WRAP: 2025 Betfred Super League Round 9

AJ Lucantonio looks back at Round 9 of the 2025 Super League season, together with the current table and stats leaders thanks to Rugby League Project.

Times listed are venue local (UK or French local).

RELATED: See the full list of 2025 Betfred Super League Draw and Results.

Wolves find some bite as Wellens' seat gets warmer

After an unhappy fortnight, the Warrington Wolves have rebounded to defeat a disappointing St Helens side by 32-18, increasing pressure on Saints coach Paul Wellens.

It was a tense opening to the contest and it was Warrington who got on the board first through a Toby King effort after 14 minutes. King got on the outside of some poor defence to lead early. Warrington continued to expose the Saints right edge as Matty Ashton crossed for the first of his three tries after 22 minutes.

St Helens hit back with fifteen to go before half-time. A silky tap-on from Mark Percival saw Jon Bennison go over in the corner. Ashton answered back for Warrington to cross for a second try, as alarm bells rang for Paul Wellens who immediately changed his edge. That worked a treat for St Helens with Percival scoring a quick fire double (the second of which was very controversial) to make it just a two point game on the break.

At half-time, Wire suffered a further blow when Marc Sneyd failed a HIA. They didn't let that get to them with a shift to their favoured left edge as King and Ashton combined and the flying winger crossed to complete his hattrick. Saints had reason to blow up when the video referee disallowed Percival a hattrick, despite replays showing he was grabbed by a Wire defender.

As Saints were seething over that decision, Warrington exposed the defence on the opposite edge as Josh Thewlis burnt Lewis Murphy for pace before passing inside to Roderick Tai to ground the ball. Dufty put the game beyond doubt with ten to go with a great individual try before Bennison completed his double to add some scoreboard credibility.

Warrington Wolves 32 St Helens 18
Venue: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

Date: Thu, 24th April. Kickoff: 8:00 PM. Halftime: Warrington 16-14. Penalties: 2-all. Referee: Liam Moore. Crowd: 10,214.

Warrington: Dufty, Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton; Walker, Sneyd; Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Russell, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Int: Philbin, Crowther, Musgrove, Harrison.
St Helens: Sailor, Bennison, Sambou, Percival, Murphy; Welsby (C), Whitby; Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Whitley, Knowles. Int: Mbye, Paasi, Delaney, Stephens.

Warrington Wolves (32)
Tries: Matthew Ashton 3, Toby King, Matt Dufty, Rodrick Tai
Goals: Josh Thewlis 2/4, Marc Sneyd 2/3

St Helens (18)
Tries: Mark Percival 2, Jon Bennison 2
Goals: George Whitby 1/4

It's Raining Reds' in Leeds

Just as confusion reigns havoc in Australia over the interpretation of high contact, Super League's measures are also under the microscope following two controversial red cards in Hull KR's come from behind win over Leeds.

The chaos began after three minutes when Jack Sinfield was pinned for a high tackle, earning a trip to the sin bin. Rovers took advantage of the extra man to score first following a break from Peta Hiku, he was able to link up with Mikey Lewis before being tackled mere metres from the line. On the next play, a handy shift out to the left saw Jack Broadbent score in the corner after seven minutes.

It was tense at Headingley and it was Jake Connor that broke the tension after 22 minutes. A clever grubber kick from the pivot sat up perfectly for Ash Handley to touch down and get the Rhinos back into the contest. Both sides exchanged penalty goals to level the scores at half-time.

Leeds began with intent to start the second half and took the lead for the first time after a Riley Lumb four pointer. Handley found some space on the outside of Hiku before unloading to Lumb who beat the cover defence to go over the line. The game's flashpoint occurred just before the hour mark when Sauaso Sue was given a red card for direct shoulder contact to the head of a player. Replays showed immense mitigation but rookie video referee Liam Rush gave the orders to dismiss him from the field. An additional Miller penalty goal made it 14-6.

