WRAP: 2023 Betfred Super League Round 17

A wrap of the seventeenth round of Super League, with teamlists, the table, a quick summary of each game and stats leaders.

Thanks to AJ Lucantonio and Rugby League Project for their collaboration on our UK coverage.

All listed times are AEST (NSW/QLD/VIC/ACT).

RELATED: See the full list of 2023 Betfred Super League Draw and Results.

Warrington Wolves 6
Leeds Rhinos 22

Venue: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Crowd: 8981
Date: Friday 30 June 2023 at 5:00am

Warrington Wolves (6)
Tries: Matthew Ashton
Goals: Stefan Ratchford 1/1

Leeds Rhinos (22)
Tries: Ash Handley 2, Richard Myler, Sam Walters
Goals: Rhyse Martin 3/4

Warrington: Thewlis, Russell, Mata'utia, Ratchford, Ashton; Dufty, Drinkwater; Dudson, Clark, Vaughan, Holroyd, Currie, Philbin. Int: Kasiano, Bullock, Walker, Wrench.
Leeds: Myler, Fusitu'a, Martin, Macdonald, Handley; Austin, Sezer; Oledzki, O'Connor, Walters, Bentley, McDonnell, Smith. Int: Lisone, Holroyd, Donaldson, Johnson.

The Warrington Wolves have fallen to their fifth league defeat in six matches after going down 22-6 to a determined Leeds Rhinos side.

Sam Walters opened the scoring in the sixth minute of play when he backed up a Blake Austin line break to cross. Rohan Smith's side continued their enterprising play with an impressive array of backline movements. One of them led to Ash Handley crossing five minutes later.

It was all one way traffic early with Leeds going in for try number three.  More accurate passing between Cameron Smith and Rhyse Martin gave Handley a walk-in for his double. Martin was on target with two conversions to give Leeds an early 16-0 lead.

 It should've been more early after Sam Kasiano was dispatched to the sin-bin for a shoulder charge, but the video referee called Austin back for obstruction. The score remained unchanged as the sides headed for the dressing sheds.

Warrington hit back strongly to start the second half with a more determined effort. This effort was quickly rewarded when Matty Ashton crossed in the corner and Ratchford converted from the touchline with 17 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, it was in vein with Richie Myler sealing victory with a try underneath the crossbar for a 22-6 verdict leaving Warrington staring down the barrel of what might've been.

Wakefield Trinity 32
Salford Red Devils 6

Venue: Be Well Support Stadium, Wakefield
Crowd: 3854
Date: Saturday 1 July 2023 at 4:45am

Wakefield Trinity (32)
Tries: Reece Lyne, Liam Kay, Will Dagger, Lee Kershaw
Goals: Will Dagger 8/8

Salford Red Devils (6)
Tries: Alex Gerrard
Goals: Marc Sneyd 1/1

Wakefield (Trinity): Jowitt, Lineham, Lyne, Croft, Kershaw; Dagger, Gale; Bowden, Hood, Battye, Pitts, Ashurst, Kay. Int: Bowes, Eseh, Atoni, Fifita.
Salford: Atkin, Williams, Sio, Lafai, Burgess; Watkins, Sneyd; Hellewell, Bourouh, Vuniyayawa, Dixon, Cross, Partington. Int: Dupree, Gerrard, Sidlow, Longstaff.

Wakefield have kept their slim hopes of safety alive with a 32-6 upset win over Salford at home.

The scoring began nice and early for the home side when Max Jowitt split the visitors defence. He was able to link up with Liam Kay and the lock forward ran the remaining 20 metres to cross for the first try of the contest. Will Dagger knocked over a penalty goal for an 8-0 lead.

Dagger then went over for a try of his own when hooker Liam Hood broke through some feeble attempts of tackle before finding his halfback to cross under the posts. This gave Wakefield an unlikely 14-0 lead after half an hour of play. Dagger then landed another penalty goal and Wakefield were punishing a poorly disciplined Salford 16-0.

It got worse in the shadows of half-time. Reece Lyne crossed after an intercept from Jowitt who looked likely to run the length before being ankle tapped, he then got a magical pass to Lyne who crossed for a 22-0 lead at the break.

