tries: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Soliola, Makinson 2, Laffranchi, Thompson
Goals: Makinson 3

Att: 15,998

St Helens got their season back up and running by coming from 16-0 down to defeat Leeds Rhinos at Headingley Carnegie Stadium in the first Super League Monday night game of the season.

St Helens were looking to end their five match loosing run on a ground that they had one in their last two visits. For Leeds it was to get last week’s disappointing defeat in the Challenge Cup at Huddersfield out of their system.

The Rhinos, started well and punished some Saints handling errors inside their own 20-metre as Kallum Watkins opened the scoring after six minutes.

Four minutes later Joel Moon took Danny McGuire's pass to go over and with Kevin Sinfield adding the extras the hosts led 10-0.

On the tenth minute it got even worst for the visitors as Rob Burrow scored and easy try with Sinfield making it 16-0

However, on 27-minuites Saints got some ball and clawed themselves back into the game when dummy half Stuart Howarth created a gap for Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook to stroll through.

Just before the break it was Game on as Howarth once again created the gap for Sia Soliola to go next to the posts and the gap was down to 16-12.

Three minutes into the second half, the comeback was complete as a superb pass out of the tackle by Willie Manu sent Chris Percival on his way and then the centre draw in the full-back to leave Tommy Makinson with an easy run to the line as the game was all square.

Then, St Helens were give a gift as Zak Hardaker tried to get the ball back in play to avoid a goal-line drop-out but succeeded only in gifting a try to Anthony Laffranchi.

Makinson kicked his third goal and Saints stretched their lead to 26-16 five minutes later when Wellens' grubber kick on the last tackle eluded Hardaker and Makinson pounced for his second try of the game.

Ryan Bailey to take Rob Burrow's pass as Leeds closed the gap to 26-22 going into the final quarter, but Saints weathered the storm and won the game late on.

Wellens then setup teenager Luke Thompson and his try ended St Helens baron run as they inflicted a first Super League defeat on Leeds since March.

Super League Ladder after Round 15