Despite being a man down, Robins continued to attack and it was a break from Jai Whitbread who unloaded to Broadbent to finish off a second try and make it a two point game heading into the final ten minutes. The second flashpoint occurred moments later when Ash Handley jammed in, making direct contact to the head of a defender and he too was sent off by referee Chris Kendall.

With it 12 on 12, Rovers went straight down Handley's edge and James Batchelor finished off the movement in the corner to make it 14 all. The critical conversion was waved away and we had a grandstand finish in prospect. To win the game, Rovers went down their famous left side as Broadbent went into space before linking with magic Mikey Lewis to go over to win the game by 20-14.

Leeds Rhinos 14 Hull KR 20
Venue: AMT Headingley Stadium, Leeds

Date: Fri, 25th April. Kickoff: 8:00 PM. Halftime: 6-all. Penalties: 5-all. Referee: Chris Kendall. Crowd: 16,863.

Leeds: Miller, Hall, Newman, Handley (C), Lumb; Connor, Sinfield; Oledzki, O'Connor, Jenkins, McDonnell, Gannon, Palasia. Int: Watkins, Holroyd, Bentley, Lisone.
Hull KR: Mourgue, Hiku, Batchelor, Gildart, Broadbent; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Tanginoa, Minchella (C). Int: Whitbread, Luckley, Brown, Leyland.

Leeds Rhinos (14)
Tries: Ash Handley, Riley Lumb
Goals: Lachlan Miller 3/4

Hull Kingston Rovers (20)
Tries: Jack Broadbent 2, James Batchelor, Mikey Lewis
Goals: Arthur Mourgue 2/5

Tigers tame bleak Giants

The Castleford Tigers continue to inflict pain on the winless Huddersfield Giants by claiming a 30-10 victory in Huddersfield.

A high bomb from Rowan Milnes was taken by captain Sam Wood who unloaded to Innes Senior to cross in the corner, giving the Castleford side their first points of the contest. The home side quickly answered back when Adam Swift broke away from a routine yardage carry before finding Jacob Gagai in support to give the Giants a narrow lead.

Midway through the half, we saw the Tigers really start to take a stranglehold of this fixture, scoring two tries in the space of five minutes to open up a 16-6 lead. The first came from a scrum move when Tex Hoy spun out of a tackle, before unloading to Josh Simm who scored out wide.

Five minutes later, Alex Mellor jumped highest for an attacking kick to take possession and score for the Tigers. Castleford also held the Giants out in a sin-bin period after Joe Westerman was pinned for a high tackle. A Milnes penalty goal settled the Tigers going into the half-time break and led by 18-6.

Seven minutes after the resumption, the Tigers added to their advantage when Senior collected his second try following a beautiful Harbour Bridge ball from Tex Hoy. Just shy of the hour mark, the Tigers put their exclamation mark on this affair when Milnes collected an individual try of his own.

Huddersfield collected a consolation try in the last 15 minutes. It was a charging run from Oliver Wilson who beat several Castleford defenders on the way to the line. Despite that, there are still heavy questions for coach Luke Robinson to answer. Yes, they have been smashed by injuries, but this squad should be performing better than they are at the moment.

Huddersfield Giants 12 Castleford Tigers 30
Venue: John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield

Date: Sat, 26th April. Kickoff: 3:00 PM. Halftime: Castleford 18-6. Penalties: Huddersfield 4-3. Referee: Marcus Griffiths. Crowd: 3,367.

Huddersfield: Gagai, Carr, Halsall, Bibby, Swift; Rush, Flanagan Jr; Burgess, Golding, Wilson, Hewitt, Greenwood, Cudjoe (C). Int: Woolford, English, Milne, Bibby.
Castleford: Hoy, Senior, Cini, Wood (C), Simm; Asi, Milnes; Amone, Rimbu, Dezaria, Simbiken, Mellor, Lawler. Int: Westerman, Okoro, Singleton, Salabio.