Salford's poor discipline continued in the second half when they were again penalised by Ben Thaler and a gift penalty goal extended the margin. Winger Lee Kershaw continued to rub salt into the wound for the Red Devils with a try which was converted by Dagger for a 30-0 margin. Yet another penalty gave Dagger a penalty goal to end their scoring at 32. The visitors got a late consolation try when bench forward Alex Gerrard crossed from short range to give some score board credibility to the visitors. But they were still losers by 32-6 in a one sided contest

St Helens 22
Castleford Tigers 0

Venue: Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens
Crowd: 11490
Date: Saturday 1 July 2023 at 5:00am

St Helens (22)
Tries: Mark Percival, Sione Mata'utia, Jack Welsby, Jon Bennison
Goals: Mark Percival 3/4

Castleford Tigers (0)

St Helens: Welsby, Hopoate, Hurrell, Percival, Bennison; Lomax, Dodd; Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata'utia, Bell, Knowles. Int: Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Paasi, Delaney.
Castleford: Widdop, Tate, Mellor, Turner, Qareqare; Dean, Miller; Griffin, Broadbent, Watts, Sutcliffe, Edwards, Hall. Int: Vete, Mustapha, Robb, Martin.

St Helens have guided themselves back on course with a 22-0 shutout of the struggling and inconsistent Castleford Tigers.

]It was a struggle early in the contest with both sides struggling for ascendency. This stalemate came to an end in the 16th minute of the game. A cross-field kick from Saints was batted back by winger Jon Bennison into the waiting arms of Sione Mata'utia who crossed for the first try of the contest and the 4-0 lead.

Five minutes from the break. Jack Welsby gave the Saints some breathing room going into the half. He was able to get on the outside of the Castleford defence although it appeared he caught the ball on the inside shoulder and disadvantaged the visitors in defence. However, without the video referee the try was given and it was 10-0 at the break. 

Fifteen minutes after the resumption, Bennison collected a try of his own. Johnny Lomax delivered a wonderful pass and the flying winger barged his way over the top of the fullback to score and it was 16-0. Castleford tried all game but they were unable to get past the Saints defensive structure. 

Saints capped off a great team performance when Mark Percival added a try of his own in a great individual effort. From the scrum win, Percival beat four defenders on his way to the line to secure a comfortable 22-0 verdict. 

Leigh Leopards 34
Hull KR 4

Venue: Leigh Sports Village Stadium, Leigh
Crowd: 6012
Date: Saturday 1 July 2023 at 5:00am

Leigh Leopards (34)
Tries: Tom Briscoe, Ricky Leutele, Josh Charnley, Robbie Mulhern, Ed Chamberlain, Edwin Ipape
Goals: Ben Reynolds 5/7

Hull Kingston Rovers (4)
Tries: Mikey Lewis

Leigh: O'Brien, Briscoe, Hardaker, Leutele, Charnley; Reynolds, Lam; Mulhern, Ipape, Amone, Chamberlain, Holmes, Asiata. Int: Hughes, Nakubuwai, Mellor, Norman.
Hull KR: Zenon, Yaha, Opacic, Kenny-Dowall, Hall; Lewis, Milnes; Luckley, Litten, King, Hadley, Linnett, Minchella. Int: Parcell, Kennedy, Storton, Aydin.

The Leigh Leopards have continued their dream run in their return to Super League with a ruthless 34-4 victory over Hull KR.

It was an early rampage that did the damage for the home side. The Leopards crossed for three tries in the space of eight minutes to completely blow Rovers away. A disastrous first half for the visitors was summed up in the third minute as Mikey Lewis was sin binned for a late slide on Tom Briscoe.

The first of these efforts came in the eighth minute when Briscoe crossed following a Gareth O'Brien pass that was misguided but was still able to finish in the corner. Off the next set, Edwin Ipape finished off great leadup work from man in demand Lachie Lam to cross for the Leopards. From there, Leigh ran riot when Ed Chamberlain crossed off another try assist from Lam and it was 16-0 early.

Rovers showed some defensive resilience after the early onslaught, but it wasn't long before Leigh again showed their class. A 40/20 from Ben Reynolds saw Leigh cross for their fourth try of the first half. It was quick hands which saw Josh Charnley walk over in the corner, Reynolds converting to bring the score to 22-0 at half-time.

Ricky Leutele continued the domination going over for a rare penalty try nine minutes after the resumption after Matt Parcell pulled him back off the ball. This made it 28-0 and it was only going to get worse for the visitors. Robbie Mulhern added to the misery barging his way across the stripe to make it 34-0.

With just under 10 minutes remaining Lewis showed the dummy and fended off Reynolds to slide over for a consolation try for Hull KR but a 34-4 victory moved the Leopards up to second in the Super League table.

Wigan Warriors 22
Huddersfield Giants 6

Venue: DW Stadium, Wigan
Crowd: 13464
Date: Saturday 1 July 2023 at 5:00am

Wigan Warriors (22)
Tries: Abbas Miski 2, Jai Field, Liam Marshall
Goals: Harry Smith 3/4

Huddersfield Giants (6)
Tries: Jake Bibby
Goals: Jake Connor 1/1

Wigan: Field, Miski, King, Wardle, Marshall; French, Smith; Havard, O'Neill, Byrne, Shorrocks, Farrell, Smithies. Int: Singleton, Hill, Mago, Cust.
Huddersfield: Connor, Cudjoe, Bibby, Naiqama, McGillvary; Russell, Lolohea; Hill, Milner, Wilson, Livett, McQueen, Yates. Int: Peats, Ikahihifo, Hewitt, Rogers.

