Super League XVIII - Round 11 Review

Round 11 saw the Rhinos got another win over the Wolves in a repeat of the 2012 Grand Final.

Wigan, kept up their good run of form by staying clear at the summit of the table. Hull KR also bounced back from a record defeat last week to get the better of St Helens.

So below we have a look at how all the games went...

London Broncos 20
Tries:   Witt, Dixon 3
Goals:  Witt 2

Bradford Bulls 46
Tries: Addy, Walker, Whitehead 2, Sammut 4
Goals:  Sammut 7

Att: 1,441

Bradford Bulls turned in a strong second half performance to come from behind and deny London Broncos at Adams Park High Wycombe.

Once again the Broncos were forced to move a home game from the Twickenham Stoop this time to the home of Wycombe Wanders and London Wasps Rugby Union, Adams Park.

The visitors made the brighter start and were close to taking the lead inside the first five minutes, but the Londoners held out and hit back to open the scoring themselves as Michael Witt went over on fourteen minutes.

The Bulls kept at it and drew level when Danny Addy wriggled through a couple of tackles to score and then the West Yorkshire team took the lead as Chev Walker burst through a gap to score next to the uprights.

But, the Broncos weathered the storm and hit back thanks to their young wingman Kieran Dixon who picked up a loose ball and raced away to score.

Suddenly it was all London and they re-took the lead when Dixon made it a double by getting on the end of a clever kick by Tommy Lee.

There was still time for the London youngster to complete a brilliant first half hat-trick as he once again swooped on a loose ball in his own half and showed blistering speed to make it 20-12 at the break.

Bradford gave themselves some hope six minutes into the second half as Elliott Whitehead squeezed in at the corner.

Now it was the Bulls turn to dominate and enter Jarrod Sammut who got things under way by getting on the end of Luke Gale’s kick and it was soon a double shortly after as the Ex Penrith Panther half back finished off a break from Elliot Kear.

Full of confidence the mercurial scrum-half added another two make it four tries for the game as Bradford ran the Broncos ragged.

Whitehead rounded off the scoring in the final minute, taking a long Gale pass to stroll over as Sammut added his seventh goal of the game to make it a personal game haul of thirty points as the Bulls made it three games unbeaten.

 
Castleford Tigers 24
Tries:   Holmes, Milner, Clark, Walker
Goals:  Ellis 4

Huddersfield Giants 40
Tries:   Lunt, Wardle, Murphy, McGillvary 2, Robinson, Ferres
Goals:  Brough 6

Att:      3,222

Huddersfield Giants saw off Castleford Tigers at the Wish Communications Stadium.

The Tigers with no wins in eight were looking to get off the foot of the table against the high flying Giants and they started well as Rangi Chase ‘ clever pass sent Oliver Homes over for the opening score on three minutes.

But, this would as close as the host’s got as Huddersfield dominated the rest of the half. Shaun Lunt forced his way over from close range to level things up.

Shortly after the Giants struck again when Joe Wardle picked up a loose ball to race 75 meters to touchdown, three minutes later ex-Castleford player Brett Ferres was the creator as Aaron Murphy scored try number three for the visitors.

Chase was then sent to the sin-bin for dissent and Huddersfield made the extra man count by adding two more tries from Jermaine McGilvary and Luke Robinson as they led 28-6 at the interval.

The Tigers started the second period better but missed a golden chance when Weller Hauraki fumbled the ball on the try line and they were punished further as McGilvary made it a double by kicking ahead and winning the race to score.

Moments later it was game over as Aaron Murphy's pass found Ferres who scored a try against his former employers. Huddersfield were then reduced to twelve men as Jamie Cording was shown a yellow card for holding down.

As Castleford continued to press they were rewarded by adding three late tires. Adam Milner scored from dummy half, then Walker's break was finished off by Daryl Clark and Walker himself scored the third. Jamie Ellis adding all three conversions, but it was too late to deny the Giants who claimed the points.