Huddersfield Giants (12)
Tries: Oliver Wilson, Jacob Gagai
Goals: George Flanagan Jr 2/2

Castleford Tigers (30)
Tries: Innes Senior 2, Josh Simm, Alex Mellor, Rowan Milnes
Goals: Rowan Milnes 5/6

Players paid EARLY but the same result for lowly Salford

Despite being paid early this week by their new owners, the Salford Red Devils woes on the field continue, thrashed by 22 points in their match against the Leigh Leopards.

The tone was ominous in the opening moments when Leigh broke the Salford right edge down in two minutes. A nice play down the left saw Andrew Badrock go over for the first of his two tries. Six minutes later it was much of the same for Leigh and a cricket score seemed likely. Some quick hands from O'Brien and Hodgson saw AJ Towse go over in the corner.

After some brief resistance from Salford, Leigh continued to push open the flood gates. After 21 minutes, Darnell McIntosh won the race to a clever grubber from Lachlan Lam and the Leopards continued to flex their superiority. Badrock completed his double in the shadows of half-time and thanks to poor goal-kicking, the gap was only 18 at the break.

The second half started much the same as Leigh dominated the Red Devils, but this time they were met with more resistance, conceding just two tries in the second half. The first came after nine minutes when Matt Davis strolled over courtesy of a short ball from Louis Brogan.

Salford had their joy after an hour as Jayden Nikorima broke away from some poor edge defence before finding Joe Shorrocks to go over and give some joy to the battle hard Salford supporters. Leigh had the last laugh though as Josh Charnley crossed in the dying moments to secure what was a comprehensive victory for the Leopards.

Salford Red Devils 6 Leigh Leopards 28
Venue: Salford Stadium, Barton-upon-Irwell

Date: Sat, 26th April. Kickoff: 5:30 PM. Halftime: Leigh 18-0. Penalties: Salford 8-4. Referee: Liam Rush. Crowd: 5,493.

Salford: Morgan, Connell, Marsters, Vaughan, Thewlis; Nikorima, Mellor; Ormondroyd, Davis, Makin, Hellewell, Shorrocks, Wilson. Int: Sangaré, Yates, Hill, Warren.
Leigh: Hodgson, Towse, McIntosh, Badrock, Charnley; O'Brien, Lam; Trout, McNamara, Mulhern, O'Neill, Hughes, Liu. Int: Davis, Brogan, Dwyer, Wilde.

Salford Red Devils (6)
Tries: Joe Shorrocks
Goals: Kai Morgan 1/1

Leigh Leopards (28)
Tries: Andrew Badrock 2, Josh Charnley, Matt Davis, Darnell McIntosh, AJ Towse
Goals: Gareth O'Brien 2/3

Golden try brings heartbreak for Wakefield

A Golden Try to Reimis Smith in the first period of Golden Point was enough to give the Catalans Dragons a 24-20 verdict over Wakefield in the south of France.

Wakefield put together a solid opening half and opened the scoring after 16 minutes. Some short, sharp passing at the line was enough to send Max Jowitt away and he just beat the cover defence to score the first try of the contest. Eight minutes later, a charging Caleb Hamlin-Uele was somehow able to slip an offload away to Liam Hood who crossed for Wakefield and it was 12-0.

Catalans woke up after half-an-hour and crossed for their first try when Ben Garcia charged over, catching the Wakefield defenders asleep on their goal-line to cut the gap to six. Despite gaining momentum, it was nearly all lost as Luke Keary went to the sin-bin for a high tackle but was quickly joined by rival Isaiah Vagana for the same offence.

A penalty goal from Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet made it a four-point game. Wakefield had other ideas before the break thanks to Josh Griffin. It was one of the best team tries you'll see in any form this year, the visitors keeping the ball alive and having Griffin finish off the movement to go to half-time up 18-8.

Catalans opened the second half with intent and it was Chris Satae who capitalised. The big front-rower hit and spun his way to the line off a crash ball to slam the football down and get the score back to a four point game. After a tense beginning to the half, the game began to open up, and it was Nick Cotric who scored with under ten minutes to go.

