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Spotlight on Super League: Week seven

Roar Rookie
3rd April, 2014
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St Helens maintained their 100 per cent record with a last-ditch victory at home against Leeds on Friday night. This game was special for a number of reasons, and not least the ending.

With the clock running down, Lance Hohaia chipped over a broken Leeds’ defensive line and the excellent Jonny Lomax ran through, collected, and kicked to the right, where Tommy Makinson picked up the ball to score in the corner.

But it was the intensity with which both teams played that was a real highlight – especially the home side, who were missing no less than nine first team regulars and then lost young Anthony Walker to a nasty broken nose in the second half.

Danny McGuire scored a trademark support play try, his 250th for Leeds, to put his side in front early on before St Helens leveled; Walker the beneficiary after an Ian Kirke infringement at the play the ball.

It then appeared we’d see the first penalty try of the season as Ryan Hall dragged down Josh Jones off the ball, but the play was brought back for an Anthony Walker knock on.

St Helens captain Paul Wellens, in his 413th Super League appearance, showed a great turn of speed and power to evade the tackle and set up Makinson to dive into the corner. Kevin Sinfield slotted his second penalty of the night a little later, before Makinson grabbed his second to win the game in the dying minutes.

St Helens and Leeds have set the benchmark for the rest of the year. It was a cracker.

Try of the week
Catalans entertained us with one of the best tries I have ever seen. After cleaning up a Matty Smith high bomb, fullback Morgan Escare found space down the left edge and found Mathias Pala just inside him.

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Pala passed to nippy hooker Eloi Pelissier, whose darting run allowed Leon Pryce to give the ball back to Escare, who finised off the move under the sticks, and all in the blink of an eye. It was brilliant!

Super League Superstar
A clean bill of health is doing wonders for Widnes halfback Kevin Brown, who is our Super League Superstar for March.

Widnes won three in four last month and Brown scored four tries in those games, including a wonderful solo effort for his first against Bradford at the weekend.

The Vikings currently sit in fourth position on the ladder with a game in hand and Brown’s leadership in the middle of the park has played a real part in their early success.

Class in a glass
Michael Shenton put in a fantastic individual performance for Castleford in London on Thursday night. He scored two, set up a three and ran for 233 metres, more than any other player on the pitch. It was a pleasure to watch him go.

Forward!
Dean Hadley’s pass that led to Ben Crooks’s try against Salford on Friday night was forward by a couple of yards. The assistant was on top of the play and I don’t know how he could ever have missed it.

The Freak fools ‘em again
Every year, League Freak throws in an excellent April Fools’ gag and every year many fall for it hook, line and sinker. Last time, he announced he’d taken a job at the RFL and the response was one of congratulations from both Super League and NRL fans.

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This year, Freaky revealed that Kevin Sinfield had signed a deal to join Canterbury Bulldogs and, you guessed it, they all fell for it. Bravo!

Leaderboard
St Helens are still unbeaten and lead by two points. Widnes’ impressive start sees them sit fourth, with five wins from six, and Huddersfield drop to eighth after defeat at home to Warrington. Hull KR move one place to tenth, with a comprehensive victory over Wakefield.

(Team: W-L-D)

1 (-) St Helens 7-0-0
2 (3) Castleford 6-0-1
————————
3 (2) Leeds 5-1-1
4 (-) Widnes 5-0-1
5 (6) Wigan 4-0-2
6 (7) Warrington 4-0-3
7 (10) Hull FC 3-0-4
8 (5) Huddersfield 2-2-3
9 (8) Salford 3-0-4
10 (11) Hull KR 2-1-4
11 (9) Wakefield 2-0-5
12 (-) Catalan 1-0-6
————————
13 (-) London 0-0-7
14 (-) Bradford 2-0-5*

*Bradford deducted six points for entering administration.

Suspension
Tom Olbison (Bradford) – one game for undue pressure on the neck against Widnes.

Injury update
Leeds forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan is out for three months with a bicep injury sustained in the opening minutes of Friday’s defeat at St Helens.

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Player movements
Liam Sutcliffe has returned to Leeds from Bradford after a month on loan at Odsal. Ade Gardner will remain at Hull KR after extending his loan deal until the end of the season. Ex-Hull FC and Castleford scrumhalf Brett Seymour has signed for Championship club Whitehaven.

Rumour mill
Salford have taken an interest in utility back Wayne Ulugia. The 21-year-old flier was sacked by North Queensland in January after a series of contractual breaches and looks set to come to Super League. Hull KR are also interested but if they miss out they could turn their attentions to Ben Jones-Bishop.

Salford have made inquiries as to the availability of Wigan assistant coach Iestyn Harris. The Red Devils want to unite the former Welsh international with Brian Noble, who together coached Celtic Crusaders four years ago.

Ipso Facto 1
Before Pita Godinet’s interception try, Hull KR had not conceded a single point in 156 minutes.

Ipso Facto 2
London have conceded an average of 49 points per game in their seven matches so far this season.

Quote of the week
“As for Sonny Bill Williams; had we been allowed a marquee player or if we had the allowance for a marquee player Sonny Bill Williams would have been on board.” Salford owner Marwan Koukash, speaking to Terry O’Connor on Super League Superstars.

The best finisher in the land
Tommy Makinson is a wonderful player. His athleticism, speed and ability to squeeze into the corner under immense pressure suggest the St Helens winger is the best finisher in Super League. His talents are freakish and he is only going to get better.

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Final thought
If you’re a fan of social media then get yourselves over to Twitter and follow @RFLReferees. The men in the middle answer your questions on the previous week’s Super League action every Tuesday night using the hash tag #asktheref.

Please go easy on them, especially Robert Hicks, who loves to bite back.

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