Five takeaways from Friday night’s Super League action
Photo: Craig Thomas/News Images
Following Round Three of Super League on Friday night which included five games, here are our five takeaways from all the action.
Catalans Dragons 38-6 Hull FC
Steve McNamara’s side have made an impressive start to the season, having won three from three.
They won away at Wakefield in the opening round and have made it back-to-back wins in Perpignan against Leigh and now Hull.
The Dragons seem to go about their business quietly every year, with them being based in the south of France. They’ve gone under the radar again this year but they’ve made a strong start, without a couple of key men in the early rounds too.
Tonga captain Siosiua Taukeiaho has made a good impression in his first outings for Les Dracs.
Wakefield Trinity 0-8 Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield got their first win of the campaign with a narrow win at Wakefield, who put in a much improved display after their 60-0 hammering at Wigan last week.
The Giants have brought a lot of new faces in to the squad ahead of this season, so it will probably take five or six rounds for us to see the best of them.
As for Wakefield, they’ve yet to register a win in 2023, having gone down to Catalans, Wigan and now Huddersfield. They showed signs of improvement against the Giants though, so the signs are encouraging.
Castleford Tigers 0-36 Wigan Warriors
Wigan are certainly hitting their straps, having scored almost 100 points in their last two games.
Warriors winger Liam Marshall will almost surely be knocking on the door of England selection for the mid-season test against France, having scored a hat-trick in their win at Castleford as well as four against Wakefield last week.
It hasn’t been the start to the year Castleford would have wanted, having lost their first three games against Hull, St Helens and Wigan. They need a big performance at Huddersfield next week.
Hull KR 25-30 Leigh Leopards
It was a big win on the road for newly-promoted Leigh, who claimed their first win since their return to Super League.
It took a late try from Leopards winger Josh Charnley to snatch the win from the grasp of Hull KR, who went into the game having won their first two games.
Adrian Lam’s side have started the season in pretty impressive form. They lost narrowly to Salford and in Perpignan against Catalans before picking up a good win at Craven Park.
St Helens 24-25 Leeds Rhinos
There were more than 15,000 fans packed inside the Totally Wicked Stadium to welcome the world champions back home following their World Club Challenge success against Penrith Panthers.
It was a game full of drama, passion, skill and controversy and pure grit between two tough sides.
There was three cards shown in the game, all going St Helens’ way. Sione Mata’utia and Curtis Sironen were sin-binned for late hits, with Konrad Hurrell getting sent off in the latter stages for a late and high tackle on Richie Myler, which subsequently resulted in Blake Austin kicking a drop goal to win the game.
The game had a bit of everything in it. It was an absolute humdinger of a contest.