An initial delay of the review for the opening round of Super League 2021 due to time needed to restructure the board and magnetics but delighted to resume the reviews which begin with the opening round coming from Leeds' Emerald Headingley Stadium.
Strong Saints Stun Salford
Friday's opening game saw reigning champions St Helens over come Salford Red Devils in a 29-6 win. Saints dominated the first half with a shutout as they led 13-0 after a try and two conversions from Tommy Makinson, try from Regan Grace and Jack Welsby drop goal.
Salford hit back before the hour mark as Ken Sio crossed and Krisnan Inu converted for 13-6 but just six minutes later, St Helens resumed control with Mark Percival touching down (Makinson conv) for 19-6 before the win was wrapped up by two scores in the final seven minutes, Kevin Naiqama and Alex Walmsley crossing with Makinson converting just the latter for 29-6.
Warriors Derby Comeback Denies Centurions
The evening's second game almost saw a shock as new boys Leigh Centurions came close to stunning Wigan Warriors with the Warriors overturning an 18-0 deficit to win 20-18.
Leigh raced into the aforementioned 18-0 lead inside 27 minutes with Liam Hood, ex-Warriors back Iain Thornley and Ben Hellewell allcrossing with Ryan Brierley converting the lot. Wigan cut the gap just before the interval with Jake Bibby and Zak Hardaker crossing for 18-8. The second half played host to the remainder of the Wigan comeback with Joe Bullock touching down before Bibby claimed his second try with Hardaker converting both to secure a 20-18 victory.
Rhinos Rally Past Tough Trinity
Saturday afternoon saw an hard fought Yorkshire derby as Leeds Rhinos edged a 28-22 win over Wakefield Trinity.
The Rhinos opened the scoring inside four minutes as Luke Briscoe crossed before Tom Johnstone went over at the other end for 4-4. Wakefield took the lead with an Innes Senior try which Mason Lino converted for 10-4 before Lino added the extras to a score from Matty Ashurst for a 16-4 advantage. Leeds battled back with Alex Sutcliffe, Brad Dwyer and Richie Myler all going over with Rhyse Martin converting the lot for a 22-16 interval lead.
Wakefield drew level with a superb second try from Johnstone on 45 minutes with Lino kicking for 22 all but Leeds were to take the points with a debut try from Jack Broadbent for 26-22 with Martin kicking his fourth success of the afternoon to complete the 28-22 win.
Dragons Delight As Rovers Rue
The second game of the day saw the first Golden Point of the season as Catalans Dragons edged a 29-28 win over Hull Kingston Rovers.
The Dragons raced into a 12-0 lead with scores from Fouad Yaha and Matt Whitley with James Maloney converting both efforts. A debut try from Ryan Hall cut the gap to 12-4 before the Dragons moved to 28-4 with tries from Matthieu Laguerre, Ben Garcia and a second score from Fouad Yaha with Maloney adding two conversions.
Rovers staged an amazing fightback with Mikey Lewis crossing ahead of two more for Hall who completed his hat-trick and with Jordan Abdull converting all three for 28-22, the gap was just a single score. The gap vanished on 77 minutes though as George King went over with Abdull's fourth conversion levelling at 28 all. The game moved into Golden Point extra time with Maloney picking his spot to fire over a drop goal within two minutes to claim a 29-28 success.
Hull Hurrah Halts Huddersfield
Sunday afternoon began with Hull FC claiming a 22-10 win over Huddersfield Giants. Hull opened the scoring on 17 as Jake Connor crossed with Marc Sneyd converting before Sneyd converted an effort from Josh Griffin for 12-0 into the interval.
Sneyd added a penalty goal for 14-0 before adding another after converting a debut try from Josh Renyolds for a huge 22-0 advantage which was cut to 22-4 by another debutant try from Ricky Leutele before James Gavet crossed late on with Oliver Russell kicking for a 22-10 final score.
Terrific Tigers Topple Wire
The round came to and end with Castleford Tigers claiming a 21-12 win over Warrington Wolves.
Both sides struck early with Oliver Holmes' try and Gareth O'Brien's conversion making it 6-0 before Toby King crossed for 6-4 inside the opening ten minutes. Niall Evalds opened his Tigers account on 29 minutes with Jordan Turner crossing in the final minute of the half for 14-4 into the interval.
Wire responded through Daryl Clark's try on 51 minutes but Cas resumed their spree with a second score for Turner and Paul McShane conversion making it 20-8 before McShane swept over a drop goal for 21-8. Warrington had the last say on the score though with Blake Austin crossing five minutes from the end for a final score-line of 21-12.
The schedule moves to a Thursday-Saturday for the Mose Masoe Round (Round 2) with the matches as follows.
Thursday
Wigan Warriors v Wakefield Trinity (6)
Hull Kingston Rovers v St Helens (8.15)
Good Friday
Warrington Wolves v Leigh Centurions (12.45)
Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers (3)
Saturday
Salford Red Devils v Hull FC (12.15)
Huddersfield Giants v Catalans Dragons (2.30)