A big sideline conversion from Aispuro-Bichet gave the home side a late two-point lead. A late, but correct ruling of offside gave Jowitt a chance to send Wakefield into golden point. From the touchline on the broadcast side, he gave it his all and nailed the kick to send the match into golden point.

 Mason Lino went from last week's hero to this week's villain as he was sin-binned in GP for a high tackle, but replays suggested it could've been a red card based on Sue's effort earlier in the round. As Keary set himself up for a field goal, he delivered a perfect inside pass to Reimis Smith who broke away from several defenders to score a Golden Try that might be enough to revive the hosts season.

Catalans Dragons 24 Wakefield Trinity 20
Venue: Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan

Date: Sat, 26th April. Kickoff: 5:30 PM. Halftime: Wakefield Trinity 18-8. Penalties: Catalans 7-6. Referee: Aaron Moore. Crowd: 8,183.

Catalans: Aispuro-Bichet, Makinson, Laguerre, Smith, Cotric; Keary, Fages; Pangai Junior, Garcia (C), Bousquet, Sims, Whitehead, Partington. Int: Da Costa, Satae, Navarrete, Sironen.
Wakefield: Rourke, Scott, Hall, Pratt, Johnstone; Jowitt, Lino; McMeeken (C), Hood, Uele, Vagana, Griffin, Pitts. Int: Atoni, Cozza, Smith, Faatili.

Catalans Dragons (24)
Tries: Benjamin Garcia, Reimis Smith, Nick Cotric, Tevita Satae
Goals: Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet 4/4

Wakefield Trinity (20)
Tries: Josh Griffin, Liam Hood, Max Jowitt
Goals: Max Jowitt 4/4

Wigan show Hull the standard of the elite

Wigan have inflicted revenge on Hull FC after their Challenge Cup upset last month, claiming a 36-12 win in Hull.

The visitors opened the scoring inside the opening five minutes of play. Bevan French pounced on a grubber to get Wigan onto the board first and looked likely for more, but Hull FC's defence continued to repel them. Seven minutes later, Aidan Sezer skated across the defensive line, before finding Will Pryce who sent a dummy and scored in the left corner.

Wigan found immediate attacking flare to send Jai Field over for the first of his two tries. Nine minutes later, Sezer sent the ball wide via a cross-field kick, which Barron claimed and twisted out of a tackle to score.

Despite tying the score, that was the closest Hull FC got. A break from French put Wigan in fantastic territory to take the lead once more and they did so through Junior Nsemba. The visitors ended the half with another good attack and got over the tryline in the right corner with Jake Wardle.

Hull thought they'd stood strong in defence, but despite a lengthy video referee check after a no try call on field. Video referee Ben Thaler was able to overturn the live call as Abbas Miski managed to sneak in at the corner to score.  In the final fifteen minutes, Wigan ended up crossing for two more tries with French and Nsemba adding to their first half tries to inflate the margin to 24 points.

Hull FC 12 Wigan Warriors 36
Venue: MKM Stadium, Hull

Date: Sun, 27th April. Kickoff: 3:00 PM. Halftime: Wigan 22-12. Penalties: Hull FC 9-4. Referee: Jack Smith. Crowd: 11,205.

Hull FC: Pryce, Barron, Briscoe, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer (C); Ese'ese, Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Ashworth, Asiata. Int: Chamberlain, Aydin, Balmforth, Laidlaw.
Wigan: Field, Miski, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall; French, Smith; Byrne, O'Neill, Walters, Nsemba, Farrell (C), Ellis. Int: Thompson, Leeming, Hill, Eckersley.

Hull FC (12)
Tries: Will Pryce, Harvey Barron
Goals: Aidan Sezer 2/2

Wigan Warriors (36)
Tries: Bevan French 2, Junior Nsemba 2, Jacob Wardle, Jai Field, Abbas Miski
Goals: Adam Keighran 4/7

Round 9 table

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

RLP stats leaders

TOP TRYSCORERS

TOP GOALKICKERS

TOP POINTSCORERS