Super League review: Warrington and Catalan cruise to Saturday victories

Weekend Scores

Saturday

• London Broncos 6-36 Warrington
• Catalan Dragons 44-10 Wakefield

Friday

• Castleford 10-18 Leeds
• Hull FC 12-40 St. Helens
• Wigan 52-10 Hull KR

Warrington blow Broncos away

Warrington produced a ruthless first-half display as they brushed aside Super League strugglers London Broncos 36-6.

All six of the Wolves' tries came in the opening period as the second-placed visitors returned to winning ways following their defeat to leaders St Helens last time out.

Tom Lineham, Mike Cooper, Bryson Goodwin, Jake Mamo, Jack Hughes and Toby King all crossed while Declan Patton kicked six goals.

The Broncos, who sit bottom of the table, were scoreless in the first half but grabbed a consolation try early in the second period through Matthew Fozard.

Warrington's opening score came in fortuitous circumstances as Kieran Dixon, usually reliable under the high ball, fumbled Black Austin's kick and allowed Lineham to scoop up and dash to the line.

The visitors added to the score 10 minutes later when Cooper received the ball five yards out under the posts and barrelled his way through, stretching his arm out to place the ball down over the line.

Goodwin then danced his way home from 30 metres out before Mamo sliced his way through the middle of the line before finishing under the posts.

The hosts went close when Luke Yates nearly dotted down but was beaten by the bounce of Jordan Abdull's kick.

Warrington stormed down the other end of the pitch and fed to Hughes who barged his way over from a short distance.

Minutes later, King fought the ball away from Rhys Williams under a high ball before darting over the line.

With Patton adding each conversion, Warrington went into the interval with a 36-0 lead.

The Broncos came flying out the blocks in the second half, getting their opening score within three minutes.

Fozard picked the ball up from dummy half and sneaked over the line and Dixon added the conversion to make it 36-6.

And that proved the end of the scoring, though late on Sadiq Adebiyi thought he had grabbed himself a consolation, but on the final tackle he was adjudged to be short of the line.

Dragons too fierce for Trinity

Jodie Broughton scored a hat-trick as Catalans Dragons secured their first win since the end of May with a 44-10 win over Wakefield in Perpignan.

Tony Gigot produced a man-of-the-match performance as he came back into the team following injury to score two tries and help create three more.

Matt Whitley, Sanisoni Langi and Kenny Edwards also touched down as the Dragons ran in eight tries, while Tomkins added six goals.

Catalans opened the scoring in the 11th minute as an error from Wakefield gifted Catalans possession close to the Trinity line and in a flowing move Tomkins, Gigot and Brayden Williame combined to send Broughton over in the corner.

Whitley extended the lead in the 17th minute as Simon and Gigot combined to send him through a hole in the Wakefield defence to score to the left of the posts.

Following a water break in the searing heat, David Mead broke down field, drew the full back and offloaded to the supporting Langi to touch down under the posts.

Wakefield scored the first one their two tries in the 27th minute when Reece Lyne charged over the top of Williame to score down the right. Danny Brough added the conversion to narrow the Wakefield deficit to 10 points.

But that proved as close as they got in the rest of the contest and Catalans scored again seven minutes before the break when Williame sent Broughton over to score his second of the game in the corner.

Early in the second half, Tomkins' cross-field kick was allowed to bounce into the in-goal area and Broughton pounced on the loose ball to secure his hat-trick.

Edwards pushed away Pauli Pauli's attempted tackle as he charged over in the 55th minute and soon after Gigot put Sam Kasiano away down the right before collecting the return pass and touching down to the right of the posts.

With 10 minutes remaining a superb move that saw the ball move through six pairs of hands resulted in Gigot adding his second try of the game before Bill Tupou scored a consolation effort in the left corner for a well-beaten Trinity.

Leeds boost survival chances

Trent Merrin, Jack Walker and Robert Lui were on target as Leeds bolstered their Super League survival hopes with a hard-fought win at neighbours Castleford.

Merrin scored the only points of the opening 40 minutes with a close-range finish before Walker improved Leeds' lead with an effort four minutes into the second half.

Liam Sutcliffe, who converted both tries, then added a penalty to make it 14-0 before Castleford fashioned a spirited rally which earned them two tries in four minutes for winger James Clare.

That cut Leeds' advantage to four points but the Rhinos - who had not won at Wheldon Road since 2015 - secured victory through Lui's first try for the club, which lifted Richard Agar's side two points clear of the relegation zone.

It was a disappointing outcome for the hosts on a day when they announced that head coach Daryl Powell, linked with a return to Headingley as Dave Furner's permanent successor, had extended his contract with the club until the end of the 2022 season.

The hosts thought they had scored early on when Lui's pass to the right wing inside Castleford's 20-metre line flew straight into the arms of Tigers winger Greg Eden.

The speedy winger raced 80 metres clear to score down the left flank and over the line for a try given on the field by referee Ben Thaler before the video referee ruled there had an earlier knock on and no score was awarded.

Leeds steadied themselves and continued to look dangerous in attack but Clare almost broke away again down the right flank only to be hauled down by Ash Handley's vital try-saving tackle.

Scrum-half Cory Aston was then stopped just short of the line by some impressive defending before the Rhinos went upfield and opened the scoring in the 19th minute.

