Super League round up – Warriors pull six points clear
Wigan once again showed that their Super League title ambitions are genuine with a stunning 26-12 win over current champions Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.
The result leaves Wigan almost certain to finish the regular season top of Super League, meaning their passage to a potential Grand Final looks tantalizingly clear.
Wigan dominated the opening exchanges and left the Rhinos fans silent as they crossed over for two early scores. Thomas Leuluai ran in the first, following a great break from George Carmont, then Cafrmont himself notched the second. Chris Clarkson halved the deficit when he crashed over on the stroke of half time for the hosts, but the Warriors regained the initiative after the break. Harrison Hansen broke through the home defence with a superb line break, before darting past Leeds’ Clarkson to score in the corner to again increase the visitors lead. The Rhinos briefly rallied with a Keith Senior score, but Wigan, aided by the boot of Pat Richards, stepped it up another gear in the closing stages and sealed the victory with a break-away try from Martin Gleeson.
Wigan have now opened up a six-point gap on Warrington Wolves, who continued their dismal record against local rivals St Helens, as they went down 26-24 in a thrilling encounter at Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Jamie Foster proved the difference between the sides, the Saints playmaker scored two tries and kicked three goals to help Saints come out on top and move level with their opponents in the table.
Ben Westwood had a fantastic chance to draw the home side level with the last kick of the game, but to the horror of the Wolves fans his penalty drifted agonisingly wide of the posts.
St Helens now sit top of the form table in the Super League, and seem to be peaking at the right time following a horrendous start to the campaign. One team who aren’t enjoying the end of season games are Bradford Bulls, who slipped to a club record 11th straight defeat on Sunday against the Catalan Dragons, going down 22-24. The Bulls looked nailed on for a play-off place six weeks ago, but off the field problems including management changes and player disagreements have led to the Bulls slipping to 11th in the table, three points shy of the final play-off place.
The win moves the Dragons off the foot of the table and stretches their winning run to two games following their shock victory over Warrington last weekend. Early tries from Setaimata Sa and Sebastien Raguin put them on course for the morale-boosting victory ahead of their Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final against the Wolves next weekend.
Elsewhere, there were also wins for Hull, who continue to occupy fourth place in the table, against Harlequins RL. The visitors ran riot in the second half to hammer the Quins, who now sit bottom of the Super League, 18-42. Their neighbours, Hull KR, had Michael Dobson to thank for their victory over Castleford at New Craven Park; the scrum-half kicked a last-gasp penalty to secure the 28-26 win. Huddersfield continued their solid form of late with a 58-6 mauling of Wakefield, whilst the Crusaders also profited from a rather one-sided clash against Salford, crushing the visitors 60-16.
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