2019 Super League Round 15 Review

Round 15 opened on Thursday night with Castleford Tigers extending Leeds Rhinos' miserable start to the season in a 30-8 victory.  Leeds struck the first points with a Liam Sutcliffe penalty goal for 2-0 but fell behind four minutes later to Jesse Sene-Lefao's try and Peter Mata'utia's conversion for 6-2. A tight first half saw just one more score with Mata'utia improving a try from Greg Eden as the Tigers led 12-2 into half-time.

A second try from Sene-Lefao (Mata'utia conv) pushed the score to 18-2 before Leeds claimed their first try of the evening with Matt Parcell crossing and Sutcliffe kicking for 18-8. Castleford resumed control with efforts from James Clare and Jake Trueman with Mata'utia improving both for a 30-8 final score.

Friday's action began with Huddersfield Giants claiming a 30-22 win over Hull Kingston Rovers. The Giants struck early with Jermaine McGillvary crossing inside four minutes before Junior Vaivai's try levelled at 4 all on nine minutes. Innes Senior's effort made it 8-4 to the Giants would go into the interval behind as Joel Tomkins and Craig Hall crossed for the Robins with Ryan Shaw converting twice for 16-8 into half-time.

Hudds regained the lead on the hour as McGillvary scored his second try ahead a try each from the Wardle Brothers, Joe and Jake with Lee Gaskell converting just once for 22-16. The win was sealed for the Giants with an Oliver Russell penalty goal before he improved a Kruise Leeming effort for 30-16. KR had the final say in the last minute as Danny Addy crossed with Shaw kicking for 30-22.

The televised action saw huge leads overturned as St Helens moved clear at the top with a last-gasp 32-30 win over Salford Red Devils. Saints raced into a 16-0 lead inside 12 minutes with a self-converted brace from Lachlan Coote followed by Tommy Makinson's effort. Salford hit back with tries from Gil Dudson, Niall Evalds and Derrel Olpherts which saw Krisnan Inu convert the lot for an 18-16 lead into the interval.

The visitors continued their scoring spree with a second try for Evalds and score from Robert Lui and with Inu improving both the Red Devils opened up a huge 30-16 advantage. Saints staged a superb comeback of their own as Coote completed his hat-trick ahead of improving a second Makinson try to cut the gap to 30-26. However, they would also have the last say as James Bentley touched down in the final seconds of the 80 to level with Coote kicking to seal a 32-30 victory and break Salford's hearts.

Saturday afternoon began with a thriller at Ealing Trailfinders as London Broncos survived a fightback from Wakefield Trinity to win 42-34. Jordan Abdull and Rhys Williams crossed inside 12 minutes for the Broncos with Kieran Dixon converting once for a 10-0 lead. The hosts opened up a 26-0 just before the interval as Abdull scored three tries in 14 minutes for a quadruple, Dixon converting twice, Trinity got off the mark just before the break as Kyle Wood crossed with Ryan Hampshire converting for 26-6.

London took just two minutes of the second half to resume control with Dixon crossing for a try before a self-converted second score just before the hour, he then improved a second Williams try for a whopping 40-6 lead. Wakefield needed a miracle and they came achingly close to a perfect comeback, David Fifita and Mason Caton-Brown crossed for braces which saw Hampshire convert three times before adding a self-converted effort for 42-34 but to no avail as time ran out.

Warrington Wolves missed the chance to cut the gap at the top as they suffered a 19-12 home defeat to Hull FC.  The Wolves truck first with Toby King touching down inside 10 minutes, Stefan Ratchford converting for a 6-0 lead that was wiped out by two tries in three minutes from Mickey Paea and Scott Taylor with Marc Sneyd converting twice to give FC a 12-6 lead.

FC would lead 18-6 into the interval as Albert Kelly touched down and Sneyd converted. Warrington cut the gap to 18-12 with Blake Austin's 54th minute try being converted by Ratchford but its was to be FC's day with Sneyd's 68th minute drop goal confirming a 19-12 win.

The round ended with an historic game at the Camp Nou Barcelona as a record crowd saw Catalans Dragons ease to a 33-16 win over Wigan Warriors. Catalans struck the first points of the afternoon as Tony Gigot kicked a penalty goal for 2-0 inside seven minutes. The Dragons extended their lead on 21 minutes as ex-Warriors forward Michael McIlorum crosses with Gigot converting for 8-0. Wigan hit back just before the interval with Liam Marshall racing over and Zak Hardaker converting for 8-6 into half-time.

The Dragons regained an eight point lead just seven minutes after the restart, David Mead touching down and Gigot kicking for 14-6 before Gigot added a penalty goal minutes later to make it 16-6. Catalans control continued with a Samisoni Langi try before Sam Kasiano battled over, Gigot kicking the latter for 26-6.

Catalans looked to have wrapped up the win with a Gigot drop-goal on the hour but did so with Mead’s second try on 70 minutes which Gigot improved for 33-6. The Warriors avoided a second half blank late on as Oliver Gildart went over before a last-gasp self-converted try from Hardaker saw a 33-16 final score.