2022 Super League Round One

After two seasons affected by the Covid Pandemic, Super League 2022 opened with a full round across four days of action. 

Saints Slay Dragons

St Helens began their title defence with a comfortable 28-8 win over Catalans Dragons at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Thursday evening. The Dragons started the brighter of the two sides with Fouad Yaha crossing for the opening try on 14 minutes with Sam Tomkins converting for 6-0. Three tries in ten minutes from Tommy Makinson, James Roby and Lewis Dodd gave the hosts a 12-6 lead that became 18-8 with a second from Makinson. Catalans cut the gap to 18-8 at the interval with a Tomkins penalty. 

A Dodd penalty made the score 18-8 which lasted up to the final ten minutes which saw the Dragons reduced 12 with the dismissal of Dylan Napa and their evening got worse as Saints wrapped up a 28-8 win with scores from Joey Lussick (Dodd conv) and Konrad Hurrell. 

Robins Field Marshalled By Warriors

Wigan Warriors avenged a trio of losses to Hull Kingston Rovers with a 24-10 win at Sewell Group Craven Park on Friday night which I attended. Wigan flew out of the blocks with the opening try coming on nine minutes through Jake Bibby with Jai Field converting for a 6-0 lead that was cut to 6-4 on 18 minutes by Mikey Lewis' try. Field restored the one score lead at 10-4 with a try which was followed up by a Liam Marshall full length effort and second from Bibby to make it 18-4 into the interval.

The second half proved to be a quieter one with Wigan opening up a 24-4 advantage on the hour with Marshall's second score of the evening which Zak Hardaker converted but the Robins would have the final say as Matt Parcell crossed on 73 minutes with Jordan Abdull converting for 24-10 final score. Clips from my attendance can be seen here.

Devils Delight In Toppling Tigers 

Castleford Tigers home opener proved to be far from sweet as they lost out 26-16 to Salford Red Devils at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle. Ex-Tigers back Marc Sneyd opened the scoring with a 12th minute penalty for 2-0 before George Griffin crossed for the hosts and Danny Richardson converted for a 6-2 lead. Ken Sio replied for the visitors with Sneyd converting for 8-6 but the lead changed again with Derrell Olpherts crossing for 10-8. 

Salford would lead into the interval though as King Vuniyayawa and Deon Cross touched down with Sneyd converting twice for 20-10.Cas cut the gap to 20-16 with Olpherts' second score and Richardson's conversion before a trio of Sneyd penalties rounded off a 26-16 victory for Salford.

Rhinos Wrenched By Wolves

Saturday afternoon saw history made as Leeds Rhinos lost out 22-20 to Warrington Wolves at Headingley Stadium in the FIRST ever Super League game on free TV as Channel 4 began their coverage. Warrington opened the scoring with a Gareth Widdop try inside 12 minutes before Leeds went down to 12 with James Bentley dismissed on 16 minutes. The 12 men went ahead though with Zane Tetevano crossing and Rhyse Martin converting for 6-4 before a Matt Prior effort was improved for 12-4. Warrington ensured a close score into the interval though as Josh Charnley crossed and Stefan Ratchford converted for 12-10.

Leeds restored a two score lead with an Ash Handley try which Martin converted for 18-10 before going 20-10 up with a Martin penalty. Warrington cut the gap with Charnley's second score which Ratchford converted and they completed the turnaround with five minutes remaining as Connor Wrench crossed and Ratchford converted to seal the 22-20 win. 

Giants Glory In Toulouse

Toulouse Olympique XIII's Super League debut saw an opening loss as they suffered 42-14 to Huddersfield Giants at Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday evening. The hosts made a superb start with Matt Russell and Ilias Bergal both crossing with Chris Hankinson converting the latter for 10-0. Hudds hit back through Luke Yates with Oliver Russell converting before a try each from Innes and Lewis Senior saw Russell improve the latter for 16-10 into the interval.

The Giants resumed control within seven minutes of the restart as Jake Wardle touched down and Russell converted for 22-10 before adding a penalty on the hour for 24-10. Wardle crossed for a second time ahead of a Chris McQueen effort which saw Russell convert twice for a huge 36-10 lead. The rout looked to be complete with Oli Ashall-Bott (Russell conv) crossing but the hosts had the final saw through Guy Armitage's late try for a 42-14 final score.  

FC Triumph At Trinity

The final game of the round saw Hull FC seal a narrow 16-12 win over Wakefield Trinity at the Be Well Support Stadium on Sunday afternoon. FC struck first with a self-converted score from Luke Gale for 6-0 before Trinity levelled just before the interval through Corey Hall with Max Jowitt converting to send the sides into the break level. 

FC regained the lead within two minutes of the restart as Joe Lovodua went over and Gale converted for 12-6. Darnell McIntosh extended the lead to 16-6 before a blow for FC after the hour as Jake Connor was dismissed and Wakefield used the man advantage on the overlap as Tom Johnstone crossed on the wing and Jowitt converted for 16-12 which is how the clash ended.