Hull FC 28
Tries:   Crooks 2, Briscoe, Lineham 2
Goals:  Tickle, Westerman 3

Catalan Dragons 8
Tries:   Escare
Goals:  Barthau 2

Att:      10,065

Hull FC made it back-to-back wins by defeating Catalan Dragons at the KC Stadium.

After the gruelling Easter programme both sides made some changes and it was the French visitors who took an early lead when William Barthau slotted over a penalty after a high tackle.

On the back of another penalty Catalan began to dominate but Hull held out three back-to-back sets before hitting back themselves.

Aaron Heremaia's grubber kick found Ben Crooks for an unconverted try as the hosts led 4-2. In this low scoring first half the teams went into the break all square as Barthau kicked a penalty goal two minutes from the break.

Hull came out strongly after the resumption and thanks to England winger Tom Briscoe touching down in the corner they edged into a 14-8 lead in which they never lost.

Heremaia's floated pass found Lineham and with Tickle adding the extras the lead was up to 20-8. As the Black and Whites continued their dominance Lineham added another with Joe Westerman kicking the touchline conversion.

Morgan Escare then showed great footwork to cross for the Dragons' first score with seven minutes remaining; But Crooks claimed the points by grabbing his second in the last minutes of the game as Hull made it back-to-back win for the first time this year.

Hull KR 22
Tries:   D. Hodgson, J. Hodgson, Paterson, Brown
Goals:  Hall 3

St Helens 14
Tries:   Percival 2, Swift
Goals:  Percival

Att:      7,616

Hull KR bounced back from Last Monday’s hammering by claiming a win over St Helens at MS3 Craven Park.

After suffering a humiliating 84-6 defeat at home to Wigan on Easter Monday, Rovers coach Craig Sandercock wanted a response as they entertained St Helens.

With Michael Dobson back in their ranks and pulling the strings, the hosts took lead as Greg Eden sent Dave Hodgson over in the left hand corner.

Try number two arrived shortly after as hooker Josh Hodgson went over from dummy half, Craig Hall added the extras.

But St Helens railed well and thanks to young centre Mark Percival they were level 10-10 at the break Tommy Makinson set up Percival for his first try with a good blindside move.

Rising star Percival then made it a double as he caught Alex Brown napping on the inside and raced way to touchdown. After building up the pressure at the start of the second half ex Knights back rower Cory Paterson made the most of good work by Dobson to give the hosts a six point lead.

On the hour mark Saints were back in it as Adam Swift swooped on a loose ball and raced 90 meters to touchdown. Percival put the conversion wide as the visitors trailed 16-14.

However, this spurred Rovers on after some great handling by Eden, Alex Brown finished the move off to set up the win and Hall claimed the points by kicking a last minute penalty as Hull KR restored some pride.

Widnes Vikings 58
Tries:   Hanbury 3, Clarke, Phelps 3, Mellor, Winterstein, Brown
Goals:  Owens 9

Salford City Reds 24
Tries:   Fages, Jewitt, Broughton, James
Goals:  Sneyd 4

Att:      5,562

Widnes Vikings claimed their biggest win since there return to the Super League as put Salford City Reds to the sword at the Stobart Stadium.

Widnes had some numbers back after been drubbed at Huddersfield on Monday. Salford were still short of key players Martin Gleeson, Ashley Gibson, Danny Williams, Vic Mauro and Shannan McPherson who were all on the injury list.

The Vikings made this count as Rhys Hanbury raced on to Kevin Brown's well-judged kick in the second minute. Jon Clarke took a pass from Jack Owen to stretch the lead to 10-0 after 13 minutes.

With Brown running the game for the hosts Cameron Phelps scored the third try of the match on the twenty minute mark. Trailing 16-0, Salford reduced the arrears as French youngster Theo Fages touched down.

Then Lee Jewitt pulled another one back, but this comeback was halted as Ben Kavanagh's storming midfield break saw Alex Gerrard put Hanbury over for his second try to make it 22-12. Phelps touched down from Hanbury's inside pass to leave the homeside in control at the break.

Hanbury continued Widnes dominance as his break set up a try for Joe Mellor and Owens made no mistake with the extras. A Hat-trick then followed for the hosts full-back.