Merrin found Adam Cuthbertson with a neat short offload and then took the return pass to crash under the posts for a try which was converted to make it 6-0 to Leeds.

That poured confidence into the visitors and they went close to a second in the 27th minute when Castleford failed to clear their lines and Rhinos centre Konrad Hurrell grounded the loose ball from close range.

Again the incident went to the video referee and this time the try was ruled out for offside, much to Castleford's relief.

Four minutes into the second half, Leeds winger Tom Briscoe embarked on a surging run and then showed intelligence to send full-back Walker scampering clear under the posts.

Sutcliffe then added a penalty to make it 14-0 but Clare touched down in the right corner in the 61st minute and then finished off a deft handling sequence in the same spot three minutes later.

But Lui dummied his way through the home defence late on to confirm a second successive victory for the Rhinos.

St. Helens put 40 past Hull FC

St Helens produced a masterclass to illustrate the gulf at the top of Super League with a 40-12 rout of third-placed Hull at the KCOM Stadium.

Australian full-back Lachlan Coote scored two of his side's seven tries and kicked six conversions for a 20-point haul as Saints pulled 10 points clear of Warrington with one hand on the League Leaders' Shield.

Justin Holbrook's men made light of the absence of skipper James Roby and back-up hooker Aaron Smith, with James Bentley stepping effortlessly into the makeshift role as part of a well-oiled machine.

Hull trailed 40-0 before producing a late fightback but it was scant consolation as they crashed to a fifth home defeat of the season.

Lee Radford's men were hammered 62-16 at St Helens on Easter Monday and the bad news for the Black and Whites is these two sides meet again in September.

Hull had stand-off Albert Kelly and forward Gareth Ellis back from injury, although the latter went off with a head knock four minutes before half-time, when they trailed 18-0 after a calamitous first half.

Saints exposed the frailty of Hull's defence five minutes in when loose forward Morgan Knowles took a short pass from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook to jink his way over for the opening try.

Three minutes later scrum-half Theo Fages followed up his own kick which Hull winger Ratu Naulago failed to deal with to score a second try and a fumble by Marc Sneyd gifted another to Coote as he chased Tom Makinson's kick from the wing.

Coote kicked all three conversions to put his side in a comfortable position at the break.

Hull had their moments but came up with too many errors to turn them into points and their best chance was wasted by Kelly when he broke clear and kicked ahead only for Saints centre Mark Percival to easily diffuse the danger.

Any hope of a Hull fightback was snuffed out within six minutes of the re-start when stand-off Jonny Lomax combined with Percival and Coote to get winger Regan Grace racing over for their fourth try.

Saints' handling was sublime at times and even prop forward Kyle Amor joined in the fun as fellow front rower Jack Ashworth strolled over on 50 minutes.

Percival failed to get on the scoresheet but he was never far from the action and after his perfectly-timed pass released Grace, Lomax was in support to finish off.

Coote then took a return pass from the England centre to score his second try and his sixth goal made it 40-0 after 56 minutes.

Saints were the last team to nil the Black and Whites just over two years ago in Newcastle but a late rally at least salvaged some pride for the home side.

Full-back Jamie Shaul, who overcame an early leg injury, forced his way over for a consolation try on 66 minutes shortly before Naulago produced a devastating finish to claim his 11th of the season.

Sneyd added both conversions to add further irritation to the leaders, who have rarely had to work so little to achieve a resounding victory.

Marshall nets hat-trick in Wigan Warriors win

Liam Marshall scored a hat-trick of tries as Wigan crushed Hull KR 52-10 to boost their chances of a top-three Super League finish.

The Warriors put in an almost flawless performance in the first half as they outscored Hull KR four tries to one, with Marshall helping himself to a brace, going on to complete his hat-trick after the break.

George Williams, Liam Farrell, Oliver Gildart and Joe Burgess also went over as Wigan racked up a half-century of points.

The Warriors opened the scoring inside the opening five minutes, with Farrell finishing off a well-worked move involving Williams, Gildart and Burgess.

Zak Hardaker extended their lead to eight with a penalty after Williams was on the receiving end of a dangerous tackle.

Wigan, though, did not have it all their own way early on as Hull KR reduced the gap to two points as Danny McGuire combined with Craig Hall to set up Adam Quinlan for the score, with Ryan Shaw converting from the touchline.

The home side swiftly responded. Thomas Leuluai took the play to the right before feeding Hardaker who sent a perfect ball into Marshall to go over. A Hardaker conversion made it 14-6.

With Wigan now in the mood they were over again moments later courtesy of a carbon copy of their second try as Marshall benefited from more good work from Leuluai and Hardaker.

Wigan, though, were reduced to 12 men in the 25th minute when Romain Navarrete was sin-binned for the second week in succession, this time for a late challenge on Weller Hauraki.

With the extra man, Hull KR threw everything at Wigan but they were unable to find a breakthrough.

Instead, the Warriors extended their lead before the break as Hardaker collected a kick over from Williams to make it 24-6.

Although the visitors improved after half-time they were unable to find a way through a resolute Wigan defence.

Further tries followed for Wigan, with Joe Bullock finishing off a barnstorming run before Marshall completed his hat-trick.

Wigan refused to ease off and instead added further scores through Williams, Farrell, Gildart and Burgess as they cruised to victory, with Hardaker claiming a personal haul of 20 points.

As a consolation, Quinlan managed to grab his second try for the Robins late on.