Saints win table top battle as Wigan come from behind
St Helens edged Leeds in a thriller at Langtree Park, Wigan came from behind to see off Catalan and Hull bounced back with a win against Salford.
Tommy Makinson was the scorer of two superb tries, including the matchwinner, a terrific pick up and finish in the corner after Jonny Lomax had gathered Lance Hohaia‘s neat chip forward, and then placed a kick towards the corner.
That came barely two minutes from the hooter after a thoroughly absorbing contest that could have gone either way.
Saints, missing nine first team players, fielded Paul Wellens and Lance Hohaia in a makeshift half-back combination, reminscent to their injury-hit struggles of last season.
The two unbeaten clubs in Super League were unseparated for the opening quarter of an hour, before Danny McGuire backed up Carl Ablett‘s strong run to score his 250th career try.
Undeterred, Saints restored parity within five minutes, Anthony Walker crashing over from close to the line, found with a sharp pass from the floor, converted by Makinson for 6-6.
The hosts went in at the break probably the happier of the two sides, and for the opening exchanges in the second half, it looked like the momentum was with Leeds.
Kevin Sinfield took the opportunity to nudge the Rhinos in front with a penalty on 56 minutes, and some excellent St Helens defence prevented them from extending that lead off the back of three consecutive sets shortly after.
It was after a last ditch tackle by James Roby, that Saints made their way up the other end for a possible penalty try.
Ryan Hall looked to have hauled back the chasing Josh Jones as he went to ground the ball following a lengthy last tackle play started by a Hohaia break, only for the video referee to rule out that possibility due to a knock-on by Walker in the build-up, that went under much scrutiny by the officials.
The home fans felt somewhat hard-done to, but that got them fully behind their team, who hit the front for the first time on 65 minutes.
The evergreen Paul Wellens took the line on down the right and timed his pass perfectly for Makinson to finish superbly in the right corner under pressure from two defenders.
That lead lasted barely five minutes, as Saints were penalised under their own posts, and Sinfield duly obliged with the two points for 10-all.
Sinfield missed with a drop goal attempt, before Hohaia and Lomax linked up in midfield to create the chance, and Makinson dealt with a tricky bouncing ball to maintain Saints’ 100% record at the top of the table.
Wigan were forced to come from 16-4 down at home to a revitalised Catalan side, who were denied a second successive win.
Morgan Escare and Ben Pomeroy tries had the Dragons 10-0 up inside as many minutes, although Matty Bowen had the Warriors within six points at half time.
Escare’s second try, converted by Thomas Bosc, stretched the French side’s advantage, but they failed to hold on.
Josh Charnley brought Wigan within a converted score, before Liam Farrell levelled things up at 16-16 with 12 to play.
As it was, it took until the dying minutes for Wigan to snatch it, Bowen crossing for his second try.
Hull responded to talks of a crisis with a 30-8 victory over Salford, with the returning Jacob Miller scoring the game’s first try on 14 minutes.
Another returnee, Jamie Shaul, added Hull’s second try, sandwiched by a Greg Johnson score, as the Airlie Birds went in 12-4 at the break.
Two tries inside the first 10 minutes of the second half put the game beyond Salford, Ben Crooks and Richard Horne crossing for four-pointers, which Crooks made six each time.
The 20 point deficit was far too much for Salford to overcome, despite Junior Sau‘s try before the hour.
Hull rounded the game off with a late Liam Watts score, to bounce back from last Sunday’s 7-0 home defeat to Widnes.