Wigan have bounced back to two straight league wins with a 22-6 effort over Huddersfield at home leaving the visitors stranded with four successive league defeats away from home.

The first try came from the home side in the eighth minute of play after Bevan French delivered a wonderful pass to flying winger Abbas Miski to cross out wide. The conversion was missed and for a while the game developed into a sluggish arm-wrestle with both sides struggling to get over the top of one another.

Unfortunately for the visitors, Wigan were able to gain the ascendency in the closing minutes of the first half. Miski collected his second try of the contest after Jai Field nearly split the defence. Off the next play, Wigan shifted to the right hand side where a simple backline play was executed to perfection allowing the winger to cross for try number two giving the Warriors a 10-0 advantage.

Six minutes after the resumption, Wigan were at it again. Jai Field was able to get his way past some quite frankly horrific Huddersfield defence to cross for yet another try on his strong Super League season and the game was slipping away from the visitors yet again.

Wigan's scoring came to an end when Liam Marshall finished off another well executed play, a clever grubber kick was put in behind the defence and Marshall beat Jermaine McGillvary to the ball for the try. Huddersfield finished with a consolation try when Jake Connor crossed in the final five minutes from broken play in a good individual effort in what was a dour performance from the visitors.

Hull FC 18
Catalans Dragons 28

Venue: MKM Stadium, Hull
Crowd: 13480
Date: Sunday 2 July 2023 at 12:00am

Hull FC (18)
Tries: Adam Swift, Darnell McIntosh, Tevita Satae
Goals: Jake Clifford 3/3

Catalans Dragons (28)
Tries: Tom Davies 2, Julian Bousquet, Tom Johnstone, Arthur Romano
Goals: Arthur Mourgue 4/5

Hull FC: Shaul, Swift, Scott, Tuimavave, McIntosh; Trueman, Clifford; Fash, Houghton, Sao, Lovodua, Savelio, Cator. Int: Satae, Lane, McNamara, Brown.
Catalans: Mourgue, Davies, Keighran, Romano, Johnstone; May, Tomkins; McMeeken, McIlorum, Navarrete, Whitley, Séguier, Garcia. Int: Bousquet, Da Costa, Dezaria, Ma'u.

The Catalans Dragons have continued their dominance at the top of the table with a 28-18 victory over Hull FC.

Catalans opened the scoring early when Sam Tomkins put boot to ball. The race to the ball was won by leading try scorer Tom Johnstone and the Dragons had an early 6-0 lead. A loose pass from Hull spelt trouble for the visitors and they paid the price for throwing the football around in their own end. Tom Davies picked up the loose ball and ran 40 metres to score under the posts for a 12-0 lead.

Hull hung in the contest despite these setbacks. Chris Satae crossed from short range and they were up for the contest only trailing 12-6. But, two quick tries to Catalans threatened to derail their confidence. Arthur Romano crashed over from dummy half in what can only be described as a soft effort. Three minutes later Julien Bousquet crashed into the goal-posts and spun his way around to score and it was looking ominous.

Luckily, Hull delivered a quick response of their own before the break. Some quick hands across their back line saw Darnell McIntosh score an acrobatic try in the corner which saw Clifford convert to reduce the gap to ten. But, a scrum play turned disastrous for the Dragons, Tomkins pass was intercepted by Adam Swift which saw a comfortable margin of 16 at the break reduce to four for the home side.

There was just one try in the second half, it went to the visitors. A clever grubber kick from Tyrone May sat up perfectly for Tom Davies and the winger was able to finish it off in the right corner which sealed a 28-18 victory. Even though Catalans are winning, there was enough of a defensive turnoff to suggest that anyone can put a quick few tries on them and take ascendency on matches.

Table after Round 17

RELATED: Click here to view the current Betfred Super League table.

RLP stats leaders

Top tries

1. Tom JOHNSTONE (Catalans) - 21
2. Josh CHARNLEY (Leigh) - 20
3. Liam MARSHALL (Wigan) - 14
4. Matty ASHTON (Warrington) - 13

Top points

1. Marc SNEYD (Salford) - 139 (3T 62G 3F)
2. Rhyse MARTIN (Leeds) - 134 (9T 49G)
3. Stefan RATCHFORD (Warrington) - 126 (1T 61G)
4. Ben REYNOLDS (Leigh) - 114 (5T 47G)

Thanks to Rugby League Project.