Due to the new Challenge Cup structure featuring last season's bottom four in fifth round action, just eight sides played in round 11 with four sides scoring 30 points with three sealing huge victories.
Wondrous Warriors Win Wastes Wolves Wishes
Thursday night's round opener saw the huge clash between Wigan and Warrington as both looked to close up on the top two and tradition of tight meetings between the two continued as Wigan edged a 10 point win.
Warrington raced into a 10-0 lead inside 11 minutes with tries from Joel Monaghan and Chris Bridge with Stefan Ratchford converting only the first of two conversion attempts before Wigan rallied back with tries from Liam Farrell and Ryan Hampshire with Matty Smith converting both for a 12-10 lead.
Bridge restored the Wolves lead on 25 minutes with his second try for 14-12 with Dom Manfredi putting Wigan back in front six minutes later at 16-14 which sent the Warriors into the interval on top. Ben Currie drew the Wolves level just four minutes into the second half with Ratchford converting for 20-16 but again Wigan responded with Anthony Gelling crossing on 52 minutes with Smith's conversion making it 22-20.
Wigan wrapped up the win with two further tries from Dom Manfredi who completed his hat-trick with tries on 62 and 69 minutes for a 30-20 triumph for the hosts.
Rampant Rhinos Rout Stuttering Saints
Friday night saw another huge clash as the top two faced off at Langtree Park as St Helens hosted Leeds with the Rhinos storming to a comfortable 41-16 victory to increase their lead at the top of the league ladder.
The Rhinos stormed into a 24-0 lead inside half an hour with Danny McGuire and Zak Hardaker crossing after an early brace from Ash Handley with Liam Sutcliffe converting three and Kevin Sinfield the fourth after coming off the bench. Saints avoided a first half nilling with a try from Tom Makinson three minutes before the interval which Travis Burns converted for 24-6 but Handley completed a first half treble with an effort on the hooter for 28-6 at the break.
St Helens cut the gap with a brace from Jordan Turner either side of the hour mark but with Burns only converting one from two attempts, the gap was two scores wide at 28-16. Liam Sutcliffe crossed to increase the lead with Sinfield converting for 34-16 before the Rhinos captain added a drop goal on 71 minutes for 35-16. Joel Moon completed the rout with a try in the final minute with Sinfield converting for 41-16.
Glorious Giants Deny Dragons
Sunday afternoon saw Huddersfield host Catalans with both keen to move up the table after indifferent form but the Dragons away troubles continued as the Giants secured 38-14 victory.
Aaron Murphy opened the scoring for the hosts on 15 minutes with an effort which Danny Brough converted for 6-0 before Scott Dureau drew the Dragons level with a converted try ahead of a penalty three minutes later for an 8-6 lead. Ukuma Ta'ai regained the lead for the Giants on the half hour mark with Brough's conversion making it 12-8.
Murphy completed a brace three minutes before the interval with Brough extending the lead to 18-8 before Leroy Cudjoe crossed just before the break for 22-8. Catalans were still in the hunt and cut the gap to eight points as Julian Bousquet scored with Dureau converting for 22-14. Huddersfield wrapped up the win with three tries in 12 minutes as Jermaine McGillvary and Scott Grix crossed either side of Ta'ai second effort with Brough converting twice from three attempts to confirm a 38-14 triumph.
Valiant Vikings Trounce Tigers
The final game of the round saw Widnes host Castleford in a meeting between two sides in mixed form but the outcome defied such form as the Vikings eased to a 46-16 win against the Tigers.
Patrick Ah Van opened the scoring for the hosts inside five minutes with Jack Owens converting for 6-0 before Ben Roberts converted try levelled the score at 6-6. Rhys Hanbury and Jack Owens crossed to regain the Vikings lead with the latter converting both for 18-6 before Stefan Marsh and Ah Van's second try saw Owens convert for a huge 28-6 lead at the interval.
Castleford fell further behind as Kevin Brown scored on 45 minutes with Owens kicking for a 34-6 lead before Oliver Holmes cut the deficit with an effort on 5 minutes for 34-10 but Widnes soon cancelled out the try with one from Cameron Phelps which Owens added to for 40-10.
Michael Shenton's 64th minute try gave the Tigers hope which increased with Liam Finn's conversion for 40-16 but that was to be their last say on the contest and Widnes wrapped up a huge win with Hanbury's second try five minutes from the end with Owens kicking his seventh conversion for a personal haul of 18 points at 46-16.
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