A long range effort from Jodie Broughton cut the lead to 40-18 but it was going to be the Vikings days as Phelps completed a hat-trick for himself.

Jordan James added a consolation for Salford but late tries from Frank Winterstein and a first for the club by Kevin Brown ensured of an empathic win for Widnes.

Wigan Warriors 44
Tries:   Thornley 2, Gelling 2, Tomkins 3, Goulding, Farrell
Goals:  Smith 4

Wakefield Wildcats 24
Tries:   Mellars, Mathers, Smith, Aiton
Goals:  Sykes 4

Att:      12,152

Wigan Warriors cemented top spot by defeating twelve man Wakefield Wildcats at the DW Stadium.

After two wins over Easter, Wigan continued were they left off by racing into a 10-0 lead early on.

A mistake from kick-off led to Ian Thornley going over for the first try. Anthony Gelling did well to stay in the field of play to grab the Warriors second try and then on 10-minutes it got even worst for Wakefield as ex Eels Prop Justin Poore  was red carded for punching  Liam Farrell.

This galvanised the Wildcats and they hit back with two scores themselves to lead 12-10. Vince Mellars danced around some poor defence to score under the posts for the first with Paul Aiton setting up Richard Mathers for other. Paul Sykes converting both tries.

It did not take long for Wigan to make the extra man count as Sam Tomkins set up the play for Thornley to score his second try of the game. Two more scores followed as Wakefield were put out of the game.

Greg Burke offloaded for Tomkins to race away before sending in Darrell Goulding for the second. Farrell then got in the try scoring act as the hosts led 30-12 at half time.

Things did not improve for the Wildcats after the restart as Gelling crossed for his second try of the game after a free flowing passing movement.

Tomkins again showed his class by scoring a double before Wakefield showed some spirit as Lee Smith went over close to the line.

Aiton raced away for another before Tomkins had the final say by scoring his hat-trick in another big win for the League Leaders.

Leeds Rhinos 28
Tries:   McGuire, Hall 2, Watkins, McShane
Goals:  Sinfield 4

Warrington Wolves 22
Tries:   J. Monaghan 2, Myler, Atkins
Goals:  Hodgson 3

Att:      15,059

Leeds Rhinos claimed an impressive win over Warrington Wolves in a repeat of last year’s Grand Final at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

Full-back Zak Hardaker was a welcome return for the Champions who lost Brett Delaney and Ian Kirk to injury, with Ryan Bailey starting his four match suspension after been sent off at Catalan on Monday.

Danny McGuire opened the scoring for Leeds by going over from dummy half after just three minutes. Kevin Sinfield kicked the conversion and added a penalty gold to extend the lead to 8-0.

A loose pass by Sinfield was punished by Joel Monaghan who scooped it up and raced 80 meters for the try.

But the Wolves were making errors themselves and gifted possession to the hosts who took advantage to open up a 16-6 lead.

Ryan Hall came up with his firs touching down one-handed while in mid-air, with inches to spare in the corner and then Kallum Watkins added the other by handing off the attempted tackle of Chris Riley to score on the other flank.

As Warrington struggled to get a foothold in the game scrum-half Richie Myler gave them some hope by going over on 32 minutes, but the returning Hardaker had other ideas as his brilliant break out of defence led to hooker Paul McShane going over from close range as  Leeds claimed a  useful 20-12 lead at half time.

The Rhinos continued where they left off as good work by Joel Moon got Hall over at the corner for his second try, the England winger again producing a wonderful finish with no room to spare. Sinfield who was having an off day with the boot made no mistake with the touchline conversion.

Suddenly, the Wolves upped the tempo and good defence by the Champions kept them out until some good fortune finally unlock the Leeds defence as Stefan Ratchford regathered his initial kick that bounced back off Rob Burrow before kicking again for Joel Monaghan to score his second of the night.

Sinfield kicked a penalty to give his side more breathing space but Warrington had the final say after a brilliant passing move from one side of the field to the other saw Ryan Atkins touchdown on the full time hooter as the final scoreline looked a lot closer than it really was.

Super League Ladder after 11 rounds: