Super League XVIII Round 13

Widnes Vikings 26

Tries: Brown 2, Mellor, Dean, Joseph Goals: Ah Van 3

Wakefield Wildcats 28

Tries: Aiton, T. Smith, Cockayne, L. Smith, Wilkes Goals: Sykes 3, L. Smith

Att: 5,405 

Wakefield Wildcats edged out Widnes Vikings in a high scoring game at the Stobart Stadium.

Ahead, of this game both teams had rested players but it was the Wildcats who would get the dream start, after just 38 seconds Dean Collis broke down the left and kicked inside, with Paul Aiton picking up the ball to score.

Widnes were back on terms four minutes later as Kevin Brown's grubber kick bounced wickedly past Lee Smith and the stand-off collected the ball to touchdown, with Patrick Ah Van converting. 

Gareth Hock then should have given the Vikings the lead but he lost the ball over the line and moments later Tim Smith produced an outrageous dummy at the other end to make it 12-6.

Smith and Sykes then combined to put Ben Cockayne in at the corner for unconverted try, but in this see-saw game Widnes went down the other end and cut the gap to 16-12 at the break. 

Cockayne knock-on, Rhys Hanbury kicked ahead and on hand was Joe Mellor to get over the whitewash. This try gave the hosts the lift they needed as they upped the tempo at the start of the second half.

Ah Van superbly flicked Brown’s kick back into play as he headed into touch, with Brown on hand to collect the ball and make it a double for the game. On 52 minutes great hands led to Chris Dean going over in the right hand corner to make it 20-16 in favour of the Cheshire side. 

However, the first half pattern of try scoring would continue when Tim Smith and Sykes combined to set up Lee Smith, Sykes' conversion edged Wakefield ahead once more.

Just past the hour Oliver Wilkes bounced of two tacklers and raced 30 metres to score as the West Yorkshire side increased their lead to six points.

Lee Smith knocked over a penalty with seven minutes left meaning Widnes needed to score twice and they only managed one as on the full time hooter Phil Joseph got over the line but it was too late to prevent the Wildcats from taking the points as they moved above the Vikings into tenth place on the ladder.

Hull FC 20

Tries: Lineham 3, Crooks; Goals: Westerman 2 

Wigan Warriors 28

Tries: Thornley, Tomkins 2, Charnley; Goals: Richards 6

Att: 11,403

League Leaders Wigan Warriors survived a Hull FC charge to claim the points at the KC Stadium.

It had been a very eventful week for Wigan as they announced the signing of Welsh Rugby Union international Andy Powell also the departures of Lee Mossop and Gareth Hock to Parramatta Eels for 2014 and today more news with Pat Richards returning to the West Tigers eight years after leading them to Grand Final success.

On their last visit to the City of Hull, the Warriors racked up 84 points and they started well as on 13 minutes Iain Thornley barged over the line for the opening try. Points machine Richards made no mistake with the extras.

Three minutes later it was 12-0 as the big winger burst thorugh a gap and then he kicked ahead for Sam Tomkins-another player tipped to by playing in the NRL in the near future – to score.

To their credit unlike most teams recently Hull did not throw the towel in and hit back with two tries in the last eighteen minutes of the first half. The first score came from Tom Lineham when he went thorugh a gap in Wigan's defence and just on the half time hooter Ben Crooks reached out to make it 12-10.

The visitors responded immediately after the resumption Matty Smith and Tomkins combining to send Josh Charnley in at the corner and on 50 minutes the gap was extend to 24-10 with Jack Hughes making the break from inside his own half and as ever Tomkins was in support to go over under the posts.

But, once again the Black and Whites responded as Lineham got his second of the night with just over 25 minutes remaining.

A grandstand finish was set-up with Lineham completing his hat-trick after good work by Crookes. Joe Westerman kicked the extras to make it 24-20 going into the final quarter.

Once again the boot of Richards would prove to be the difference as he kicked two penalty goals to see give Wigan the buffer they needed as they held on for a hard-fought win to make it seven games unbeaten as Hull suffered their first defeat in five games.

London Broncos 21

Tries: Bailey Robertson, Lee; Goals: Witt 4 Drop; Goal: Witt

St Helens 14

Tries: Laffranchi, Swift, Wellens; Goals: Percival

Att: 2,839

London Broncos claimed their first home win of the season as they saw off St Helens at the Twickenham Stoop

The Londoners welcomed back Dan Sarginson and Olsi Krasniqi to their starting line-up as they entertained a Saints side don on numbers especially paying the penalty for last week’s Challenge Cup defeat at Hull KR with Jon Wilkin, Ade Gardner and Francis Meli all suspended

After making the early running, the Broncos failed to take their chances and paid the price as on 20 minutes Anthony Laffranchi powered his way over the line from close range.

Moments later it got even better for the visitors when youngster Adam Swift squeezing in at the corner after good work by Nathan Ashe. Adam Percival kicked the extras to make it 10-0

London hit back thanks to ex Panther Craig Gower, whose short pass got Chris Bailey crashing over the line to cut the gap to four at the interval.

Seconds after the resumption Michael Robertson took a looping pass from Luke Dorn and with Michael Witt adding the conversions, the hosts edged ahead 12-10.

Now on top the Broncos stretched further clear as Tommy Lee finished off a Sarginson break. St Helens got a lifeline 12 minutes from time after Mark Percival made the break and fed Paul Wellens who cross put wide.

The Saints threw everything at the hosts in the closing moments, but were unable to break them and Michael Witt was the hero as he kicked a penalty and drop-goal in the final two minutes, to claim a first win for the Broncos over St Helens at home since 2002. 

Catalan Dragons 20

Tries: Philippe-Baile, Pelissier, Taia, Vaccari; Goals: Bosc 2

Huddersfield Giants 28

Tries: Wardle 2, Murphy, Cudjoe, Lunt; Goals: Brough 4

Att: 8,549

Twelve man Huddersfield Giants claimed a superb win over Catalan Dragons in Perpignan.

The Giants had to make late call on chief playmaker Danny Brough who had been on drip for the most of the week with a virus and they made a dream start when Brough's kick-off bounced awkwardly through the legs of Leon Pryce, and from the resulting set the half-back's grubber was pounced on by centre Joe Wardle to opening the scoring.

In a tight contest the next score did not arrive until the 34th minutes and it was Huddersfield who would make it 8-0 as Aaron Murphy scored another unconverted try.

The Dragons responded well and stunned the visitor’ with two quickfire tries to go into the break 10-8 in front. Jean Phillipe-Baile drove over the line for the first and on the half time hooter Eli Pelissier finished off Morgan Escare’s burst through the gap for the second.

Catalans continued their strong end to the first-half and scored again when Zeb Taia got on the end of a Pryce grubber kick to extend the hosts lead.

Huddersfield then responded immediately when Brough collected his own chip over and Wardle was on hand to score his second of the game.

However, on 55 minutes The Giants were reduced to twelve when Luke Robinson was sent off for making contact with full-back Morgan Escare's head in an off-the-ball tackle, but despite been a man down Leroy Cudjoe dived on the loose ball to put the visitors into a 20-16 lead.

But the French outfit would not go away and back they came with Frederic Vaccari diving in at the corner and in-end –to-end action Brough kicked Huddersfield in front and in the last minute Shaun Lunt claimed a famous win by scoring the final try of the game to keep the Giants in second place on the heels of Leaders Wigan. 

Salford City Reds 34

Tries: Ashurst, Williams, Dixon, Mauro, Fages, McGoldrick; Goals: Sneyd 5

Castleford Tigers 30

Tries: Massey, Carney, Milner, Holmes, Ellis, Thompson; Goals: Ellis 3

Att: 2,306

Salford City Reds got new coach Brian Noble’s rein off to the best possible start by edging out Castleford Tigers in high scoring game at the Salford City Stadium.

The Reds, who had lost their last eight matches against Castleford, welcomed back ex Tiger Ryan McGoldrick after a two month absence as they entertained the Tigers in a battle of the basement teams.

Kirk Dixon was the only change for the visitors who put up a spirited show at Headingley in last week’s Challenge Cup defeat and the Tigers went ahead after four minutes with Nathan Massey took Rangi Chase's pass to charge over.

In a game full of attack and little defence , McGoldrick put Matty Ashurst over with Marc Sneyd tagging on the conversion to give Salford a 6-4 lead.

Chase, who is expected to make a return to the NRL, was running the show for Castleford as his long pass got Justin Carney over in the left hand corner.

Jordan Tansey then set up Adam Milner for try number three for the visitors with Jamie Ellis landing his first conversion at the third attempt.

But, once again the hosts hit back with Danny Williams scoring in the corner and reduce the arrears to 14-10 and the Reds went back ahead seven minutes before the break with Andrew Dixon scoring the all important try.

Salford made the perfect start to the second half with Vic Mauro taking Jordan James' pass to score under the posts, but as in the first half the end-to-end scoring continued with Chase putting Oliver Holmes over to cut the deficit to 22-20 before Theo Fages notched the Reds fifth try in the corner and Sneyd booted the touchline conversion.

Michael Shenton's powerful run allowed Chase to kick through for Ellis to make it 28-26 after 57 minutes as the points fest continued

That man Chase was provider again by sending out a long pass to get Jordan Thompson over in the corner, but then he made his first mistake of the night as a pass was intercepted by McGoldrick who raced in unopposed from 50 metres out. Sneyd adding the conversion to make it 34-30 for the City Reds with nine minutes left.

Castleford piled on the pressure in the closing moments but Salford held out swapping places with their opponents who dropped to the bottom of the Super League.

Hull KR 10

Tries: Paterson, Caro; Goals: Dobson

Leeds Rhinos 44

Tries: Hall, Delaney, Hardaker, Achurch, Moon, Watkins 2, Kirke; Goals: Sinfield 6

Att: 8,122

Leeds Rhinos made it seven games without defeat as they ran out comfortable winners over Hull KR at MS3 Craven Park.

Ryan Hall opened the scoring in the sixth minute after Luke George , making his debut after joining on-loan from the Giants, dropped the ball 10 metres from his own line.

After building up some pressure Michael Dobson created an opening for Cory Paterson to power over the line. Dobson's conversion edged Rovers into a narrow two point lead.

On 29 minutes Brett Delaney went over close to the posts as the visitors regained the lead. Sinfield made no mistake with the conversion.

The Champions then hit Hull KR with two tries in the last five minutes of the first half. Zak Hardaker collected Rob Burrows clever kick try in the 35th minute and good work by Paul McShane got ex Panther Mitch Achurch over from close range to make it 20-6 at the break.

In the early stages of the second half Joel Moon ended any hopes for Rovers as he dummied his way over the line. Surprisingly the next points did not arrive until the last ten minutes of the game.

Kallum Watkins scored Leeds' sixth try of the afternoon after finishing off some good work by Carl Ablett. Sinfield added the extras from the touchline to make it 32-6.

Sinfield then produced a 40/20 and shortly after Ian Kirke stretched over the line. There was still time for Greg Eden to setup Omari Caro for a consolation.

However, with the last play of the game Watkins made sure it was Leeds ‘ day by bursting through the hosts defence to score the final try of the game from 70 metres out.

Sinfield's sixth conversion took the Rhinos past the forty point barrier as they kept the pressure up on League Leaders Wigan who are four points in-front of the Champions, who have two games in hand.

Warrington Wolves 32

Tries: Grix 2, Currie, Riley, J. Monaghan, Hill, Atkins; Goals: Hodgson 2

Bradford Bulls 4

Tries: Purtell

Att: 10,901

Warrington Wolves ran in seven tries to overwhelm Bradford Bulls at the H.J. Stadium.

The Wolves were still without a host of the big-name stars including Lee Briers, Adrian Morley, Garreth Carvell, Ben Harrison and Chris Bridge and gave home debuts to Danny Bridge and Glenn Riley. Bradford also had to ring the changes as Jamie Foster was ruled out with a shoulder injury, while Ben Evans, on loan from the Wolves, started on the bench against is parent club.

After just two minutes , Warrington got the start they wanted as Simon Grix opened the scoring and is soon became 10-0 when an inch-perfect kick by Stefan Ratchford was pounced upon by Ben Currie to claim the second try of the game.

Midway through the first half the Bulls got some ball and they turned pressure into points as Adrian Purtell touched down for an unconverted try

But Warrington hit back and just before the interval Brett Hodgson’ superb pass got Chris Riley over in the corner to make it 14-4 at half time.

Twelve minutes after the restart Joel Monaghan leaped high to stretch the host’s advantage further and they finished off Bradford with a three-try blitz in the final nine minutes of the game.

Chris Hill, Ryan Atkins and Grix, who claimed his second, were the try scorers as Warrington stayed third with a comfortable win. For Bradford up next are the Rhinos at Odsal in their big derby game.

Super League Ladder after Round 13