Super League XVIII - Round 12 Review

Leeds Rhinos 30
Tries:   Moon 2, Hardaker, McGuire, Watkins
Goals:  Sinfield 5

London Broncos 6
Tries: 
Goals:  Witt

Att:      12,855

Leeds Rhinos made it five games unbeaten as they eased past London Broncos at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

After an impressive win over Warrington last time out, the Champions were looking to continue their good recent form against the London Broncos. Just before the kick-off started the heavens opened and this made the conditions tricky. The Londoners suffered a major blow as hooker Chad Randall was carried off in the first minute of the match with a leg injury.

Danny McGuire's sliding kick to the goal line setup Joel Moon in the eighth minute for the opening score. Kevin Sinfield made no mistake with the goal wide out.

As the Broncos defended quite well the next score came on 21 minutes as Sinfield tagged on a penalty goal. No furthers points were added as Leeds went into the interval 8-0 in front. Hurst.

Early into the second period, the Rhinos increased their lead as Moon made it a double by taking a short pass from Sinfield and crashing over the line. It was now all the hosts and as the Londoners offered little in attack Zak Hardaker got on the end of a Paul McShane kick to effectively end the visitors hopes. Sinfield's conversion made it 20-0.

Young substitute forward Brad Singleton made an immediate impact as his break was finished off by Danny McGuire who went beneath the posts. Rob Burrow was denied a try by good defensive work from Broncos full-back Alex Hurst.

With just six minutes left on the clock, after a 40-20 kick by Michael Witt, Hurst avoided the whitewash by scoring a consolation for the visitors from the capital.

However, there was still time for Kallum Watkins to go over in the last play of the game as the Rhinos claimed the points.

St Helens 12
Tries:   Soliola, Walmsley
Goals:  Percival 2

Catalan Dragons 22
Tries:   Vaccari, Escare, Henderson
Goals:  Bosc 5

Att:      11,111

St Helens suffered a third defeat in four games as Catalan Dragons claimed the points at Langtree Park.

The Dragons were looking to make it back-to-back wins in St Helens and prepared for this by staying in Manchester for five days.

Saints were looking to bounce back after a defeat at Hull KR last Sunday and welcomed back Lance Hohaia from injury.

Catalans made the early running and the pressure eventually told as Louis Anderson combined with Daryl Millard to get winger Frederic Vaccari over at the corner after 26 minutes for the games first try. Thomas Bosc made no mistake with the touchline conversion.

Just before the break the visitors made it 12-0 as young full-back Morgan Escare kept up his recent try scoring run by taking an inside pass from Damien Blanch.

Needing a response, St Helens delivered seven minutes after the resumption as Jon Wilkin put Sia Soliola thorugh the gap and the big second rower went over the line. Mark Percival added the extras.

Bosc kicked two more penalties as the French outfit nudged their lead up to 16-6, but Saints were given some hope as the Dragons had Mickael Simon sin-binned for preventing a quick optional restart and the extra man counted when big prop Alex Walmsley crashed over four minutes from time.

Percival's second goal cut the gap to 16-12, but it was Catalan ‘ day as hooker Ian Henderson forced his way over in the last minute to claim another impressive win for the French side.

Salford City Reds 18
Tries:   Williams, Owen, Broughton
Goals:  Sneyd 3

Hull FC 24
Tries:   Crooks, Whiting 2, Lineham
Goals:  Westerman 4

Att:      2,000

Hull FC made it three wins on the bounce as they got the better of the Salford City Reds at the Salford City Stadium.

Salford, were given a huge boost at the start of the game when it was announced that Brain Noble had been appointed as their new Head Coach.

This news gave the City Reds huge confidence and after Jay Pitts was sin-binned for obstruction, Theo Fages long pass led to Danny Williams touching down in the corner with Marc Sneyd kicking the conversion.

Hull got back into the contest midway through the first half as Ben Crooks hacked the ball forward after a pass from Joe Arundel and won the sprint to the line. Joe Westerman converted.

Immediately after the kick-off it became even better for the East Yorkshire side when Richard Horne put Richard Whiting over to make it 12-6 which was the half time score.

The Black and White took control after the restart with Tom Lineham getting on the end of Whiting’s kick and Westerman kicked his third goal from the touchline conversion.

But, the hosts would not lie down and a storming break by Fages led to Gareth Owen cutting the gap to 18-12 going in to the final quarter.

Whiting charged down Sneyd's clearance kick for his second try as Hull made sure of the game but the Reds would have the final say with a length of the field effort from Jodie Broughton.

Castleford Tigers 28
Tries:   Clare, Owen 2, Thompson, Milner
Goals:  Ellis 4

Widnes Vikings 26
Tries:   Flynn, Hanbury, Clarke, Phelps, Ah Van
Goals:  Ah Van 3

Att:      3,986

Castleford Tigers ended their long baron spell without a win by defeating Widnes Vikings at the Wish Communications Stadium.

It had been a turbulent week for the Tigers as head coach Ian Millward was sacked and replaced by caretaker Danny Orr

Richard Owen scored two tries and Jamie Ellis kicked four goals as the Tigers, who sacked head coach Ian Millward this week, climbed off the foot of the table by winning caretaker.

Castleford overcame the loss of injured captain Michael Shenton in the seventh minute to take the lead when James Clare burst through and it got even better for the West Yorkshire side as Jordan Tansey's long pass sent in Richard Owen. Jamie Ellis converted twice to make it 12-0.

Suddenly Widnes awoke and they hit back in style with a blistering 13-minute spell of four unanswered tries. The scoring started in the 15th minute when Chris Dean's superb break set up a try for Paddy Flynn.

Rhys Hanbury forced his way over from acting half for the next before Alex Gerrard sent Jon Clarke through the gap for the third. Kevin Brown set up try number four for Cameron Phelps and with three goals from Patrick Ah Van the Vikings turned things round to lead 22-12.

Needing to score next, the Tigers replied in the 34 minutes as Rangi Chase's clever pass made the opening for Owen's second score but Widnes made it 26-16 at the interval when Ah Van crossed from Hanbury's pass.

Castleford made a good start to the second half but could not break the Vikings down until the pressure finally paid off when Chase's 40-20 set up the play for Jordan Thompson to go over and cut the deficit to 26-22 going into the last quarter.

Now in charge the Tigers regained the lead as good play by Chase and Tansey saw Adam Milner dive over with Ellis adding the conversion.

Widnes came close to snatching the game but it was Castleford day as they claimed only their second win of the season to climb off the bottom of the Super League ladder.

Bradford Bulls 6
Tries:   Sammut
Goals:  Sammut

Wigan Warriors 36
Tries:   Farrell 3, Green, Hughes, Tomkins
Goals:  Richards 6

Att:      9,899

League leaders Wigan Warriors kept up their ruthless streak as they ran out easy winners over Bradford Bulls at the Provident Stadium Odsal.

Both these teams came into this one in good form. Bradford were looking to show their play-off credentials after three matches unbeaten against Wigan who were on a four match winning run.

The visitors started the better and had a bit of luck with their first try as half back Blake Green’s grubber kick rebounded off defender Elliott Whitehead into the grateful arms of Liam Farrell.

Green then doubled Wigan’s lead by adding try number two on fifteen minutes .Pat Richards' second goal made it 12-0.

Bradford managed to halt the Warriors juggernaut but only temporary as on 27 minutes a good pass by Sean O’Loughlin got Jack Hughes over for the third score of the half.

There would be more misery for the poor Bulls as Farrell seized on a fumble by full-back Brett Kearney to claim his second try and just before the break he made it a hat-trick as Wigan moved into a match winning 30-0 lead.

Normal service resumed for visitors as seconds after the restart Sam Tomkins raced onto Matty Smith's perfectly-judged kick. Richards kicked his sixth goal from as many attempts to make it 36-0.

The Bulls finally got on the scoreboard after 52 minutes when half-back Jarrod Sammut collected Luke Gale's kick to score, he also added the conversion.

Surprisingly there would not further points in the game despite Bradford finishing the game with 12 men when Whitehead was sin-binned for a series of offences.

Huddersfield Giants 50
Tries:   Kopczak, Lawrence, Lunt 2, Wardle 2, Grix, Ferres
Goals:  Brough 9

Hull KR 30
Tries:   Hall, Eden 2, Mika, D. Hodgson
Goals:  Dobson 5

Att:      5,641

Huddersfield Giants cemented second spot by running in eight tries in a high scoring contest against Hull KR at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The Giants drew first blood on nine minutes as good play by Shaun Lunt provided the opening for Craig Kopczak to dive over.

Michael Lawrence added another five minutes later before just after the 20-minute mark Brett Ferres and Scott Grix combined to send Lunt over as Huddersfield, with four goals from Danny Brough, led 20-0.

Rovers hit back with two quickfire tries to cut the deficit.  Craig Hall took Josh Hodgson’s pass for the first and ex Giants Full-back Greg Eden marked his return to the John Smith’s Stadium by scoring the second.

Just before the interval Joe Wardle made it 26-12 in the hosts favour. Ten minutes into the second half Hull KR reduced the gap to eight as Eden made it a double

Brough’s kick-through on the hour put Scott Grix in for a simple score but once again the visitors would not go away and in end-to-end stuff Hall set up Con Mika.

However, Lunt scored his second try and other scored from Ferres and Wardle effectively gave Huddersfield the breathing space they needed to win the game.

Another former Giants star David Hodgson had the last word with a try in the left corner converted by Dobson on the full time hooter to make the final scoreline a bit closer.

Wakefield Wildcats 34
Tries:   Sykes 2, Fox 2, Lyne, Wood
Goals:  Sykes 5

Warrington Wolves 41
Tries:   Atkins 2, Ratchford 2, J. Monaghan 2, Myler
Goals:  Hodgson 6
Drop Goal: Hodgson

Att:     7,985

Warrington Wolves were taken the distances by Wakefield Wildcats in a high scoring contest at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

After suffering a defeat at Leeds last week, Tony Smith's Wolves got the start they wanted as ex Wildcat centre Ryan Atkins kicked ahead and scored after just 3 minutes. Brett Hodgson added the extras from the sideline.

Stefan Ratchford added another after 12 minutes before Wakefield hit back four minutes later as an error by Mickey Higham was punished by Paul Sykes as the gap was down to 12-6.

But, Warrington got some more possession and hit back with two quickfire scores. Atkins firstly made it a double and Scott Grix then setup Joel Monaghan for the second with Hodgson goaling both.

In this entertaining game, the Wildcats suddenly came to life just before the break and thanks to a brace from winger Peter Fox they clawed themselves back into the contest only trailing 24-16.

Reece Lyne made it great start to the second period for the hosts as he dragged Grix over the line with him after good work By Paul Aiton and Ali Lauitiiti.

Warrington showed their quality and moved to the other end of the field as Monaghan scored his second touchdown of the game.

Ratchford then joined in by also getting his second try and then Richard Myler made it three tries in a seven minute spell by jogging to the line. Hodgson boot made the score 22-40 but once again Wakefield showed real spirit and stormed back.

Kyle Wood took Tim Smith’ pass, before Sykes finished off a good move to go next to the posts as the Wildcats  cut the gap to 34-40 with minutes left.

But, it would be Warrington’ game as Hodgson guaranteed the win by tagging on a 79th minute drop goal to finally claim the points.

Super League Ladder after Round 12